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INSIDE MOREHOUSE, APRIL/MAY 2009
Quotable Quotes from 2008-2009
Tom Brokaw
From a celebrated athlete to the nation's first black attorney general,
campus guests shared their unique perspectives with the Morehouse
community throughout the 2008-09 academic year. One encouraged self-
reliance, another self-reflection and yet another touted the virtues of
global diversity. Their advice, albeit on different subject matters, encour
aged our ongoing pursuit of building the beloved community.
Magic Johnson -“The one thing you have to do is make sure
your business plan is tight. If you don’t have your business plan
together, forget about it.”
Tom Brokaw - “Young people who’ve come along after the civil
Actor and activist Hill Harper
National Urban League President
Marc Morial
rights act, going to integrated schools, going to integrated work
places, they have a different attitude and I think Obama is a
symbol of that.”
Marc Morial - “I think they have to overcome [complacency of
their peers] by understanding the sense of being Morehouse
men, they have a responsibility. They are standing on tall
shoulders. They are special.”
Hill Harper - “The future does not belong to those who are
content with destiny, but rather the future belongs to those
who can bring passion, belief and courage.”
Shirley Franklin - “[Vivian Malone Jones] took the road less-
traveled as a young woman, not much younger than you.. .The
question is how strong will your shoulders be that others
stand on?”
Eric Holder-“The President and I are bound and determined
to revitalize the[U.S. Justice Department’s] Civil Rights Divi
sion make it the kind of division that you will be proud of.”
NBA Hall of Famer and business
man Earvin "Magic" Johnson
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
TTfflPT"
Hip Hop in the House
Hip Hop Courses Link Hip Hop and Civil
Rights Generations
By ADD SEYMOUR JR.
Students who sign up for Jocelyn
Wilson’s Hip Hop courses at More
house are in for a rude awakening.
“When they start class, they have
no due,” she said. “They are like
Books? What do we need books for
in here?’”
What they get are doses of an
thropology, sociology and politics
through the lens of the hip hop cul
ture. Wilson teaches two classes in
the African American Studies de
partment, Black Aesthetic/Hip Hop
and Black Aesthetic/De-Construct
ing Obama, which uses hip hop to
bridge generational gaps and ex
plain the world to students.
“When many people see hip hop,
they see violence,” Wilson said.
“They see misogyny. They think of
all the negative things. Hip hop is so
much more than what it was stereo
typed in being. Hip hop started out
as a non-violent movement. In many
ways, it is linked to the issues and the
movement of the civU rights era.”
During one class, students
looked at some rap lyrics and the
views of two newspaper columnists
who saw the lyrics as being negative.
Wilson asked students to look at
both sides of the coin and analyze
not only the lyrics, but how they can
be perceived.
“It’s really a way to engage young
people into understanding what the
issues are,” Wilson said. “We’re at
Morehouse, a place that deals with
issues of not just African Ameri
cans, but of African American males
and this is a way to do that and get
young men, and young women, to
the class to talk about the issues that
they will face when they step out of
here with their degrees.”
That was one of the main reasons
that Wilson and her students held
the “What is Hip Hop Studies,
Bringing Hip Hop to the Academy,”
conference at Morehouse in April.
Students and scholars talked
about a variety of topics, along with
viewing a screening of the docu
mentary, “Walking with Guns,”
which features Grammy-winning
rapper T.I. and former Atlanta
mayor Andrew Young discussing
the perils of guns and violence.
But the bulk of the conference
featured students discussing topics
such as the idea of “keeping it real.”
“I know [hip hop producer and
artist] Pharrell didn’t shoot or kill
anybody,” said senior English major
Julius Pryor. “I think the problem in
hip hop is if [an artist] says some
thing in hip hop you have live it.
Hip hop is a microcosm of the
macrocosm. What you find in hip
hop you’ll find in the real world”
Terry Mills, dean of the Division
of Humanities and Social Sciences,
points to the fact that several More
house professors who grew up in
the hip hop culture involve their ex
periences with their research, which
becomes critical race theory. That’s
why he believes Morehouse is the
perfect place for those kinds of dis
cussions and linking the civil rights
and hip hop generations.
“It does in fact represent a youth
culture that goes beyond the enter
tainment aspect of it,” he said. “So
it’s important for us to elevate and
raise the discussion of hip hop to this
more scholarly, intellectual level.”
That’s exactly what Wilson is
hoping to bring each class period.
“Hip hop for me has been very
therapeutic,” she said. “It has really
given me some insight in the issues
my generation faces. This a way for
me to help my people and it’s a tool
for teaching.” ■
THE MARTIN
LUTHER KING JR.
STATUE'S SILVER
ANNIVERSARY
2009 is the Martin Luther King
(r. Statue’s Silver Anniversary
One day in 1983, Lawrence E.
Carter Sr., dean of the Martin
Luther King Jr. International
Chapel, President Hugh Gloster
and sculptor Ed Dwight were
trying to envision a new statue
of the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr. ’48.
“Dwight said, ‘What will this
statue look like?”’ Carter remem
bered. “I simply stood up and
[pointed forward]. Dr. Gloster
said, ‘That’s it!”’
Carter’s gesture became the
image of the only statue of King
in the state of Georgia and one of
the most visited and iconic spots
on campus. The statue is now
one of the most photographed
spots at the College as thousands
of families, tourists and students
have posed at its base.
May 20 is the statue’s silver
anniversary. In 1984 it was cov
ered in bubble wrap and trucked
to Atlanta from Denver, Colo,
where Dwight, who also sculpted
the statue of Hank Aaron at
Turner Field, did his work.
The statue was a gift of the
National Baptist Convention
U.S.A. and that group’s presi
dent, T.J. Jemison.
King’s 20-foot likeness points
towards the Century Campus,
the oldest part of campus where
approximately 500 men of More
house graduate each year.
The base is made of 10 slabs
of Georgia marble and contains
a time capsule to be opened in
2084. It contains 119 items, some
of which date back 5,000 years
and come from Africa. There is
also a Bible signed by students,
faculty, staff, administrators,
trustees and civil rights leaders
such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Included on the base are
quotes from a 1955 King address
in Montgomery, his 1967 Christ
mas sermon on peace, his “Letter
From Birmingham Jail,” and his
1964 Nobel Peace Prize lecture in
Oslo, Norway. ■
