MOREHOUSE
A CAMPUS NEWSLETTER FOR FACULTY, STAFF AND STUDENTS
MAY 2013
Gold Shades to sing at the Apollo
Theatre
Gordon Joyner 72 Urges Students and Alumni to Support Each Other and Morehouse
BY ADD SEYMOUR JR.
MOREHOUSE’S B.R. BRAZEAL Alumni Day Crown Forum
speaker Gordon L Joyner 72 urged men of Morehouse and
Morehouse Men to stand up for each other, their communities and
their alma mater.
Joyner then got a freshman from the audience to come to
the stage and handed him a $5,000 check to give to President
John Silvanus Wilson Jr. 79 for the ForeverMOREhouse cam
paign. The campaign is to raise alumni giving to 65 percent
and raise $10 million by June 31.
“This is Morehouse College,” Joyner said “This is who we are.
This is who we always aspire to be. Thank you, Morehouse College,
for all that you have done for me and all that you have enabled me
to do. I love Morehouse College and 1 always wilL”
It was one of the highlights of the annual program that hon
ors Brazeal, a former academic dean and economics professor
who was also an author and a civil rights activist
“Academic excellence and community service were the hall
marks of Dr. Brazeal’s career,” said Henry Goodgame ’84, director
of Alumni Relations, Annual Giving and Special Events.
After Joyner’s speech, the results of the annual B.R. Brazeal
Award contest winners were announced From a pool of 42 com
petitors, junior Thavon T. Davis, a business accounting and eco
nomics major, won first while senior political science major Joshua
McKinney was second and Reginald T. Burroughs, a junior political
science major, finished third (see page 2 for photo). H
President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. 79 (right) thanks Former Fulton
County (Ga.) Commissioner, attorney Gordon L Joyner 72 for his dona
tion to the ForeverMOREhouse Alumni Appeal.
Debate Team finishes 2013 with
multiple national titles
Three administrators look back at
their time at Morehouse
Morehouse Track and Field team
wins eighth straight championship
COMMENCEMENT/REUNION 2013
President Barack Obama to Deliver Morehouse’s
129th Commencement on May 19th
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BY ADD SEYMOUR JR.
P resident JoJm Silvanus
Wilson Jr. 79 was about
to speak to staff gathered
in the Bank of America
Auditorium on Feb. 6 when his
phone rang. He quickly apologized,
excused himself from the room, and
walked off the stage.
Ten days later during the
College’s “A Candle in the Dark”
Gala, he revealed why that call was
so important. Morehouse history
would be made on May 19 when
President Barack Obama delivers
the 129th Commencement address
on the Century Campus at 11 a.m.
“It was a wonderful announce
ment to make,” Wilson said. ‘Tve
talked about this being a pivotal year for
us. First, it is the 150th anniversary of
the Emancipation Proclamation, with
that symbol being freedom; the 100th
anniversary of Morehouse being called
Morehouse, and that symbol is iden
tity, and the 50th anniversary of “The
Dream,” articulated by our most illustri
ous graduate, Martin Luther King Jr.
’48, and that symbol is the dream. And
to add to that, we have, for the first time
ever in our history, a visit by a sitting
president of the United States, the most
powerful person in the world. This is a
great thing And it is a rare thing”
It will be the first time a sitting
president has given a May com
mencement address in Georgia,
and the first time in three-quarters
of a century that one has delivered
any commencement speech in
Georgia. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
gave a summer commencement
address at the University of Georgia
in 1938.
“The president’s life story
trumpets an ethic that we try to
instill in all Morehouse Men, namely
excellence without apology or com
promise,” said Wilson, who served
as the executive director of the
White House Initiative on HBCUs
after being appointed by President
Obama “It’s a good thing to have
him here for that reason.”
Obama’s appearance adds even
more prestige to a tradition-clad event
that features the world-renowned
Morehouse College Glee Club,
African drummers leading the 500
graduating, predominantly African
American seniors. They parade
through campus through a corridor
of proud Morehouse alumni as nearly
10,000 family and friends watch.
Whether continuing their edu
cations in top-notch divinity, busi
ness or medical schools or entering
careers from Wall Street to Main
Street, these accomplished men
will become Morehouse Men on
Commencement day.
President Barack Obama
Leading them will be Betesegaw
Tadele, a computer science major
from Ethiopia who is the class vale
dictorian. After graduation, Tadele
will head to Seatde where he will
work for Microsoft.
The 129thCommencement will
be preceded with the Baccalaureate
ceremony on May 18 in the Martin
Luther King Jr. International ChapeL
Alumni with class years ending
in “3” or “8” will come together to
celebrate Reunion 2013. A number
of events will be held throughout the
weekend and around town, including
the Golden Tigers breakfast, which this
year celebrates the 50th anniversary of
the class of 1963. ■
For more information about the ForeverMOREhouse
Campaign, go to http://www.morehouse.edu/forever-
morehouse/index.html.
