A Love Letter To Shaw University

For a number of years now, my undergraduate institution has been experiencing a number of apparently self-imposed fiscal and leadership problems that have resulted in the potential closing of this historic institution. For so many of us who have come through the gates of this particular university, the idea of losing this place is heart wrenching. As I have spoken to friends, many of whom are much more like family over the last few days about the condition of our beloved alma mater I have used and constantly heard the analogy of that special place being much like our mother, and the inept leadership seeming to be profoundly ill-prepared physicians, unable to properly care for her. Helplessly, we her children are left scrambling about, trying to get her the best care only to find it may be too late. This is my love letter to my intellectual and institutional mother. These are the flowers that I leave you before you are gone.

A Love Letter to Shaw University

I love you because you gave me a chance when few others would. You chose to look beyond my diminished academic performance and saw the potential in my ability to be far more than what my SAT scores suggested. Although many institutions would stop there – letting some within their gates and expecting them to achieve by osmosis – but you did so much more. You reminded me of my greatness. You held a mirror up to our collective past and presented the power the was dormant within me. You established a standard for me until I was able to develop a standard of excellence for myself. You wrapped your arms of excellence and intelligence around me and rocked me to sleep. I suckled from your scholarship and I grew in my knowledge of self. Because of your love in those early intellectual years I began to take my first steps as a scholar. Please know today, mother that I am not longer just a holder of knowledge but also a purveyor of it as well. I humbly honor God and you for the scholar that I have become. It is because of you, that the lies that everyone told about the failure that I was going to be, are up under my feet and I am walking into to promises and plans the God ordained in my life while I was yet a twinkle in my parents eyes.

I love you because you gave me a family that continues to grow and expand. You have given me a lineage that can only be expressed through the vision of the boab tree. The majesty of the boab tree is in its roots that grow deep and wide within the earth, as well as it branches above it. I am apart of a family that I have never fully viewed. My family roots dig deeply into our historic establishment, growing out of the Reconstruction Period of this country. We were watered with the courage of Ella Baker and the power of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and as our roots grew deeper as a family grew stronger. There was a time that you were somewhat sick before and those that loved you then, mortgaged things that were yet their own to save you. I still recall looking into the eyes of our elders as they spoke with pride about their own personal sacrifice to safe you. It is because of them that you were here for me, and many that were yet to come, and our roots are strong.

This tree also has branches which have reached far beyond what many believed was possible. From your very foundation grows the very essence of knowing draped in African ancestry. From your fruit grew the expansive education of others who would fail to know your name, or your legacy, but they too became extensions of your endless wisdom. Together we are teachers, and preachers and mentors. We are politicians, and advocates, and activist. We are authors, and orators, and entertainers. We are dancers, and singers and hip hop artist. We are Ph.D’s, and M.D.’s and J.D.’s. We are leaders, and we are lovers, and we are what our current president calls “the change we seek”. We are all of the things that only you, and God himself saw in us, and you loved us to the point of our success. We your branches continue to bring forth fruit, and just as our roots have become entangled in intertwined with the very evolution of American history, we your branches continue to reach upward to honor you in every accomplishment and every accolade. We are the branches that will continue to evidence your greatness every day, in every way. When people look at us they will see your greatness, and they too shall marvel at the splendor that is you.

TO BE CONTINUED….

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ms. Genyne L. Royal is currently a PhD Student in the Higher Education Administration Program at Texas A&M University. She is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ms. Royal attended Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina where she received a Bachelors of Art in Music in 1995 and North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina where she received a Master’s of Science in Counseling with a concentration in Higher Education. Her research interests are: African-American Women in the Academe; African-African-American Students at Predominately White Institutions (PWI’s); Student Development and Retention; Black Greek Letter Organizations; Mental Health and Crisis Management. She is also the president of The Black Graduate Student Association which is an educational organization committed to the identification, development, recruitment, and academic/professional achievement of Black graduate students at Texas A&M University.