In her presentation about “The Eloquence of Scribes” this week in Freshman Seminar, Dr. Benjamin gave brief biographies of many of the historical figures that our university and campus buildings are named after. She began the presentation with slideshows of information about ancient scribes: they were people who wrote books, kept track of rations on clay in Cuneiform 2350 BC, etc. There were even medieval scribes in the 15th century, like the European author Jean Mielot.
Dr. Benjamin then informed the crowd of the many historical figures who were involved in the initial phases of the university. As students, we enter these buildings and dorms everyday : Wheatley, Douglass, Locke, Carver, Cook, etc. but many of us were unaware of the stories behind the naming of the buildings. Howard University, originally the Howard Normal and Theological School for the Education of Teachers and Preachers, was founded in 1967 by US Officer and Union General Oliver Otis Howard who also served as head of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Gen. Howard served as president of the university from 1869 to 1874.
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, a former pastor, founder of NAACP, and Professor of Economics and History at Morehouse College, was the first black president of Howard University, and he served as president from 1926 to 1960. During the course of Johnson’s presidency, enrollment increased by 8,000 students.
Many other historical figures were important to African –American history and the foundation of our campus, like Alain Leroy Locke, Charles Drew, Lucy Diggs Slowe, Ernest Just, George Washington Carver, Lulu Vere Childers, Prudence Crandall, Phyllis Wheatley, etc. Alain Locke was the first African-American Rhodes Scholar. He was also author of the survey graphic Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro which focused on “looking at our past and using those experiences to help paint the future.”
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