March 2023 Letter to the Howard Community

 

Dear Howard University Community,

Earlier this month, we proudly commemorated the 156th birthday of our esteemed institution. A number that considerable certainly emphasizes the historical significance of our University since its official creation, but given our increasing distance from the customs of that era, it also makes it somewhat easy to take for granted that Howard University even exists at all.

On March 2, 1867, against the backdrop of a post-Civil War America, U.S. President Andrew Johnson signed the charter for The Howard University, opening the door for the Black scholarship, artistry, and global leadership so closely associated with our collective identity today. Yet absolutely nothing about President Johnson suggests that educating these newly freed Black people was of import to him. In fact, Johnson vetoed the Freedmen's Bureau, the first Civil Rights Act, and the first Reconstruction bill, and he openly opposed the Fourteenth Amendment, all measures intended to codify the citizenship of African Americans nationwide.

Brilliant historians such as our own Dr. Rayford W. Logan have speculated as to why President Johnson ultimately agreed to Howard's formation, but no matter the reason, Johnson's actions taken in totality undergird a truth I find increasingly undeniable: Our government may be messy at times, but it works. Despite the continued work our government and our country more broadly must undergo to reach her stated ideals of life, liberty, and justice for all, Howard University persists as evidence of what is achievable, and especially now that the first female Vice President of the United States just so happens to also be a product of our beloved Alma Mater.

Progress only materializes on the account of good people looking to make the difference they want to see in the world. Without the prodding of our University's founders, there is little to no chance President Johnson undertakes the Howard University experiment on his own, forever altering the course of history. We must be similarly convicted in advocating for our beliefs today. Otherwise, we risk being passive participants in our own futures, an abdication of our hard-fought autonomy that our forebears would certainly disapprove.

I remain optimistic that true human equality will not require another 156 years to secure, and yet I know too well those gears will not simply turn on their own. Given our location in the nation's capital and our historical relationship with the United States government, we at Howard remain uniquely positioned to hold our public officials accountable, and hold them accountable we must. Even as we celebrate another milestone year for the University, our work as change agents remains vital to our future -- both as an institution and as a people.

Excellence in Truth and Service,

 

Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA
Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery
President