Howard University honors VP Kamala Harris with 49 bell tolls and Black national anthem
Harris historic inauguration has been hailed as a triumph by HBCUs.
ABCNews
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WASHINGTON As Kamala Harris became the 49th vice president of the United States on Wednesday morning, the bells at her alma mater Howard University in Washington, D.C., tolled 49 times to honor the historic moment.
Harris, who is of Black and South Asian descent, became the first woman vice president and the first woman of color to hold this office after she was sworn in on Inauguration Day by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
WASHINGTON Lift Ev ry Voice and Sing, a civil rights hymn that speaks to the faith and resilience of African Americans, was sung for the first time in 1900 at the height of segregation and lynching.
A century later, Rep. James Clyburn is introducing a bill in Congress to make it the official national hymn, alongside the national anthem. Lift Ev ry Voice and Sing has come to be known as the Black national anthem. Meanwhile, The Star-Spangled Banner has been widely criticized in recent years because it contains lyrics that glorify slavery. To make it a national hymn, I think, would be an act of bringing the country together. It would say to people, You aren t singing a separate national anthem, you are singing the country s national hymn, the South Carolina Democrat told USA Today. The gesture itself would be an act of healing. Everybody can identify with that song.
The JAX Chamber Foundation introduced Dec. 16 the Lewis and White Business League, a forum and program intended to improve economic opportunity for African Americans in Jacksonville.
The league will include connections to business and educational advancement, quarterly meetings with guest speakers, and networking and mentoring opportunities, said a news release from the chamber.
The initiative is named in honor of A.L. Lewis and Eartha White, African American business leaders in Jacksonville and charter members of the National Negro Business League. The league was founded in 1900 by Booker T. Washington to advance the economic conditions of African Americans.
“We listened to African American business and community leaders to hear how they thought the Chamber could make a difference addressing racial inequities that sadly still exist in our community and the idea of a network like this came up several times,” JAX Chamber President and CEO Daniel Davis said in the release.