Memphis college celebrates 160 years

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Celebrations are to ensure that LeMoyne-Owen College. 

The 12 months of commemoration kicked off Friday and we had been there to talk with college students and directors about what this milestone means.

Generally, we discover inspiration in essentially the most sudden locations. For Alex Wilks, it was on his college bus as a toddler.

“Lecturers on our faculty bus had been letting us know that is LeMoyne-Owen Faculty. At school, I had some LeMoyne Owen alumni who had been academics. They at all times talked about LeMoyne-Owen and the way highly effective of an HBCU it’s. I needed to return right here and go away my legacy as properly,” stated Alex Wilks, a LeMoyne-Owen Faculty senior.

It is a legacy that now spans 160 years. On Friday, the faculty kicked off a 12 months of commemoration in honor of turning 160.

“It makes me really feel nice, particularly as an African-American male. Schooling isn’t one thing that’s pushed on us as a result of whenever you assume again in time … folks just about stored us from being educated,” stated Wilks.

That is a actuality the faculty has lived and survived.

“Anytime you’ve got longevity, that’s one thing to be celebrated. Anytime you’ve got longevity in opposition to adversity, that’s a double purpose to rejoice,” stated Clarence Christian, LeMoyne-Owen Faculty’s Nationwide Annual Fundraising Chair. “The school grew out of the social justice motion in America began in 1862.”

The school witnessed historic occasions from massacres and yellow fever to the Civil Rights motion.

“Regardless of all that, we’re nonetheless right here,” stated Dr. Christian. “To have the ability to survive adversity means you’ve got outstanding resilience.”

That resilience has stored the nation’s fifth-oldest HBCU going and confirmed the worth and significance of Traditionally Black Schools and Universities.

“They perceive what we’ve to undergo as Black girls and Black males,” stated LeMoyne-Owen Faculty senior Tamar Anderson.

“Whenever you come to an HBCU, you’re feeling the love and never solely that, however you be taught extra about your self,” stated LeMoyne-Owen Pupil Authorities Affiliation President Daebreon Leach.

“Not solely will we attempt to present the scholars with an training, however we construct them with these social justice impulses, an impulse to exit and attempt to assist change the world,” stated Christian.

“One factor about us is constructing a practice and never resting upon one. That’s what I’m going to proceed to do,” stated Wilks.