Kiari E
By Ndeh Anyu
G rowing up in the Midwest, I never knew about historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). One day, during my junior year in high school, my assistant principal pulled me aside and told me something I didn’t quite understand at the time: “Will, you can have a college experience, or you can have an HBCU experience.” Neither of us knew it, but his words would forever change my life. I was shocked and amazed when I set foot on the campus of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) for the first time. Up to this point in my life, I had never seen so many educated Black people. Students walked with a sense of purpose and integrity, and they spoke with an elegance that was foreign to me. In them, I saw future doctors, lawyers, educators, business people, philanthropists and change agents.
The energy emanating from campus literally gave me chills as I envisioned myself becoming part of this community. The landscape of success at NCCU was the direct opposite of what I observed growing up in Minneapolis. As I became involved in the NCCU community, I also began to realize my purpose. Whereas my goal in Minneapolis was to merelysurvive, my purpose at NCCU was to thrive. Here I had the opportunity to sit and learn from Black professors; I could walk the yard and witness Black people hosting discussions about Black liberation, politics, educational reform, stock trading and everything else under the sun. I was amazed to learn that great scholars and activists such as John Hope Franklin, LeRoy T. Walker and Zora Neal Hurston had once taught engaging and inquisitive minds at NCCU. Change agents such as Julius L. Chambers, Maynard Jackson, G.K. Butterfeild, Herman Boone and 9th Wonder once walked the same campus I now called home.
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