The tradition of HBCU homecomings started more than a century ago with Howard University hosting one of the first known extravaganzas. Roughly 100 years later, the cherished practice now takes place at 21 schools all across the U.S., with much fanfare and deeply felt elation. This year the month-long HBCU Homecoming season kicked off the first weekend of October and culminates on Nov. 2. While each campus celebration offers something special, Hampton’s homecoming will always have my heart.
There’s a lyrical phrase that comes to mind each and every time I enter Hampton’s gates: Seasons change, mad things rearrange. But it all stays the same like the love doctor, strange. Lauryn Hill’s notable verse on The Score’s “How Many Mics” sums up the sentiments I have when my feet touch The Yard and the flood of memories from my days as an undergrad start to return. While it’s been more than 16 years since I departed my beautiful “home by the sea,” the love, the excitement, the warmness of being “home” have never changed.
I will always maintain that attending an HBCU is a gift. But to attend a homecoming—well, that’s singular proof that an HBCU education is a gift that keeps on giving. To participate in homecoming as an alum is to be enveloped in the nostalgia of what was and kissed by the exhilaration of what is—the coming home of friends, of family—and a true celebration of belonging.
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