Well don’t think about calling on Tyrone too soon for financial aid because he’s fraudulently broke the bank, leaving many students at Howard University in a crisis. It has been reported by many sources that 6 Howard University Students and Employees have been fired for misappropriated funds of $1 million from 2007-2016.
According to CNN, since Thursday, students have been protesting asking for answers and for the president of Howard U, Wayne A.I. Fredrick to resign. Tyrone Hankerson, was repeatedly awarded a $65,000 “University Need Based Grant.” , reported by Medium.
Please read the letter addressing the current leadership from Howard University Student Association:
Please read the official statement from the Howard University Student Association regarding misappropriation of University funds #StudentPowerHUpic.twitter.com/M94jfez6Zl
Rihanna has retweeted the video below which shows the students singing “Bitch Better Have Money” while taking over the administration building.
Howard students found out employees stole over $1M in financial aid so they took over their Administration building and started singing ‘Bitch Better Have My Money.” pic.twitter.com/760u3TFZwc
Here are some images allegedly reported by the whistleblower, who put the university on blast about its lack of transparency.
“Screenshot showing excessive aid awarded to former Associate Director of Financial Aid in 2014–2015, SOURCE: Anonymous Financial Aid Employee — Whistleblower” (from cached source) Medium
“Screenshot showing excessive aid awarded to former student employee in 2013–2014, SOURCE: Anonymous Financial Aid Employee — Whistleblower” image courtesy of (cached source Medium)
My goal for this story is to share the legacy of 5 amazing women in the Africa Diaspora that you may or may not know. In my spirit, I felt that these ladies needed to be heard and remembered for their works. In many cases we always remember those who are well known and we seem to forget about those who did the work but aren’t credited enough. Here are my five women you should know:
Vivian G. Harhs’s picture courtesy of the Chicago Public Library.
Vivian G. Harsh
Born Vivian Gordon Harsh in Chicago on May 27, 1890; she was the first African American librarian in the Chicago Public School system, the first Black professional librarian in Chicago, and a significant contributor to Chicago’s Black Renaissance. Vivian began her 60-year-librarian-career in 1909 as a Junior Clerk at the Chicago Public Library, she received her B.A. from Simmons College in Boston, and she took advanced courses at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Library Science. While working with Carter G. Woodson she recognized the need for librarian services on the South Side of Chicago, in the heart of the African American community. Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature is housed at Carter G. Woodson Library. She is remembered as “The historian who never wrote”.
Hazel M. Johnson’s picture courtesy of Surviving to Thriving Summit Dot Org
Hazel Johnson
Hazel Johnson is known as the “Mother of Environmental Justice Movement”, and a resident of Atlgeld Gardens Public Housing. She founded “People for Community Recovery” in 1979, 10-years after her husband died of lung cancer in 1969, which was the cause for her four decades of activism. She documented illnesses and physical ailments that frequently punished her neighbors. She linked them to polluted air, water, and contaminated soil. She also played a role in Barack Obama’s starting career in public service. The Gardens is where he got his start in politics as a Community Organizer in the 1980s. As reported by The Washington Post, Cheryl Johnson, Hazel’s daughter, “was a nursing student when Obama arrived, and she remembers watching him and her mother strategizing many nights at her kitchen table. They made an odd pair, she said: “He was in his 20s. She was in her 40s. But they learned off each other.”” She received a gold medal from George Bush and was recognized by Bill Clinton for her environmental work in Chicago.
Amanda Berry Lewis’s picture courtesy of William Hull.
Amanda Berry Lewis
Amanda Berry Lewis was born into slavery January 23, 1837 in Long Green, Maryland. Her father worked to buy her family’s freedom. She was a Methodist Holiness Evangelist and Missionary, who traveled to Great Britain, India, and Africa to share her gifts. After her services overseas, she returned to the states where she founded the Amanda Smith Orphanage and Industrial Home for Abandoned and Destitute Colored Children in Harvey, Illinois in 1899. She couldn’t support the school sufficiently, so she left and moved to Florida which became her final resting place.
Dr. Maria K. Mootry’s picture courtesy of her son, Johnathan P. Ikerionwu of Springfield.
Dr. Maria K. Mootry
Maria Mootry was born January 3, 1944 in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Farragut High School in Chicago, Illinois at 16-years-old. She went on to receive her BA from Roosevelt University, Masters at the University of Wisconsin, and Doctorate from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She performed research in bioethics regarding race. She was a Professor of English and an unknown leader in African American history who was an Co-Editor of Gwendolyn Brooks “A Life Distilled”. Mootry taught at Southern Illinois of Carbondale, Grinnell College, and University of Illinois at Springfield. In 1980, she co-Founded the Poetry Factory in Carbondale, Illinois which encouraged others to write and publish. Much of her work isn’t known but its been floating around making a difference. You can visit Dr. Maria K. Mootry’s works at Carter G. Woodson Library, Maria Mootry Papers, and her website www.MariaMootry.com .
Mother Mary Lena Lewis Tate’s picture courtesy of Church of the Living God, the Pillar, and Ground of Truth, Inc.
Mother Mary Lena Lewis Tate
Mother Mary Lewis Tate was the first known woman to organize an internationally recognized church and to elevate to Bishop ranking. She was born Mary Lena Street January 5, 1871 in Vanleer, Tennessee. She spent most of her life in the rural south where she had little opportunity to be educated. She established the Church of the Living God, the Pillar, and Ground of Truth, Inc. in 1903. Tate’s Apostle service extended far beyond religion into the heart of the people and the system of inalienable rights and freedoms. St. Mary Lena Lewis Tate prevailed through the struggle of education, transportation, and communication to carry out her duties. She traveled by walking while using barges, steamships, mule-drawn wagons, broken-down automobiles, and Jim Crow trains. She compassionately surpassed the many barriers of social and religious bias.
Cool Fact:
Dr. Maria K. Mootry is the descendant of Mother Mary Lena Lewis Tate. Dr. Mootry is her great granddaughter.
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