"The Eloquence of the Scribes": Initiation,Expectations, and Mastery-Continuing the Legacy of Howard University

First and foremost, I just want to say that I’m honored to be apart of Howard University. There are several people that wish they could be where I’m at, but couldn’t because of personal reasons. What I can do to be apart of the “best and brightest” of Howard University is study and to be involved. I understand that studying is the most important thing in college but being involved lets you loosen up a little bit. I take pride into studying because it makes me feel like I have a certain strength that I know no one can take away from me. One of the best things about Howard is that there are several different programs that keep students active in the important things that go on in the community. Being a citizen of the world means being apart of the world. Not only do you worry about what’s going on in your community but also the importance of the world. My citizenship is important to me because I’m given certain freedoms to do things in the world such as voting. Not everyone in the world has that opportunity.
The person I think is a representative thinker of Howard is Dr. Greg Carr. His inspiration makes me want to do more in the community and to love anything that I do for my community. Each Howard student after graduation should have given back to their school because someone had to pay the way for us to attend college. African Americans haven’t always had this opportunity so we should learn, teach, and offer more to the world from what was handed down to us students.

Niesha Bush

African Burial Grounds

This week's lecture dealt with the African burial grounds in New York. Dr. Mac talked about how the gravesite for these Africans have been violated and disrespected; how Howard University was tasked with taking care of the remains. I believe Howard University was chosen to restore and preserve the remains because of our historical background, as well as the fact that we had competent, passionate students and faculty more than welcome to take on the task.

The bones were in bad shape, but the Howard students revitalized them and did the remains justice. During the lecture Dr. Mac discussed the various rituals that our African ancestors had. These rituals ranged from teeth filing, to ceremonial beads. These types of rituals were viewed as rites of passage, and were very important to their culture. It was amazing to see how much information could be gathered simply by studying the remains of these Africans. Each set of skeletal remains told a story, and displayed the struggle and pain that our ancestors had to go through. It also showed their pride.

I liked how importantly Dr. Mac viewed these remains, and stressed that they should be given as much respect as you would give someone living today. His pride and passion for the preservation of these African remains was inspiring, and I feel that his presentation displayed that. I know that my fellow Howard students are excited to view the African burial ground for themselves, and learn even more information about our ancestors.

Opening Convocation

Opening convocation was definitely an experience to behold. This was my first time going to convocation, and I didn't really know what to expect. I was moved by Dr. Lomax's speech; he talked about how we are the future, and that He also hit on several points, stressing on the fact that we as a university have to come together to work as a cohesive unit in order to continue to succeed. We hold a responsibility to our community, our legacy, and those to come later to be the best university that we can be.

Dr. Lomax also touched on the importance of HBCUs as a whole, and what they mean to our community. HBCUs need to be preserved; they provide outstanding institutions for us to be educated, not only in the conventional sense, but about our own history. Howard University as well as other HBCUs aren't just learning institutions, but launchpads for us as african-americans to strive and thrive in the world that we live in. HBCUs not only stress advancement, they also stress giving back and paying homage to those that came before us.

Dr. Lomax's message motivated me to look at my tenure at Howard University as an honor and a privilege, something that shouldn't be taken for granted. I also left the auditorium feeling that I owe it to myself, to Howard, and my community to strive for excellence, and to reach a hand back to those coming behind me to help them better themselves.

Opening Convocation

At first I really didn’t have any idea what was “Opening Convocation”, until Dr. Lomax started his speech. First off I think this was one of the best opportunities that I’ve ever had. What Dr. Lomax stressed was the importance of historical black colleges and universities. At first I was struggling to adapt to the college life but with this presentation it gave me an opportunity to get a broader understanding why African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans should seek accomplishments further than a high school education. The importance was that most people who don’t have a college degree seem to struggle more with keeping a job and surviving. Another thing that was important that Dr. Lomax said was that we need to work on getting more males into college. I think it’s important because we have more males in jail rather than out in the community doing something positive.
Dr. Lomax’s speech gave me the insight to think beyond just going to college. The class of 2015 is the future for new beginnings. We should work harder and be able to accomplish much more than what pass generations have done and we should give back. He spoke so highly of Howard University that it made me stick my chest out and say that I’m glad to be apart of a highly respected institution of African Americans.

Niesha S. Bush

The African Burial Ground

My overall impression of the lecture that Professor Mack brought forth to the class of 2015 gave me a vivid understanding of the African Burial Ground. From the lecture I learned that many Americans didn’t know or didn’t want to know how important the sacred grounds were to the African American culture.

From the pictures that I seen from the lecture gave me a basic understanding of what my ancestors went through and why the life expectancy was so low. Although I try not to dwell on the past but the pain that my people went through was just unbearable. Several of the pictures that were shown during the presentation were of skeletal remains. Also some of the pictures showed African culture for example; one picture had the skeletal remains of an adult but also buried with the body were babies. The significance of this was that Africans felt that the child shouldn’t go on to a higher power with out its guardian. The sad thing is that majority of the bodies that were buried were of children.

The monument is so important because both free and enslaved Africans were buried in a 6.6-acre burial ground. I think it’s a place that should be highly respected because of its significance. If I chose to attend the African Burial Ground Monument I think I would be very quiet and attentive. The reason why I would act like this is because it’s similar to a cemetery where you pay respect to the ones that have gone on.

I think Howard University has chosen to study the remains because they know the importance of our culture and our heritage. I think it’s a way to give back to the people that made it possible so that they can study things at a higher level. Just by this huge satisfaction I’m honored to be apart of the Howard University legacy. This gives me the urge to want to give back to my community and to my school because other people did the same thing to make it possible so that I could attend college.

Niesha S. Bush

African Burial Ground

 This weeks lecture was both visually and intellectually pleasing. It's focus was the African Burial Ground which we will be visiting in the upcoming weeks. This lecture began with Professor Mack addressing the four research questions which are the origins of the remains, the quality of life of the people, the biological and cultural transformation, as well ass the modes of resistance.
  Archeologist uncovered many hidden mysteries when recovering the remains. One of the most interesting is that Africans filed their teeth as a write of passage and ethnic identifier. This tradition was said to be esthetically pleasing in African culture. This answers the question of biological and cultural transformation.
  Another, somewhat upsetting, discovery about this burial ground was that doctors from a nearby hospital would steal remains to use them as cadavers. In the 1700s it was illegal to use cadavers for experiments unless they were criminally insane. In attempt to manuever around this law, doctors would steal remains from the burial ground. In retaliation to this. slaves burnt down the hospital. This addresses the question of modes of resistance.
  There are many mysteries surrounding the African Burial ground that I have yet to uncover; However, I am hoping during the visit to learn much more about my ancestors.

Convocation

   Convocation.What I intially thought would be hours worth of lecturing and leisurely rituals turned into something that further expanded my view of Howard and my place here. This assembly served its purpose in truly welcoming me into this great institution.
    Dr. Lomax's speech reminded me of one of the points Dr. Carr made in his lecture; that is that we, as students of Howard, have a responsibility to uphold the legacy of educating our surrounding community. Dr. Lomax noted that HBCU's have an obligation to keep striving for excellence and educating minorities. This message motivated me to strive for more than I previously have and to value my community and dedicate time and effort to giving back and continuing the legacy

Convocation

I had been hearing of a thing called "convocation" and I had no clue what it was. Honestly, in my head I thought, "Why are they making me go to this? This is going to be a waste of time." What I didn't know was that I was going to be dead wrong.

As I walked into the auditorium, I still did not quite understand what was about to take place. I thought maybe they're going to preach to us and bless us into the school. Well that didn't quite happen. Convocation was the official welcome into Howard University and this year was honored to have Dr. Lomax as the orator.

Dr. Lomax gave a powerful and inspiring speech. We all hear that "you are the future", but we don't necessarily believe it , but Dr. Lomax confirmed that this quote is in fact true. Dr. Lomax spoke on how in order for an institution to operate as successfully as Howard does and to remain and institution of higher learning for over 100 years as Howard has, it takes a team effort. Deans, professors,alumni, sponsors, and most importantly students have to work as a team to maintain the reputation of the school.

Dr. Lomax stressed the importance of HBCU's in America claiming that they must remain in an abundance. I believe that that statement is entirely true. Blacks in America are often stereotyped and often times are still seen to be lower than a white individual. HBCU's are needed to further the education of blacks and provide them with the tools of professionalism to prove not only to themselves but to the world that blacks have come a long way in history and can perform at the same level or higher than individuals of another color.

I was truly enriched by the convocation and I'm glad that I attended and plan to attend in the years to come.

African Burial Grounds

This week Dr. Mark Mac came and spoke with us about the African Burial Grounds in New York , in which we are to be visiting. I truly enjoyed how he did not just speak of these people as former slaves who died and were buried in this area and then were found years later; he told their stories. He spoke of the people there and described each one with their personal story and what might of happened to them causing their death.

I feel as though this monument was made to acknowledge those who would otherwise go unknown. Our American history only speaks of blacks who did extraordinary acts, but fails to mention those who suffered through the torture of slavery and were savagely murdered, which in itself is an extraordinary act. These are people who lived day by day working themselves literally down to the bone. This monument tells the stories of these individuals and allows the African American generation of today to learn about their ancestors.

Howard University was chosen to uncover the remains because no other school would have been suffice. Howard is an institution that radiates the true meaning of what it means to be a African American. In the uncovering of the remains, it would only be proper if the same kind of bones that are buried uncover them. I really would like to attend the trip to the grounds and believe that it would really change my view point on my ancestral history. Simply hearing this lecture from Dr. Mac opened my eyes to see how my people once lived.

Abandonment and Dismemberment: something torn and new

This lecture was about the slave trade, and how our ancestors were ripped from our homeland and abandoned in an unfamiliar land. The speaker went into detail about these two topics, elaborating on how the slaves were uprooted from their homes, treated as mere property, and shipped across the ocean. They were socially and mentally dismembered, and many physically dismembered. Various parts of what made Africans were stolen from them, aside from their humanity. Those shipped across the ocean were torn from their families, their religion, and culture. After being torn from everything they knew, the Africans were then abandoned in a new world, bought, sold and worked as chattel, and supplied with the bare minimum to live. Many of the Africans were also ripped of their will to fight. The sense of abandonment loomed large over the slaves, and suppressed their resistance. Being stranded in unfamiliar lands, the slaves were unable to do much to improve their situation. I feel as though the Africans remaining in Africa also felt a sense of dismemberment, having their brothers and sisters shipped across the Atlantic. All in all, the lecture was about how the slaves were forcibly removed from their homeland, and forced to adapt to a hostile environment in unfamiliar lands.

Jonathan Newton

Abandonment and Dismemberment

   This weeks seminar focused on Abandonment and Dismemberment. Dr. Beatty started his lecture by further describing the Abandonment and Dismemberment of Africans and "something torn and new". The first key point is that of abandonment. The abandonment of African's from their home was brought by the middle passage of slaves. The middle passage is the process of taking Africans and dispersing them to the new world. The new world includes Brazil, the European and French Caribbean and North America. During this process more than 16 million Africans were stripped from their roots.
   The second key topic of the lecture was the assimilation of Africans to their new homes and cultures. Victims of the middle passage were forced to participate in and learn a new culture. From social structures, to family patterns, to languages and many more, Africans abandoned what they knew and what defined them as a people to learn the culture of their slave masters.
    The resistance of slaves was also a distinguished topic in the lecture. Runaway slaves established maroon societies apart from the plantations. Many were developed in remote areas and new communities were built where African's could create a "home away from home" which was self governed and cultured to their liking.
    Along with the resistance of slaves back then comes the resistance of ignorance in modern times. Dr. Beatty says that it is imperative to rewrite the history of the Americas emphasizing African presence and impact. Many aren't aware of how critical a role Africans have played in molding the Americas in what they are today. We, as students of Howard, have the responsibility to resist this ignorance and spread the knowledge throughout the community.

Kristen Bailey

Abandoment and Dismemberment: Something torn and new

As I stated in my first blog entry, I was really anticipating this lecture and indeed the lecture exceeded my expectations. Dr. Mario Beatty discussed with us the asepct of the Africans being torn away from Africa and what they carried with them to the new land that they were thrown in. He opened the lecture with a question, " Does physical abandonment directly correspond to mental abandonment?" The answer to this question was revealed by the end of the lecture.

As the Africans were taken from their homeland, everything was loss or so was to be believed. The whitemen that took the Africans expected that the Africans would have nothing to give to the generations in the future, but indeed they were wrong. Africans carried with them the art of music, speech,religion,cuisine, and song along with them. Even to this day we see evidence of these traditions in our everyday jargon and simple actions.

Dr. Beatty, in my opinion, challegened us to transform knowledge by asking us to think about what is considered the norm and what makes it the norm. Are we to conform to what is normal because it is the standard or should we go beyond that and challenge the status quo?

So in correlation to the question stated at the beginning of the lecture, the answer is no. Physical abandonment does not correspond to mental abandonment. The Africans proved that by retaining their african heritage and bringing it with them to the new land and teaching their traditions to the younger generations.

Dr. Beatty presented an excellent lecture. I'm looking forward to the lectures ahead and visiting the African Burial Grounds soon.


Jesseca Farr

Abandonment and Dismemberment"Something Torn and New"

This weeks lecture about, Abandonment and Dismemberment:"Something Torn and New"; put several things in prospective for me. The lecture gave an understanding about the way African Americans were forced from their native lands to other places. From all the things that our ancestors went through our heritage still goes on. Even though our ancestors were treated badly they remained strong through it all.
One of the things that was discussed during this lecture was the dismemberment of our African American peoples. A basic definition of dismemberment is suffering of a person or a group of people. What Africans suffered from was the forcing of them from their native land. Many of the slaves would never see their homeland again. The reason why Africans were used as slaves because their bodies were immuned to diseases and they were much stronger. They new how to cultivate rice which was a major thing during slavery. Dismemberment makes it seem like everything was lost but it wasn't. Traditions were kept alive and their lives still continued only under someone elses authority. The moving of the Africans was known as the middle passage. The Middle Passage also consisted of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were taken to the New World. This was organized by groups of investors rather than an individual alone. This was a loss of emptiness.
Although Africans were forced from their homelands they didn't lose everything. Their culture still went on. Their beliefs and behaviors stayed the same. Several of their traditions are still apart of the Americas now. Such as the modeling of families with the dad always being at the top. With out African Americans several things wouldn't be going on in America today.What if there wasn't a such thing as medicine men and women? The development of cures wouldn't probably have been in existence. From my own experiences with making baskets and chairs this still goes on in my family and has been passed down for generations. One of the important things that still goes on today is agricultural cultivation.
One of the ways that scholars have tended to explain African dismemberment is how Africans suffered but they remained strong through the rough times. Like I mentioned earlier about the medicine men and women they paid the way for other people. Now we have technology to help make things much easier and we also have research facilities to make the job easier. Back during the days of slavery people worked hard and wasn't able to have short cuts to get the job done. Now we have anything you can think of to help with cures and other things that help the nation.

Niesha Bush

Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility

The lecture about " Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility" is self-explanatory, in my opinion. Self actualization is about realizing who one is within themselves. During the lecture, Dr. Gbadesgesin went on to break down the concept of self actualization. I took it to mean that self actualization is to recognize one's own strengths and weaknessesHe talked about Ijuba, which means homage. Paying homage is important, because it is shapes how the future is molded. By paying homage, you give respect and honor to your ancestors, as well as guidelines to keep those to come after you on the right path. When you don't pay homage, it is very easy to forget where you came from; my interpretation is that if you forget where you come from, you have no identity.

Dr. Gbadesgesin also discussed "Omoluabi," which gets into what are duties are as individuals. The research question was about transforming knowledge, and in doing so creating ideas and innovations to better the future. This is our responsibility to ourselves, as well as to our community. We build upon the traditions of our ancestors, create our own, and leave it all for the future generation to follow and build upon. This is both our communal responsibility, as well as what we owe to ourselves and those before us. Overall, the lecture was very interesting and i enjoyed it.

Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsiblity

Just by reading the title for this weeks lecture gave me an idea of what would be covered in class. "Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility", is deep to one's own definition and personal feelings. Personally, it means to achieve one's full potential.Further more it's not always one person that's responsible but something the entire community has to do together. The lecture was broken down in different categories to help answer the research question,"How have scholars across the various fields of study advanced and transformed academic knowledge related to enduring problems of the human condition".
One of the things that was discussed was Ijuba, meaning homage. My understanding from this was that you have to give back or give honor to the ones before us and the ones after to keep traditions alive. One of the things that people forget about when they become successful is where they come from. Some times we get so caught up in our personal lives and forget about what we left behind. Its our responsibility to never forget because if we don't keep our "homage" alive, who will? That's where the title plays part in the lecture. Omoluabi, tells us our duties. We all know that we shoud be people of character who are disciplined to self improving. If we hold ourselves up to a certain standard our peers will began to gain the respect for us. We should use our wisdom and spread it through our communities so that they can gain knowledge from our eduacation. With that being said we should never get to caught up in ourselves because others need help too.
Another thing that Dr. Gbadegesin mentioned was acknowledging the human condition. What fell under this was racism and poverty. Racism and poverty are two things that we deal with daily. Dr. G mentioned that whites say that we as Africans don't have any history but what they didn't realize is that you have to have history before you can write it. So first thing is that we have to go through different situations until it can be apart of our history.
Dr.G and Dr.Carr's lecture relates because each gives us ideas about the research question. Each lecture feeds off each other giving us a better understanding in how to answer the question. The lecture for this week gave us an understanding for useful learning. I think we should all play apart in our society to be enthused to learn and maintain the developement of our society.

Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility

This lecture struck me, right off the top, as being a lecture that would require me to look deeply within myself. I greatly appreciated how the lecture started, with Ijuba ( homage). We payed homage to anything and everything that we should be grateful for. Dr. G. explained that " not paying homage will cause you to get tied up." I took that , not in it's literal meaning, but being tied up in life. We often times get caught up in our fast pace lives and forget to give thanks to where we come from. So before anything and everything we do we should stop and give homage.

This lecture discussed a topic we often do not think about, transforming knowledge. The majority of the time we think that merely gaining knowledge is what we should aim for in our lives, but why do we cut ourselves short? Dr. G. discussed in this lecture how simply acquiring knowledge is not what we should settle for. Knowledge is meant to be transformed and drawn away from the orthodoxy. He taught that in the past the Africans were seen to have no history because there was no writing history when in actuality there was history all along. "History must be lived before it can be written." He stated that there was thought to be "no black philosophy" when originally all knowledge and philosophy began in Africa with Africans. As a generation in today's world we are expected to go to the source of knowledge then transform it.

Dr. G. also told us the story of Iwa. he explained how Iwa was a wife who then left her husband and after her retreat his life was meaningless and everything went wrong. Although this was a story, we all have an Iwa that lives within us and when we lose our Iwa we are nothing. Our Iwa is our character and our being. Without those two things we merely are shells of human beings taking up space in the world.

In the end of the lecture Dr. G. discussed the importance of responsibility. First we have a responsibility to ourselves. That responsibility is to first remake ourselves through education. This means to gain all the knowledge we can possibly hold in our minds and use it to transform ourselves to be better, educated , and well rounded individuals. Our second responsibility is the to the community. We are to serve our community with education. What good is knowledge if it can not be shared? We must give back to the community what the community gave us and pay our homage.

Overall, I enjoyed this lecture and I am looking forward to the lectures ahead.

Jesseca Farr

Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility

    The main topic of the lecture this week is answering the research question of how various fields have transformed academic knowledge of the human condition. To approach this issue, Dr. Gbadegesin broke down the into three main parts.
    The first part is addressing the human condition. The human condition can relate to many things throughout our society; from our individual condition, to our communal or national condition. This question specifically relates to our social, moral, economic, cultural, political, etc. condition as a whole. Not just the state of our immediate community, but the entire world.
    Secondly, the topic of academic knowledge was specified. The question addresses how different academic field have transformed knowledge. The fields cover a broad spectrum including fine arts, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and so on. All the fields have produced research and new knowledge which has influenced collective knowledge of the human condition.
     Lastly, Dr. Gbadegesin defined exactly what constitutes a transformation. He described this as a challenged to orthodoxy and societal norms. Also, a new paradigm for the world to look through. In essence, it is a shift from one was of thinking, into a new, broader range of thought.
    Dr. Gbadegesin and Carr's lecture related by taking the Mbongi, the place where knowledge is shared, and relating that knowledge to the transformation of thought. These Mbongi forums serve as a melting pot of new ideas which contributes to the defining and changing of the human condition.

Kristen Bailey

Learning, Wisdom,and The African World Experience

The first lecture that was brought before my class this week was the best lecture I've ever heard. From one lecture my eyes were open to a broader knowledge of my culture and the African tradition. But one thing that I can talk about all day is Dr. Greg Carr. He's an amazing professor that had me engaged throughout the entire lecture. Dr.Carr made me feel amazing because I knew that my work is not done when I finish college. It's a must that I give back to the black community because we lack in so many areas.
One of the key points was the description of the "Mbongi".Since there isn't much time in class to discuss our feelings on a particular point, the Mbongi allows us students to elaborate on several ideas and questions from the lecture. The word Mbongi is not a word that I was familar with until I started Freshman Seminar. I think the creation of the Mbongi is one of the greatest creations ever made. Like I mentioned earlier the Mbongi gives everyone the opportunity to participate and give their opinions.
Also we examined the contribution to global traditions and innvotions in teaching and learning from the classical, medieval, and contempory African experience. This section gave the class the insight about inventions made centuries ago. One thing I noticed was that African Americans don't get enough credit for the inventions they made that changed the world. An example was the creation of hierglyphics which began as an African symbol for writing. This was another way that they learned to communicate with other people. The greatest words used was the word "amen", which mean the unseen one. As I started thinking about innovations and other things similar to that I was informed that all things weren't invented by whites. They fed off the African experience. From this lecture African Americans should have a push to keep creating because our ancestors started it. Things are so much easier for us because they paid the way for us. Now that we have so much technology we have no excuse to keep the innovations going.
Another thing was call to action. This gave us the insight to help others and to keep our heritage and traditions alive. We should spread our wisdom to help others in places that they are lacking. One of the main things is to pass down the tradition down to the youger generations. Passing down our heritage and tradition down helps keep the African experience alive. And this isn't something that we want to ever die. With out this we can't strive to better ourselves or our people.
I'm glad that the Freshman Seminar class exists because it's going to help us all the way through college. It allows us to be more open to ideas and discuss things that are important to us students. While some people may think the class is pointless I see it as an creation to better our African tradition.

Niesha Bush

Learning,Wisdom,and the African World Experience: An Mbongi

First and foremost, I must say that this lecture exceeded my expectations to the fullest. Dr. Carr is a very powerful speaker and just in this one lecture alone, opened my eyes and mind to want to explore my culture in a more deeper and serious manner. Dr. Carr explained to us how everything we are ever taught traces back to our African roots. Many people place ideals in the hands of the British or the Greek when in actuality they start in Africa.

Dr. Carr stressed the ideal of the Mbongi. In our introduction to Freshman Seminar, Dr. Williams explained that " Mbongi" meant a house with no rooms, meaning that we are to be open with our surroundings and our people. Dr. Carr opened this definition to a more deeper explanation. Mbongi is not solely about being open with the people around you, but it is a force. It is a force that can not be broken nor challenged. When a group of people are gathered in a mbongi they are one, no matter the number. At that particular time, no matter where they have come from they all share one common bond and mind. Mbongi doesn't have to always be a spoken gathering. Body language can also be included in a mbongi.

I really enjoyed how Dr. Carr spoke about intelligence in the African American community. We as blacks must be proud to be intelligent individuals in a society that expects us to be uneducated, not wealthy, and quite frankly unidentified as human beings.

This lecture has me pumped for the lectures to come. I want to study more on my culture and make an impact on the world as an African American woman.

Jesseca Farr

The African World Experience

   This week's freshman seminar lecture explored the concept of the Mbongi. My initial impressions were that a Mbongi is simply a discussion among a group; however, after participating in this lecture I find that it is not only just a gathering, but a strong-held tradition in which brothers and sisters come together to exchange knowledge.
   The first point of this lecture is exploring how the world has progressed in teaching and learning through multiple facets of the African experience. To examine this we pondered classical, medieval, and contemporary African tradition and how each of them has affected the way we learn and teach today. What surprised me most is seeing how prevalent ancient Africans are in the sciences of mathematics, writing, astronomy and much more. It also saddens me that many don't give African's due credit for these innovations.
    A second key concept of this Mbongi is self-actualization.  In essence, once cannot truly learn and teach unless he or she is aware of his or herself as a person. This comes down to character and civil duties to the community. At Howard university it is our civil duty to participate in deep learning and with that learning to educate and share knowledge with others.
    A third point of discussion of this lecture is a call to action. In order to keep learning and teaching, we as African American students must continue to grow and share our wisdom with others. The Students of Howard University carry a grave tradition and without our sharing of knowledge with others, this tradition will die. The best forum for distributing this knowledge would be by keeping the Mbongi alive.
    In all, this Mbongi has defined our responsibilities and growth of knowledge for all future Mbongi's and has called us to action to take what we learn in this forum and share it with the community.

Kristen Bailey