President David Burks announced via a campus-wide email Monday, Feb. 1, that the University will celebrate Elijah Anthony and Dr. Howard Wright \u2014 the first Black undergraduate students to earn bachelor\u2019s degrees from Harding in 1968 \u2014 by naming the Administration building in their honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to renaming the building, a bronze three-dimensional plaque will bear the images of Anthony and Wright, recounting their stories and legacies at Harding. Plaques will also be installed to honor the first three Black students who enrolled as undergraduates at the University \u2014 Lewis Brown, Walter Cunningham and David Johnson \u2014 as well as the first two Black students to be awarded graduate degrees from the University in 1965 \u2014 Thelma Smith and Curtis Sykes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A dedication ceremony will be held Homecoming weekend in October 2021 to honor these alumni and the Black community. At this event, Brown, Johnson and Cunningham, who did not graduate from the University, will be awarded honorary degrees during the ceremony, Johnson\u2019s and Cunningham\u2019s posthumously, Burks said in his email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision came after the University Task Force on Recognizing African American Achievement proposed the idea to the board of trustees in October. Dr. Greg Harris, who is the chair of the task force, said that upon the task force\u2019s formation, they began searching for ways in which they could landmark these people on campus. After finding that the Administration building was not dedicated to anyone, they pursued renaming and dedicating the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were able to come up with this as a great beginning to going down a path of honoring people that have given so much to Harding University, and \u2026 in this case, especially our African American alumni,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wright and Anthony stood out as people to honor, not only because they were the first Black undergraduate students to complete their degrees from Harding, but because of their continued legacy at the University, Harris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anthony said when he came to Harding, it set him on a path he was not anticipating and presented challenges he had not foreseen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a very hot time for us in the \u201960s during the civil rights movement, so coming out of that, we were pro-Black and looking to go in a progressively HBCU direction,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cAnd I deviated from that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon his arrival at campus, people were reluctantly cordial and distant, Anthony said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEspecially for students of color who were coming onto that campus for the first time as full time students, I just expected that there would be somebody there to kind of take us by the hand and say, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m your person\u2019… and that was not there,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cSo \u2026 it was almost like being dropped somewhere and learning firsthand how you\u2019re viewed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anthony said despite these challenges, he learned how to persevere and thrive in an environment that tested his limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt really intensified my desire to fulfill the need that is [at Harding],\u201d Anthony said. \u201cYou know, it\u2019s like, when people get to a place where they\u2019re so coldhearted that they cannot sympathize and empathize with others, to me it says that person can\u2019t ever see themselves in the position of those they see going through problems \u2014 and I think that\u2019s where compassion begins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anthony said he has become more involved with the University throughout the past several years, after being invited to speak at chapel and on-campus events. He said he has seen great change since his time as a student \u2014 an engagement and diversity that was not there before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt took us over 50 years to get to this point,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cHow much longer will it take us before we can drop all of the superficialities and just love each other as God\u2019s children, regardless of how we look?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wright said when he stepped onto Harding\u2019s campus, he did not know he would be stepping into history, nor the journey he would be facing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m from the North and I\u2019m also Black, so it was an interesting time, it was a difficult time, it was a complex time, it was an extremely [historic] time \u2014 little did I know it was going to be that [historic],\u201d Wright said. \u201cGod gave me a lot of favor and a lot of grace to get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wright said several years after graduating from Harding, he began becoming more involved again by reading publications and learning what was going on at the University. Wright said that upon doing so, he quickly noticed that the proportion of Black students enrolled at the University nearly 20 years later had hardly changed from 1968 when he graduated \u2014 roughly 3 or 4%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat disturbed me,\u201d Wright said. \u201cSo from that point on I started talking to faculty members and staff and administrators, trying to get involved in some of the good things that were going on at Harding so I could tell all of my ministry colleagues that Harding could be a place that \u2026 students could come and want to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wright currently serves on the University board of trustees, as well as the Task Force on Recognizing African American Achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senior Raissa Ames, who is a former Black Student Association (BSA) president and a current member of the task force, said she is pleased that Wright and Anthony \u2014 as well as Brown, Cunningham, Johnson, Smith and Sykes \u2014 will be honored and hopes the University will continue to pursue ways to honor and include Black members of the Harding community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe decision for the [Administration building] has to do with the fact that it houses both the business and registrar\u2019s offices, [which] play a large role in the admission of students \u2026 which at one point did not service Black individuals,\u201d Ames said. \u201cSo, to rename this significant building after the first two Black graduates of the University is a powerful statement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ames said she hopes the University will expound upon these efforts by celebrating and appreciating the Black staff on campus \u2014 who are essential to the University\u2019s ability to function and succeed \u2014 as well as the BSA and Multicultural Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just in awe of them because of the legacy they\u2019ve laid here for so many of us African Americans that are here \u2014 Black faculty and staff and fellow alumni \u2014 that have come after them,\u201d Harris said. \u201cThey forged that road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harris said that Wright and Anthony exemplified bravery, helping and blessing so many people who came after them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy journey at Harding was a must for me,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cI needed to go through everything I went through there to bring me to this day that we\u2019re enjoying right now, and this honor that\u2019s being bestowed upon us is because of this journey. We persisted, and there\u2019s nothing that gives me more joy than to realize that \u2026 young people will be able to use my experiences as fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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