Dear Reader,
After decades in the business of education, it still gives me great joy to promote others’ accomplishments as if they were my own. Before retirement in 2017, I looked forward each year to lending advocacy for the work of faculty, alumni, staff, and students at Howard University, which is also my alma mater.
Through promotion of inspiring programs, innovative curricula, scholarly presentations, and groundbreaking research opportunities and developments, I continued this mission. Simultaneously, I personally gleaned a wealth of the rich historical context surrounding each exciting program development.
This issue of the magazine continues to provide such opportunities and accomplishments across the spectrum of faculty, alumni, and associates of HBCU colleges and universities. I trust that you will continue to stay safe and enjoy these exciting developments.
Sincerely,
Gwendolyn S. Bethea, Ph.D.
Editor
Vitamin D: A Closer Look and Suggestions
– By Zenobia D. Bailey
Do you make fish such as Carp, Salmon, and Sturgeon a regular part of your diet? If so, you are adding a good amount of the Sunshine vitamin through food. Like its nickname, Sunshine, Vitamin D is difficult to receive through diet. Those who intentionally spend a specific amount of time in the sun each day, depending on skin tone and geographic location, will find our natural sunlight to be the best source of Vitamin D.
The challenge is location…location…location, seeing that much of the country does not enjoy sun, for most of the year. For individuals living in these locales, supplementation becomes a worthy “companion.”The bottom line, however, is that although Carp, Salmon, and Sturgeon contain the highest amounts of Vitamin D, it is still a drop in the bucket for what is considered desirable amounts. For every 3 ounces of these fish, Carp contains 839.8 IU, Salmon contains 374.4 IU, and Sturgeon contains 545.7 IU, a low minimum of 6 ounces of Salmon and approximately 5 ounces of Carp and Sturgeon would be needed every day.
Just this month, I attended the American Association of Nutrition’s 2020 Conference. During the Metabolic Shift and Immune Resilience presentation, by Robert Bonakdar, MD, FAAFP, FACN,he confirmed many of the reports that relate low Vitamin D levels to the contraction and severity of COVID 19.
During my annual doctor’s visit, with Vandita Samavedi, MD, I was delighted to hear herpraise my use of Vitamin D3. She was just as delighted, stating, “you are so proactive when it comes to your health.” Folks, I’ve now crossed over the 7th decade. Without a doubt, my scans and lab work are indicative of the role Vitamin D has had and continues to have in helping to reduce myrisk of osteopenia, osteoporosis, and fractures.
Vitamin D also benefits the body in the following ways:
• Affects over 2000 genes
• Aids calcium absorption
• Provides protection against type 1 diabetes
• Reduces risk of some cancers, including breast and prostate cancer Reduces risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke
• Reduces autoimmunity, including multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease/ rheumatoid arthritis (RA); and
• Supports immune health by improving resistance to infections and more.
Dr. Jamie MacManus, FAAAP, Chairman of Shaklee’s Medical Affairs Health Sciences and Education, author of the article, Vitamin D – More than just for your bones, reports, “people who live near the equator and spend enough time outdoors, without sunscreen, have healthy vitamin D levels and osteoporosis is almost unheard of”(McManus, May 14, 2020).McManus further states, “for the many millions who live in the US, Canada, and Europe, it is much more challenging to meet our Vitamin D needs via sunlight. While wearing sunscreens with greater than 15 SPF is recommended, it inhibits 95+% of the production of Vitamin D in our skin. Supplementation is essentially the only way to achieve adequate, let alone optimum, blood levels”(McManus, 2020).
It should be noted that Vitamin D recommendations vary by individuals and their respective health factors. However, current minimum daily requirements are 15 micrograms per day. The Institute of Medicine recommends that women get at least 90 micrograms and men get at least 120 micrograms per day. I highly suggest that you see your health care practitioner, for blood work, to indicate your baseline.
Vitamins A, D, and E are scheduled to fully convert from I.U.s to milligrams or micrograms, by January 2021. In the meantime, here is a calculator to assist you.
NOTES:
Jamie McManus, M.D. is the Chair of Medical Affairs for Shaklee Corporation. In this capacity, she provides medical expertise and perspective regarding clinical studies, product development as well as delivering much of the educational messaging related to health and wellness.
Vandita Samavedi, M.D. is an Internal Medicine Specialist in Washington, with over 30 years of experience in the medical field. Her practice focuses on primary and preventive care for men and women. Her medical interests include geriatrics, diabetes, cholesterol management, and women’s healthcare.
Dr. Robert Bonakdar, M.D. is the Director of Pain Management at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine. He also serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine. Board certified by the American Board of Family Practice,
Related Media and Articles:
https://CoachZenobiaBailey.tinytake.com/tt/NDgyOTUxOV8xNTIzNzA1NQ
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m3872/rr
https://nypost.com/2020/10/27/study-finds-over-80-percent-of-covid-19-patients-vitamin-d-deficient/
Zenobia D. Bailey, MA is an integrated wellness/author and editor who graduated from Howard University in 1972, majoring in English and Journalism and the University of Iowa (1973) in Journalism Communication. She is a member of the American College of Nutrition and the Cooper Institute as well as Women in e-Commerce and the Women Owned Business Club.
Follow Zenobia at:
The Challenges of Testing Bias: A Continuing Reality
– By Teresa S. Williams, Ph.D.and Gwendolyn S. Bethea, Ph.D.
Decades ago, researchers provided evidence that US testing was inherently biased against children of color. Williams (1983) citing research on the subject, determined that tests did not take under consideration backgrounds of students, culturally, economically, socially, and a host of other factors, and in fact tests were more likely geared to the backgrounds of students in the majority of the population. Williams concluded that the standardized testing of minority students has stimulated some of the most crucial and antagonistic debates in education. The consequence is that there is little evolution in the capacity of the educational system to adapt to the needs of minority students that are grounded in cultural differences. In one sense, standardized tests reflect this inertia, and in another, they contribute to the problem. She stated further that critics of the testing movement assert that current tests purporting to measure intelligence, aptitude, or achievement are biased against certain ethnic/racial groups. Proponents generally protest that misuse of such tests is the real culprit. Many critics of standardized testing claim that bias is inherent in the socio-economic structure of our society and that test characteristics or use must be examined in this context.
More than 15 years later, Jenks and Phillips (1998) researched similar testing bias.In their book , The Black-White Test Score Gap, they assert that test bias, heredity, and home environment play a part in the test score gap between blacks and whites. They state that eliminating the disparity would dramatically reduce economic and educational inequality between blacks and whites and that closing the gap would do more to promote racial equality than any other strategy then under serious discussion.
Fast forward 20 years later, Elsesser (2020) reported on a UCLA law suit that claims SAT and ACT are still biased. New lawsuits are demanding that the University of California system eliminate the requirement that students take the SAT or ACT and that score requirement be excluded from admission. The lawsuits, filed on behalf of the Compton Unified School District, four students and six community organizations, claim that the tests are biased and don’t predict a student’s potential success.
Stated Elsesser, those who support testing suggest it’s the only way to objectively compare students from different high schools. For example, one student who received all Asin a high school with a less challenging curriculum, cannot be compared objectively with a student who received all Bs in a more challenging school. The SAT and ACT theoretically might be one of the major determining factors in making an objective decision.
However, she continues that the lawsuit argues that using the tests violates the state’s anti-discrimination statute because it disadvantages children of color, children from low-income families and children with disabilities. Students from lower income families score lower than students from higher income families, although there are exceptions to these results. Also, incidences of gender bias may be a factor. By simply stating one’s gender before the test begins sets the stage for lower or higher expectation on the part of both the test taker or the test grader, or both. In regards to ethnicity, in 2018, combined SAT scores for Asian and White students averaged over 1100, while all other groups averaged below 1000. Examination of income comparisons revealed that in 2015, students with family income less than $20,000 scored lowest on the test, and those with family income above $200,000 scored highest. The average reading score for those students whose family income is below $20,000 was 433, but the average for those with incomes of above $200,000 was 570. Some factors included costly test preparation.
Moreover, the recent cheating scandals revealed preferential treatment for admissions, based on income and intentionally modified records.
Currently, at least 1,000 schools provide an option to exclude test scores in the admissions process. Such an option may level the playing field in the admissions process, matriculation and in long term career success.
References:
Bethea, G.S. and Williams, T. (2020). “Testing Bias: A Continuing Reality, HBCU Speakers Bureau and
Research Magazine.
Elesser, Kim (2020), Sex and the Office: Women, Men and the Sex Partition that’s Dividing the Workplace
Williams, T.S. (1983), Some Issues in the Standardized Testing of Minority Students.
Journal of Education, v165 n2 p192-208 Spr 1983
Teresa Scotton Williams, Ph.D. taught Marketing Research at the School of Business, Howard University and Statistics and Measurements at Oral Roberts University for over twenty years combined. Gwendolyn S. Bethea Ph.D., is editor of the HBCU Speakers Bureau and Research Magazine. She was formerly director of Expository Writing and of the Preparing Future Faculty Program, Howard University Graduate School,
GRANTS
The NIH Path to Excellence & Innovation Initiative
About the Path to Excellence and Innovation
The PEI Initiative is a tremendous opportunity for the National Institutes of Health to work more collaboratively with Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The mission of the PEI Initiative is to empower HBCUs with the knowledge, resources, and skills they need to effectively and consistently compete for and win contracts from the National Institutes of Health and thereby diversify revenue streams and create more research opportunities for those academic institutions.
The PEI Initiative is a uniquely designed step-by-step roadmap to create significantly more opportunities for HBCUs through collaboration with business partners by providing training and technical assistance to HBCUs applying for NIH contracts and grants.
Pilot HBCU Teams
Fiscal Year 2021 Expansion
• In fiscal year 2021, the Path to Excellence and Innovation (PEI) program will begin offering more extensive acquisition training and technical assistance for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The expanded program also will foster partnerships between HBCUs and businesses.
• The ultimate goal of the next phase of the PEI Initiative will be to assist the Small Business Program Office in empowering HBCUs to secure 2% of NIH contracts.
PEI HBCU Webinars
HBCU Capability Statement/NAICS Code Refresher Webinar
• Download the Powerpoint
• Download the Webinar
• Download a template capability statement (Industry Format)
• Download a template capability statement (HHS Format)
HBCU GSA Schedules Webinar
• Download the Powerpoint
• Download the Webinar
NITAAC Webinar for HBCUs
HOWARD UNIVERSITY
School of Divinity Awarded $1 Million Grant to Launch the Ethical Leadership and Racial Justice Initiative
The Lilly Endowment Inc., a private philanthropic foundation, has awarded $1 million to the Howard University School of Divinity (HUSD) to launch the Ethical Leadership and Racial Justice Initiative.
ALABAMA A&M UNIVERSITY
Researcher Gets Coveted Award for Work as Young Scientist
An Alabama A&M University scientist has received one of the highest honors awarded by the 1890 Association of Research Directors.
Dr. Venkateswara Sripathi, an assistant professor of plant and molecular biology in the College of Agricultural, Life and Natural Sciences (CALNS), is the 2019 recipient of the B.D. Mayberry Young Scientist Award.
The professor’s range of work impacts both high school and college students, in addition to farmers and the private sector. Sripathi has submitted over 10 grant proposals and has been responsible for securing nearly $1 million for AAMU through USDA/NIFA and USDA/ARS.
A focus of his myriad research has been the identification of genes associated with Reniform Nematode Resistance in cotton. He has written three book chapters, and produced more than 25 peer-reviewed publications.
Murder and the Masquerade
– By Dorothy Phaire, Ph.D.
Reviewed by Gwendolyn S. Bethea, Ph.D.
Murder and the Masquerade by Washington, DC author and professor Dorothy Phaire brings to life characters whose lives and careers are an entangled web of passion, intrigue, and unexpected tragedy. With Washington, DC and the surrounding metro area as a background, the novel may be pleasantly and sometimes achingly familiar to residents in its social, political, and economic landscape and nuances. This fact is especially true in the characters’ dialogue and interactions as they painstakingly strive for personal and professional fulfillment.
Chief protagonist Dr. Renee Hayes is a beautiful, successful psychologist, who exemplifies many black women and women of all classes and cultures who live in urban America, but particularly in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She and her husband, Bill, began their married lives with hopes and dreams of rising together in a dizzying labyrinth of professional and personal success. The roller coaster of life eventually bursts this bubble into a million fragmented pieces.
Although Renee’s successful practice is obviously evident in the well-heeled trappings of her home and professional life, there is something desperately missing in her childless, loveless marriage. While half-heartedly resisting temptation, she ultimately rediscovers the lost passion in her life, while seeking to help her flawed clients realize their own emotional needs.
For example, in one of several plot twists, Veda, a client whose early life was fraught with emotional neglect, becomes the victim of the greed and ambition of her love interest, Lamar. She seeks revenge and her decisions alter the course of both their lives, yet she ultimately takes the reigns of her life, for better or worse.
Amidst this backdrop, Deek, the dreamy-eyed, well-built detective enters Renee’s life, and risks his own to unravel the murder mystery in which she unwittingly becomes entangled. While the role of detective is Deek’s profession, meeting Renee’s deep emotional desires becomes his ultimate calling. He embodies all that Renee has longed for even while she climbed the career ladder, eventually becoming immune to any emotional connection with her husband. A tragic turn of events involves the downward spiral of the health of baby Susanna whose adoption by Renee, against Bill’s wishes, also brings her to at least put a temporary ending to their complicated relationship.
Readers will find themselves identifying and immediately intrigued by this modern-day novel of mystery, tragedy, love and high-stakes chain of events.
Dr. Dorothy Phaire is associate professor of English, University of the District of Columbia
THE CLEVOLUTION: My Quest for Justice in Politics & Crypto: A GenX Memoir
– By Cleve Mesidor
Struggling to find her place in the world, Cleve Mesidor, a Gen Xer, chronicles her nomadic journey that begins during the tumultuous 70s in Haiti. After migrating to NYC, she gets swept up by hip hop culture in the 80s and 90s. Later in her twenties, she is catapulted into Washington politics at the dawning of the 21st century. Navigating political campaigns, economic crises, and progressive hypocrisy, disillusionment sets in but she stumbles into hope while going down the blockchain and cryptocurrency rabbit hole.
Cleve Mesidor leads the National Policy Network of Women of Color in Blockchain and is founder of LOGOS. She publishes a weekly newsletter, Blockchain Buzz. Cleve is currently on the Board of Value Technology Foundation and is an Advisor to BlockShop. Previously, she served as an Obama Presidential Appointee and worked in Congress for U.S. Representatives Barbara Lee (CA) and Betty McCollum (MN). Cleve earned a Master of Arts degree from Howard University and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. She started her career in broadcasting at CNN’s Washington Bureau.
Cleve Mesidor
twitter.com/cmesi
www.linkedin.com/in/cmesi/
www.clevemesidor.com
www.theclevolution.com
INTERVIEW WITH FREDERICK D. HARPER, PH.D.
GENERAL
Your books are a wide range of genres: including poetry, fiction, counseling, education, and of an autobiographical nature. Which would you say is your favorite genre? Why?
It is difficult for me to choose a favorite from among any items or any genres. My writings are mainly aimed at helping the reader and to a lesser degree entertaining the reader, especially with regard to my creative writings. Since my university retirement in 2012, I have mainly or almost entirely published creative writings which include eight books since retirement, a published book a year. Some of these books were in the making prior to my retirement. Because I have published more than 1,200 poems, I believe and would say that writing poetry comes easily. I am led to believe that poetry may be my gifted and unconsciously chosen genre. Second to creative writing of poetry, I would say that creative storytelling is a natural gift and favorite genre of mine as revealed in my novel, The Durabone Prophecies, and other books.
How much are you influenced personally by your heritage or ancestry? Your writing generally?
Authors often write from the purview of their worldview, which includes their life experiences (e.g., formal education, multicultural experiences, and readings). My worldview has been shaped by my readings of hundreds of books on racial and ethnocultural themes. In terms of my family ancestry, I am a descendant of the Yoruba tribe of West Africa (on my mother’s side) and Ireland (on my father’s side). I am knowledgeable as well as proud of my racial heritage and my family ancestry. I believe that I received my poetry-writing gift from my Irish side and Ireland’s love of creative writers and poetry. Even more, my bi-racial paternal grandfather, of Irish descent, was a natural writer, although he died before getting his book manuscript published. I believe that my storytelling gift was derived from my West African heritage and African American cultural influence. Again, the gift of my storytelling is evident in my comprehensive novel, The Durabone Prophecies. I would say that storytelling is also evidenced in my satire, Ijamama Speaks, and in my recently published book (2020) titled, The Stories. I am who I am as a person and writer because of my DNA, the souls of writers before me and within me, and my life experiences.
Does writing give you a type of personal release?
I would not say that writing gives me “personal release.” To a degree, it is what I was born, anointed, and shaped by my experiences to do. Psychologist Abraham Maslow once wrote, “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he [or she] is to be ultimately at peace with himself [or herself].” Michael Jordan was born and developed to be a great basketball player and not a great writer or poet. I write prolifically, because I have much to share and say and because it is a gift from God or a spirit existence. Writing is what I do and what I was born to do. Writing is what I am driven and motivated to do. Writing gives me a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction, especially when others demonstrate their appreciation of my writings or benefit from my writings.
POETRY
Why did you begin writing poetry?
I began writing poetry, I believe, because poetry was within my soul and in my DNA. It was what I was born and destined to do as a thinker and intellectual. Poetry and poetic thought just came and continually come to me, sometimes in dreams and sometimes in a wakened state, just as music comes to some famous musical composers or songwriters. Over 19 years after graduation with my B.S. degree, I wrote poems and just filed them away. When I had enough poems for a book, I published my first book of poetry, Poems on Love and Life, in 1985. I now have published 17 books of poetry, and I have an 18th poetry book in progress. Seemingly, the more I wrote down and published my poems, the more poems came and continue to come to me from a spirit source unknown but felt.
HBCUs
What would you say are the advantages/disadvantages of attending an HBCU? Teaching at an HBCU?
I attended two HBCUs (Edward Waters College, B.S. and Florida A&M University, M.Ed.) and three predominantly white institutions (PWIs) or universities—including postdoctoral study in experimental psychology. As I look back over my life, I now appreciate even more the Black cultural milieu of HBCUs and the instructors and professors who cared and went out of the way to teach and mentor me. I wrote about several of these great instructors and professors in my book, The Stories. I have taught 42 years at HBCU Howard University, and I have taught as an adjunct (part-time) or visiting professor at one college and seven other universities. As visiting professor, I taught a summer at HBCU University of the Virgin Islands and one semester part-time at HBCU University of the District of Columbia (D.C.). I have enjoyed teaching, mentoring, and helping my own Black people, which included Black international students at Howard University, mainly from African countries and Caribbean countries. I have gone out of the way to give all I could to help my HBCU students who often appreciated my teaching and natural humor in the classroom. I modeled some of my teaching after the outstanding Black teachers and professors who taught me. It is difficult for me to think of “disadvantages” of working at HBCUs except sometimes there was a lack of the abundant resources that are found at some comparable PWIs. Howard University may have been an exceptional HBCU in terms of providing faculty support in the forms of sabbatical time for research and study, funds for travel to conferences, small university-sponsored research grants, and support for my work as Editor-in-Chief of three scholarly journals. I very often took advantage of all of these. Although Florida State University is a PWI, as the first African American to work in the university’s counseling center during my doctoral study, I enjoyed helping the many Black students who had multiple needs and problems.
TEACHING IN THE US
What have been the most challenging teaching experiences in the US? Overseas?
Probably the most demanding and challenging teaching experience was when I had two full-time teaching jobs. I was initially hired to teach social studies and English in night school, five hourly courses between 5 and 10 PM. During that time, night school was for girls who were pregnant and not allowed to continue in day-time public school as well as for male and female dropouts who chose to return to complete their high school diploma. After a male social studies teacher of the same school, Stanton Vocational High School in Jacksonville, Florida, was drafted to the military and sent to the Viet Nam war, the day-school principal asked me if I would take his job, because the day school was conveniently in the same building as the night school. I accepted his offer and started teaching at day as my new teaching shift. I accepted the challenge of teaching two shifts 8 AM to 3 PM and 5 PM to 10 PM. It was fulfilling for me to help students with their challenges who returned to school to better themselves or returned to school while pregnant in order to have a better life for themselves and their future child. While the two jobs were fulfilling, they proved to be physically taxing. I once got an infected throat from talking all day, and I also got bursitis of a hip from standing much of the day and night. The bursitis (similar to pain of arthritis) was intermittent and infrequent until I started jogging after receiving my doctorate. After a year or two of jogging, I never experienced bursitis again. One of my most fulfilling classes was a night class of all pregnant girls and young women. They were full of positive energy and hope, and they repeatedly stated that they were completing their diploma to have a better job and life for their future family. This class of all pregnant females energized me after my first full-time, day teaching shift. During that time, 1965-1966, most if not all public schools in the county were racially segregated, so all of my students were African Americans.
FICTION
Did you model any of your fictional characters after anyone in your life?
Especially in my fiction novel, there are a few characters who are, to a degree, based on my professional work as a professor of counseling and psychotherapy and as a professional counselor. There are other fictional characters based on my encounters, colleagues, and friends to some degree. Most of the characters are created from my knowledge of human behavior and from my myriad professional and personal experiences in life.
COUNSELING
What was one of the most challenging professional counseling incidences of your career?
The most challenging counseling case I had as a professional counselor was a young, African American woman client at Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) in Jacksonville, Florida. I was working full-time at a community college as a counselor while working part-time in the evening at OIC, a program that trained African Americans and sought to place them on a job. The young woman, in her 20s, tested highest in the program on our group intelligence test. She had a baby, and she was unemployed. She had little money from government assistance and little help from the few people in her life. She was highly frustrated with all of her challenges and all of the unfulfilled promises and failures of government programs, church, and employment agencies. OIC yet was just another program that she heard about, and she was giving it a chance. She was angry because of all of her failures to get help from anybody or any organization or agency. The challenge for me was that it took me three one-hour counseling sessions to even get her to talk. I would orally give her information about the program and possible job opportunities, much more than usual, since she would not talk, that is, answer my questions or share anything about herself, her concerns, or her problems. I remember that her jaws were clenched due to apparent anger and frustration as she remained silent. When she eventually opened up and talked, she spewed out her anger about all of her challenges in trying to get help, and her feeling that this was just another such unhelpful program. I don’t recall if I found a job for her, which was her immediate concern and need. Because she tested so highly, I raised the possibility of college. However, she had no interest in my trying to find a scholarship and campus job for her. She stated that she had a baby, and she figured that would take too long to get needed income as well as needed childcare. When I asked her whether the baby’s father was in the picture and providing help, she was silent and did not reply. Unfortunately, I had to leave Jacksonville for the start of doctoral study, so I referred her to another counselor whom I felt could be of help. In a way, I saw my counseling her as a failure, because she had such great potential but dire immediate needs. She felt alone and helpless as a young African American mother with little to no help.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Describe a few of your experiences in the Civil Rights Movements?
At age 18 and upon graduation from high school, I founded a social club of young African American men. The club was named the Progressive Youngmen’s Club (PYC). Our focus was to address social injustice and racial segregation and to provide educational and cultural programs for African American high school and college youth. Among our activities, we desegregated a previously all white movie theater, attempted to desegregate a white bowling ally (but had to run for our lives), organized a college bowl contest for high school youth, sponsored a jazz concert and fashion show in downtown’s Civic Auditorium, and sponsored several back-to-college dances and parties for Black college youth. Our PYC also initiated a protest of our HBCU Edward Waters College during the spring of 1963—a protest for accreditation and improvement of teaching facilities and resources. The protest lasted for three weeks. Several members of our PYC club initially carried protest signs. Immediately, other students made signs and joined in, and, within one day, the protest led to a boycott of all classes as hundreds of students marched around the college’s administration building daily with protest signs while singing protest songs. One lyrical line that I recall was, “We’re gonna give some buildings in the morning—march on.” The administration promised change, but there was no observable change or progress during the ensuing fall semester.
After the spring-1963 college protest, I went to West Palm Beach, Florida and found a summer job working at a supermarket. A block away, there was a pharmacy with a racially segregated lunch counter. The young Black men who worked with me told me not to go there, because they didn’t serve Blacks. Nevertheless, I went alone one day and sat to be served. The waitress or server behind the counter told me they didn’t serve Blacks, so I came back several days later and refused to leave until the manager came. The female manager asked something like “What do you want?” I calmly answered, “I want to eat.” After pausing for a moment, she replied, “Who are you; what are you—Cuban, East Indian?” I calmly looked at her and answered. “I’m a human being, and I just want to eat.” After standing and staring at me with an appearance of loss for further words, she looked at the server behind the lunch counter and told her, “Go ahead and serve him.” This experience taught me that if you accept your place in society, you will remain in that place.
During my doctoral study at FSU, I became President of the Black Students’ Union for a semester before accepting a job as the first Black Students’ Adviser and soon after as the first African American counselor to work in the university counseling center. In all of these roles, my focus was not protest but to develop programs to help Black students and enhance race relations on campus. In doing so, I led interracial groups. Also, I wrote proposals for the development of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship and a Black Cultural Center. To this day, I am happy to know that these programs still exist at FSU as a benefit to Black students.
Who was the most influential person in your life?
I do not have a single “most influential person in my life”; however, I have school teachers and professors who come to mind and who positively changed the course of my life. I did not go to kindergarten or any type of preschool, so I was placed in group three in the first grade, which I hated. By third grade, it was my teacher, Mrs. Johnson, who recognized that I had a photographic memory, and thus she took me by my hand and escorted and promoted me to group one, which was a proud moment for me.
In high school, I had gotten off track by following my neighborhood friends and the guys in my classroom who were not on an academic or success path. It was my 11th grade English teacher and homeroom teacher, Mrs. Bland, who told me something like I know what you can do. I have checked your records. You had the highest academic average in 8th grade. If you don’t make the honor role, I will kill you. I took her words positively and as tough love, because I knew that she cared about her students and our development. Mrs. Bland used her volunteer time to organize a speech chorus for poetry and took us to several churches and public venues to perform. Around the same time, it was a music teacher and our school’s chorus director, Mr. Hadley (later to become Dr. Hadley) who saw me, en route to class, and asked me to come to his chorus practice. I had been in his chorus at another school when I was in 7th and 8th grades.
My English teacher in undergraduate college, Mr. Eaves (later to become Dr. Eaves), encouraged me to raise my level of academic performance. He raised his expectation for me—telling me that I was not working up to my potential. He gave me a difficult novel to read as my assignment, told me to use Encyclopedia Britannica instead of a lesser encyclopedia, and he volunteered his time for students of our class to meet with him on off-class days to teach us Greek and Latin root words and vocabulary. He cared about our educational development as all good teachers do. At Florida A&M University, it was Dr. A. A. Abraham, professor of Testing and Measurement, who was the ultimate role model of academic excellence and scholarship. He had published a number of scholarly articles and books, and he was well read and well spoken in words and idioms. Along with being a role model, Dr. Abraham demanded excellence in our written assignments. He did not tolerate errors in our typed reports. He influenced me to be meticulous in my formal writing. Dr. Abraham required the purchase of two text books, required us to read additional books, and required us to conduct and write up a research project, which was similar to a master’s degree thesis. My typed research paper was more than 50 double-spaced pages. During my doctoral study at FSU, it was Dr. Joyce Chick, who advocated for my admission as the first African American man to enter the Counselor Education doctoral program. She became my academic adviser, my professor in at least one course, and my dissertation adviser. I recall her telling my white classmates (I was the only person of color in the classroom), that “You all need to write like Fred Harper. His writing is concise and clear.” Dr. Chick was a tall, assertive white woman and the only female professor in our program. She believed in doing the right thing, especially when it came to human rights and social justice.
FAMILY
How have you managed to be such a strong family man and stay committed to your career, your passion for writing?
Growing up in the racially segregated South in Florida, I always saw Black men who worked and supported their families. My maternal grandfather and his wife had 8 children, including my mother who was the oldest. My grandfather worked two and three jobs—full-time as a cook with the railroad, part-time on weekends taking people home from the supermarket, and, in his spare time, he farmed a couple of our lots with the help of his children and two grandchildren (my sister and me). Also, I had an uncle who worked two full-time jobs (post office and a veterinary hospital) for more than 40 years and was supported by his wife (my mother’s sister) of 55 years up to her death. I even recall an African American blind man who sold peanuts and did not beg on a corner for money. He would have someone to drive him to the downtown area where he sat on the sidewalk or in the park on a bench with his basket of bagged peanuts for sale. I cannot recall a Black man who did not work or have a job or two. I don’t recall any Blacks standing on the corner or side of a street begging for money, which we sometimes see nowadays. Therefore, I inadvertently or unconsciously learned the value of hard work and family responsibility. As professor, I put my family and work first. I am proud of my two adult sons (ages 43 and 26) who both earn 6-figure salaries and who have worked since their teen years. My older son has four children, my grandchildren, and he is a hard worker and great father. I take joy in cooking for my grandchildren when they visit me and in supporting their activities and development. I take pride that the three grandchildren who are old enough are all honor society, AAU athletes, church participants, and school/community leaders. I recall a quote from one of my graduate school textbooks that states, “What a child looks upon, that child becomes.” Apparently, this has been true for me, my sons, and my grandchildren.
EXERCISE
You are a great jogger. Do you consider jogging more than a physical activity?
I view my jogging as a physical activity for health and spirituality. I have jogged year-around in extreme cold and hot weather conditions at times, but not as much in extreme weather in recent years as I have aged and must be careful—but recently I jogged more at my fitness club up to the Covid-19 pandemic. For ten or more years, I was jogging 10 to 15 miles per outing, which gave me what is known as a jogger’s high. To this date and since 1972, I have jogged more than 44,000 miles, which has contributed to my health, peace of mind, spiritual appreciation for our Earth as God’s real Garden of Eden, stamina, and productivity as a writer. I have jogged in 126 cities in the USA and other countries, and I have seen and appreciated much more on foot than riding in an enclosed vehicle. I also conducted jogging research with students at Howard University in 1975, which documented both physical and psychological benefits from jogging. I fully describe this research project as well as much more about my personal jogging benefits and experiences in my book, The Stories.
POLITICAL/SOCIAL CLIMATE
Finally, how does the political/social climate of today affect your writings?
As rational people realize, the political and social climate of today have changed in recent years and are challenging and disheartening. Regarding the impact on my writings, I recently wrote a poem as a tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg subsequent to her death, which I posted on Facebook on both my personal page and my poetry page (Frederick Douglas Harper’s Poetry). In this poem, I honor her and pay tribute to her career-long fight for the rights of girls, women, and racial groups. A writer is not estranged from social events around him or her. I have written and continue to write on social justice, climate change, human relationships, love, fear, human nature, human destiny, Black protest leaders (e.g., Mandela, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), children, and the beauty of Earth’s life and natural structures and creations.