The Wolverine observer. (Atlanta, Georgia) 1936-2001, January 01, 2001, Image 3
Morris Brown College - Students First: Serving...Learning...Leading! DECEMBER 2000/JANUARY 2001 - 3
CAMPUSNEWS
A luvnvuAb' wv M e^noricuw
The Morris Brown College Offices
of Student Development and
Campus Ministries held memorial
services for Ms. Jamie Mulligan,
one of our students who was mur
dered on November 15th.
Ms. Jamie P. Mulligan was from
Dayton, OH, a Junior majored in
Business Administration.
Jamie Patrice Mulligan de
parted this life on Wednesday,
November 15, 2000 in Atlan
ta, Georgia. She was born on
August 19, 1980, in Dayton,
Ohio to the Huston and Donna
Mulligan. Jamie attended the
Dayton Public Schools and
graduated with honors from
Patterson Coopertive High
School in 1998. She was well-
liked and enjoyed member
ships in the Spanish Club, the
Student Council, the Ameri
can Youth Foundation, and
Vocational Industrial Club of
America. Jamie maintained
honor status during most of
her school years. In 1998,
Jamie was the recipient of a
Alpha Kappa Alpha Scholar
ship award. Her dedication
to academics led to her later
enrollment at Morris Brown
College in Atlanta, Georgia.
God became an important
part of Jamie’s life at the
early age of seven, when she
accepted Christ at residence
Park Church of Christ.
Whenever time permitted,
Jamie volunteered her servi
ces at Mulligan Stew Academy,
a private school, co-fourfded
by her mother, Dona Mulligan.
Jamie’s favorite leisure activ
ities included movies, all kinds
of music, and of course-shop
ping. Jamie was indeed a
blessing to our family. She
always had a big smile and
kind words, especially for her
cousins. Jamie was a beauti
ful and loving young lady who
leaves to mourn, a devoted
brother Huston G. Mulligan
II, her niece Tania and sister
Megan; grandmothers: Bessie
Sumlin and Mae Mulligan;
Aunts: Elizabeth (Robert)
Morris, Betty Mulligan, Jane
(Greg) Williams, Carolyn
(Robert) Young, Charlene
(Michael) Jones, and Darlene
(Jerry) Brown; Uncles: Henry
Mulligan, Johnnie(Phyllis)
Greene, James (Cassandra)
Sumlin, Ronald (Nancy)
Sumlin, and Strawder
(Melva) Cooper.
Morris Brown College, Atlanta
lay to rest distinguished alumnus
and Civil Rights activist.
The body of Dr. Hosea Williams (draped in the US flag), making
it's way along Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. in a mule drawn carriage.
housands lined the
streets of Atlanta recent
ly, to pay respect to
noted alumnus and interna
tionally known Civil Rights
activist, Rev. Dr. Hosea
Williams. Williams (MBC
Class of‘51), is well known
for his tireless fight against
civil rights injustices, home
lessness, poverty and hunger.
He is the recipient of several
local, national and interna
tional awards for his work in
the Civil Rights Movement
and his commitment to com
munity service.
Morris Brown College has
established a scholarship in
his name, which will be fund
ed through donations from
the Tom Joyner Foundation
HBCU Scholarship Fund. Rev.
Williams was honored re
cently by the college, as this
year’s Grand Marshal of the
Homecoming Parade.
Photos were taken as the body passed through the Morris Brown
College campus stretch of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.
Ike Wolverine OBSERVE!
Documenting Morris Brown College
Risionr for 63 Years
Dying Legends
By Angela McDowell
STAFF WRITER
M y mother once told me that the “old folks” used to
say, “Give me my flowers now while I can still
smell them.” I never understood the complexity
of that statement until recently. Sitting in a
Starbucks, waiting for time to past, I picked up an Atlanta
Journal Constitution. I flipped past the Sports section and on
to the Society pages. Somewhere between reading on the
Georgia Lady Bulldogs’ victory over Rutgers and the alleged
homicide of a horse jockey my eyes locked dead on a picture of
Gwendolyn Brooks. The headline read simply, “Gwendolyn
Brooks, prize-winning poet.” Had she won another award?
No. It was much more tragic. The three-column article was to
publicize her death. She reportedly died of cancer at the age of
83. The article listed some of her awards and how she has
been the Poet Laureate of Illinois since 1968. It also listed
some of her family members that she left behind. How terrible
is it when we lost someone we love so much? All I could think
about as I read this article in the bottom left-hand comer of
the Obituary section is how much I regretted having never
met her.
The same morning, while riding the shuttle from the Days
Inn. I heard on the radio an advertisement of a Living Legend
gala in honor of the music icon, Ray Charles. It is so
wonderful when we take advantage of our luminaries who are
still with us. Excuse me. I don't mean to sound exclusionary. I
don’t mean our African-American talents. I mean everybody
who we value for their contribution to our lives. We should all,
on a personal level; make it our business to honor the elders in
our families and tap into the wealth of wisdom and experience
that they can offer us because we don’t know how long we will
have them with us. Neither do we know how long we will be
here to enjoy them.
About three years ago I discovered the music of Nina
Simone and she has been my favorite singer ever since. On
top of being an extraordinary songwriter and pianist she also
played a part in Civil Rights Movement by expressing her
feeling through protest songs such as Jim Crow, Four Women,
and Mississippi Goddam. She was there on the front lines of
the movement and she is still singing about it today. She
recently performed at a college in Texas, and I can’t help but
to think how amazing it would be to have her visit Morris
Brown.
Some of the people we are reading about in our history
books are walking and laughing and still breathing today. In
fact, some of them might even count it an insult that I appear
to be writing an editorial in anticipation of their deaths. The
point is that we have resources on this planet, and yes, with
in the African-American community that are yet untapped.
The famous MGM actress Lena Horne was born in the same
year and the same month as Gwendolyn Brooks, June of 1917.
She received an honorary doctorate from Yale in 1998. She
also released an album that year at the age of 81. Suppose if
Morris Brown was to give this grand lady an honorary degree.
It is the year 2000: past time to give honor where honor is
due. Many of our legends are still here with us. They don’t
have to mean the world to everybody for us to appreciate
them. They only have had to touch our lives in a way that
made us live a little easier and made our burden a little
lighter.