It's Never Too Late: Mary J Blige Declares Howard University is her #1 Choice

So I am sure by now many of you have heard that multi platinum artist, Mary J Blige has announced that she is going to attend Howard University this upcoming school year.

Well I must say, I am not suprised that this Fabulous Brown Girl wants to join the scholarly ranks as many notable blacks have already done by obtaining a degree from Howard University!

She did meet Sean Combs aka Diddy shortly after he left Howard and joined Uptown Records!

Mary J is not afraid and knows it is never too late to gain a formal education. If this is something that she wants then we commend Ms. Mary for wanting to continue her education at one of the best institutions of higher learning on the planet ;-)

Here is Mary making her announcement on Good Morning America.

However, even though Mary J made her announcement, Howard University recently released a statement about Mary future educational plans. It seems like Howard has not officially accepted her, and if she is serious about entering as a traditional student, they are willing to help her with a successful application process.

'Without question, Ms. Mary J. Blige's resilience and dedication to her craft are largely unmatched. Howard University congratulates Ms. Blige on the recent completion of her high school requirements. We encourage Ms. Blige to continue her studies and welcome her consideration of Howard University in the future. We are happy to work with Ms. Blige on completing the formal process for admission.'

Well let's hope her application process goes a little smoother than many of ours did!

Regardless if Mary J Blige attends Howard University or not, we salute our fellow FBG for recognizing my alma mater as her top choice and wanting to further her education with a college degree!

She is setting the example that even though she may have all the success she could have ever dreamed of with her signing career, none of it has fulfilled her thirst for knowledge and receiving a formal education. I would even go as far as to say that she probably looks at Howard University students and wants to have the experience we were blessed to have-- while we look at her and dream of having her life.

Like I always say, the grass is always greener on the other side!

Note: Just want to take the time out really quickly to thank all of the FABULOUS BROWN GIRLS out there for continuing to check out the blog! Our sincerest apologies for not blogging as often as I would like! We know there are so many FABULOUS and great things happening and we will try to cover and talk about them more often.

Stay Fab!

Rest in Peace to the National Treasure: Dorothy Height

As many already know, last night the beautiful and righteous, Dr. Dorothy Height passed away of natural causes. She was a champion for Civil rights and Gender equality

Ms. Height was born in Richmond, VA in 1912. After being denied entrance into Barnard College in 1929, she attended NYU and earned a master's degree in educational psychology in 1932.

While in her 20s, Ms. Height became a social worker and civil rights activist. She joined the National Council of Negro Women and found her passion in the cause for equality for all, especially for women and African Americans. During the 1960s, the height of the civil rights movement, she started Wednesday Mississippi, that brought black and white women together to encourage discussion and understand of the racial plight and convince other women to do the same.

Ms. Height has so many other accomplishes under her belt such as leading the sorority of Delta Sigma Theta by serving as their 10th national president, as well as being an avid attendee of the National Black Family Reunion in Washington, DC.

She passed away in Howard University Hospital at the age of 98.

Fabulous Brown Girl is thankful to Dorothy Height for doing what we all aspire to do. She was always graceful but always aggressive about what she believed was right. May her soul rest in peace.

Howard University's Student President and President Obama Support HBCU's

Last Friday, HBCU leader and student body president, Bryan Smart was given an opportunity to introduce President Obama as he signed the HBCU Initiative making more money and support from the federal government available to the institutions, beginning with the 2011 budget, according to Blackamericaweb.com.

Being a proud decendant of an HBCU education, I know and agree heavily with those who care about making HBCUs strong and able to withstand and breed a new generation of educated and confident young black Americans.



“This will establish a new platform for strengthening the capacity of HBCUs.” said John S. Wilson, executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs. “This executive order provides $98 million in new money for HBCUs,” Wilson said. And the nearly $400 million in increased funds for Pell Grants is expected to find its way to students at HBCUs, said Wilson

According to the Hilltop Online, HUSA President Bryan Smart had this to say about my Alma Mater, “Howard has given me a sense of self,” he said. “It has given me an educational experience that is second to none, and opportunities like this one that I know I wouldn’t have been afforded at any other university.”

Howard University Student President, Bryan Smart

For Obama to recognize the importance of HBCUs is wonderful and another reason why we at FABULOUS BROWN GIRL love the President of the United States.


To get a more comprehensive understanding of what the HBCU initiative is... CLICK HERE

Howard University and Wale Help Haiti with Benefit Concert

On January 21 Howard University hosted a benefit concert where Wale and a host of other performers gave back and set it off in Crampton University where all the proceeds were donated to the Haiti Earthquake Relief efforts.

Howard University has a rather large Haitian student population and the Haitian Student Association's president who is a native of Port-Au-Prince spoke a few words of gratitude to his fellow student body.

The sold out concert raised over 10,000 dollars in donation money just from ticket sales alone all while being entertained by the DC native recent hip hop phenomenon, Wale.

Fabulous Brown Girl wants to give a special shout out her Alma Mater and Wale for a job well done in the efforts to give back to Haiti in their desperate time of need. Howard is a school that is known for the student body's collective reaction to world tragedy. We do not just sit by and let others take care of the world--we know we have to be the change we want the world to be not to mention we feel even more responsible because [Haitians] are OUR people.

The diaspora is heavily represented at Howard so we can not just sit by and see our people in distress without doing what we can. I am so glad that Howard has instilled that in all of us.

Check out the video of Wale's performance!

Just by looking at the video clip I can tell he put on a FABULOUS show! And let us not forget and go back to our own lives. We have to continue raising money for Haiti. Yes we are reacting faster than other tragedies in the past, but Haiti will be needing our help for years to come. Our help for Haiti is just beginning....

FBG Photo of the Week 12.4.09

Taraji P. Henson (also fellow Howard Alumni) looks absolutely FABULOUS in this grey ensemble as she announced the nominations for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards. Even though Taraji outfits are sometimes hit or misses.. she is definitely a HIT in this!

This FBG is looking very classic and demure with her natural makeup and a classic hairstyle that looks great on most women. Taraji is glowing and I love how grey is such a refined and classy color, especially against brown skin! Her outfit is very simple, but does not look plain. This may be an inspiration for a work outfit or any thing that calls for the "sophisticated and chic" look. I love it!

Happy Friday Fabulous Brown Girls!!

New Atlanta Mayor is Howard ALUMNI

Fabulous Brown Girl wants to give a huge CONGRATS to Mayor Elect Kasim Reed of Atlanta! He is a fellow Howard Alumni (BA- Political Science '91 and JD '95) who campaigned very hard to become the new mayor of Atlanta. His Campaign was strong and he had numerous high profile endorsements.

Reed won the very close runoff race by 51% (a win is a win!) against rival Mary Norwood.

It is very interesting to see how closely the votes were split. Most of the precints who voted for Kasim were in the Southern part of Atlanta (which is predominantly black), while the Northern part of the city (predominatly white mid to upper class) voted for Mary Norwood.

With precentages so extremely close, it presumes the question is Altanta a racially divided city... Clearly, with the poll results it does not take a rocket scientist to figure that question out.. Things that make you go hmmmm.... right? Well with that being said, CONGRATULATIONS MR. KASIM REED! You deserve it! Like Jay Z and dem say "We (Bison) Gon' Run This Town Tonight! LOL!

To read an article about the Atlanta Mayorial race and the racial divide CLICK HERE

FBG Spotlight: PROPEL Conference in Atlanta, GA

Here at FABULOUS BROWN GIRL, our mission is knowing that being fabulous means doing so much more. For the past two months or so we have been a part of the planning steering

committee for the PROPEL Conference, a free conference hosted by the Community Council

of Metropolitan Atlanta for young black men here in Atlanta, GA. The conference's mission was to Provide Resources, Opportunities and Priorities to Empower Lives for over 250 young black men.

The conference was packed full of young men eager to learn about resources that are available to help them.


Some notable speakers who spoke were the President of Clark Atlanta University, Dr, Carlton E. Brown, the Chairman of 100 Black Men, Thomas W. Dortch, Jr., Michael Rhodes, Entrepreneurship Program Director at Atlanta's Urban League Chapter.

PROPEL's Steering Planning Committee was a group of recent Howard University Alumni who worked diligently and hard to make sure every aspect of the event was a success. The Steering Chairwoman was Brittany Slaughter who worked alongside with the Bukola Ekudayo, Janelle Jolley, Nandi Murphy, Simone Walls, Dominique Witter, and myself, Christine Idokogi.

Boxed Lunches for the PROPEL conference attendees

Thank you to all those that donated to make the conference a complete success!

Moorland-Spingarn: Is Black History an Endangered Species?

Today, many avid respectors of African American history learned that Moorland-Spingarn Reasearch Center is in Danger of closing its doors due to budget contstraints.

Even though Moorland-Spingarn is a premiere research institution for the African Diaspora, many Howard students do not even know the center still exists for them to learn important facts about their history from primary resources. The under-utilization is a major reason for the layoffs and unfilled vacancies.

Each year the budget is smaller and smaller and unless something is done the doors of our rich history could be put away.

According to TheRoot.com, the 95 year old research center, has imperative vacancies that need to be filled such as Director, Chief Librarian, Prints and P

hoto Librarian, and Chief Administrator. The Center normally employs 50 employees to maintain all of these African American records and documentations.

We need to see what we can do to save this historical landmark that houses so much information about who we are and our journey.

To read the full article on what is taking place at Moorland Spingarn CLICK HERE

Howard University: A Homecoming Like None Other

So I am back.. for real this time... After writing this Homecoming review blog, I can now say I have fully and officially recovered from all that is Howard Homecoming.. from the 9 hour long road trip to DC, to the spontaneous reunions, highly anticipated events, and simply the euphoric feelings of just being back "home" again...

I know one thing..Homecoming surely did not disappoint.

While in DC, I hit up some of my favorite lounges and happy hours, walked down the always live U Street and of course went to.. YARDFEST!

YARDFEST is like HU Alumni Family Reunion! Even though there were a lot of high profile performances like FABULOUS and DC native, WALE, just to name a few, a lot of the alumni are more interested in reuniting with one another than joining in on the FREE concert.

Seeing everyone look their best in their fancy "Yardfest fit" is so important to the omni-fashionable campus and then the reunion continues as everyone gets ready for the night's big event! Whether it was LOVE or The BLACK HOLLYWOOD party, HU young Alumni know how to get party and have a good time.

Seeing as it took me over a week to fully recover, I definitely underestimated how special homecoming is and plan on returning for many years to come.

Even though I am an overall HBCU supporter, there is no place on earth like Howard University! And there is no way you can convince me any different, seriously!

I was able to catch up with some of the dearest people that are in my life and see every body happy and enjoying themselves. There were many times I questioned why I left the DC area, but the answer slowly and surely would come back to me. HOMECOMING is just what its called coming home.. you have to leave the nest to truly show off what HOWARD has taught you and beam that BISON glow on everyone you meet.



I give all my thanks to Howard University, if it wasn't for me attending such a diverse and uplifting school, I would not have the inspiration or courage to start Fabulous Brown Girl! I will continue to make Howard proud and carry the HU pride with me where ever I go.

HU Homecoming 2009: I'm Coming Home!!

Fabulous Brown Girl will be taking a short hiatus because your girl has to go to DC for Howard's Homecoming! DC is calling my name..

Homecoming has already started with events from an anointed Gospel Show to hilarious Comedy and a melodic Poetry show, and even a nationally renowned fashion show.



FBG will be there and promises to bring back great stories and pictures of my Alma Mater!

I can't wait to see my dear friends on the Yard during Yardfest, Cheering my football team on, and drowning myself in love from my fellow Bison!! It is a great feeling and I can't hardly wait to come home!

Trust me there is NOTHING and I Mean NOTHING like Homecoming at Howard.. I may be a little bias.. but I seriously doubt it....

BISON!!! H-U YOUUUUU KNOOOOOWWWWW!!!

To learn more about Howard University's 2009 Homecoming Click HERE

See you soon Fabulous Brown Girls ::SMOOCHES::

Hampton University's New Queen

As many of you are now aware, Virginia HBCU, Hampton University recently crowned Nikole Churchill as their Queen on October 9th. On the surface there is nothing really shocking about that, but what has come to many as a huge surprise is the fact that Nikole is Caucasian. Being that Hampton University is a HBCU and the majority of its student population is of African decent, Nikole race is and her win is just very ironic. One of the highest accolades a student can receive went to someone who is a non black.

Instead of congratulating Churchill on her sweet accomplishment, she received a great deal of backlash from the black community, especially from HBCU students past and present. Some people feel that if you are a non black student attending an HBCU you shouldn't do anything that would bring you notoriety or representation of their campus! That, to me, is unfortunate... I mean she must have done an awesome job to supersede the other contestants, right?

Feeling frustrated and let down, Churchill ended up writing a letter to President Obama to express her frustration and invited him to come speak to the campus of Hampton on the issue of race and equality.

To:President Barack Obama

October 11, 2009

Aloha Mr. Obama!

My name is Nikole Churchill, a senior nursing major at Hampton University. This past Friday October 9, 2009, I was honored to be crowned Miss Hampton University 2009-2010. It truly was the best night of my life! With that being said, I am sad to say…… that my crowning was not widely accepted and many negative comments regarding my win have been shared throughout my campus.

It would be much easier to say that possibly some were not accepting of the news because I wasn’t the most qualified contestant; however, the true reason for the disapproval was because of the color of my skin. I am not African-American. Despite the unfortunate beliefs that some are saying I should not have won, I am desperately trying to focus on those who believe in me and support me and my goal to represent this beautiful, multicultural campus the very best way that I can. I would love your help!

I am hoping that perhaps you would be able to make an appearance to my campus, Hampton University, so that my fellow Hamptonians can stop focusing so much on the color of my skin and doubting my abilities to represent, but rather be proud of the changes our nation is making towards accepting diversity. People are even nicknaming me, “lil Obama” because of various reasons. This is truly an honor as well!I am also from Hawaii (Wahiawa) and I am hoping that you can assist me in opening some closed minds and help share some aloha spirit throughout my campus. I feel as though you could relate to my situation, which is why I immediately wanted to contact you. I was interviewed last night at the HU vs. HU football game by news channel 13 and I mentioned how individuals such as you and myself are making changes in hopes people can stop placing so much focus on our skin color by letting that define what we can, cannot, should, and/or should not do. Dr. Harvey welcomed me last night to the family with open arms and I was beyond honored when he told me that he is behind me 100%. I am proud to represent Hampton University and I am so proud having you to represent our home, our country. Your support with my crowning as Miss Hampton University 2009-2010 would be graciously appreciated. Please reply, I will be looking forward to it!

-Nikole Churchill Virginia Beach , VA

Today, Churchill released a statement apologizing for writing this letter, (a little too late if you ask me) and that she now only wants to represent the students at her campus in a good light.

To read the statement Nikole released click here

So what do you think? Should only FABULOUS BROWN GIRLS be allowed to compete in HBCU pageants or represent their campus in key leadership positions?

And to all my fellow BISON, could you see this happening at Howard?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!!

HU Alumni Show Support

On Friday at Howard University a protest took place that shook up the campus on what is known traditionally as "First Friday". With over 350 participating students and staff, a peaceful rally of demands were handed out to the Howard University Administration.

As many people know, Howard is home to many famous alumni. Sean "Diddy" Combs, one of the most famous Howard alumni to date, showed his support of the protest via his Twitter page.

Diddy said...

@iamdiddy Howard Univ. Students I love you! I know I haven't been there enough. But I want to be and I will be! Keep the pressure on! I got your backs

Even 2004 alumn, Lance Gross, most famous for his work with media mogul, Tyler Perry, and the his role as Calvin in "House of Payne" took to his Twitter page to support the HU too!

Lance had this to say...

@LanceGross #HUprotest fellow Howardities, I Got yall back too!!!

It feels great to have all this support from famous Bison. This support shows that no matter what path our live takes us, once a BISON -- always a BISON!! There is something special about that common bond that we all share that will never go anywhere--no matter what!

Although we are all supportive of the protest, I hope the current Howard University student body is realistic with their demands from the Administration. It will not be a good look if all this "negative" press goes in vain!!

HU Legacy Revived!!

Howard University students and staff assembled around the Administration Building Friday, September 4th to raise some of their concerns and frustrations about the way they have been treated and the lack of amenities they feel they deserve.Students are frustrated about the lack of being validated, recycling, reliable wireless connectivity around campus, and demanding the resignation of Dean Charles Gibbs, who once served as Dean of Residence Life, who is now Interim Vice Provost.


Having matriculated through Howard University for my undergraduate degree, I am biased beyond belief when it comes to my Alma Mater and HBCUs in general. Howard University Student Association President, Jerome Joseph stated "If the students are a rubber band, we are at the point where we are about to break."


Well today I feel like a proud family member to hear that a protest took place with what appeared to be hundreds of students participating. On Twitter, @HilltopCampus kept me updated with the happenings of the protest. Here are some of the tweets:

@HilltopCampus#HUprotest Students are protesting for validation, recycling, reliable wireless connectivity, the resignation of Gibbs and more.

@HilltopCampus #HUprotest "We are not boycotting education. We are boycotting administration." ... "If we don't protest now, there will be no education."

@HilltopCampus #HUprotest Students are sharing their personal protests about lack of validation for scholarship students. Funds have not been dispersed.

Even Diddy got in on his alma mater's situation ..

@iamdiddy If you r at HOWARD UNIV. Do what we did and take IT OVER!!!! Let's go! And do it in a peaceful way but DO IT!!! That's you university!!!

With the rich legacy of protesting. and being known behind Berkley University as one of the most revolutionary campuses in the nation. I am proud to see my beloved Howard University family standing up for their needs and wants!! Last year was the 40th anniversary of the historic student protest that took place in 1968, where Howard University students took over the Administration building to change the curriculum to one that if African American centered. I am proud to say that because of that protest we are able to learn and be proud of who WE are. Many people from the past say that today's HU students have become complacent. But I disagree.. Today proves that we are just as radical and bold as those students were who came before us. The Legacy is still rich! The Legacy is still ALIVE!! NO JUSTICE !! NO PEACE!!

Check out this snippet of the protest...

Who Invited Michael Steele to my Alma Mater ?

So yesterday there was some news circulating that Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee Chairman came to speak and share his GOP talking points at my historic Alma Mater, Howard University. When I heard this I was shocked because if anybody knows The Real HU, then you know we have a strong aversion to dare I say the "coonery" that is Michael Steele...


So my question to my fab brown girl readers and my HU family is "Who told him to bring his butt up to my Alma Mater???"


I am not saying I hate the man... He has every right to choose whatever political party and principles he wants to, but using my illustrious school as a PR stunt is not cool...


Check out this YouTube of him getting "told" by a young girl by the name of Amanda Duzak. No offense to Amanda (bless her heart...), but she was the perfect example of those white kids that get buck with their parents at the grocery and and the black kids looking at them like "If I did that my mama would beat the sh*t outta me.." But even though I would not have shouted out like a fool, I wonder why the audience was clapping/ agreeing with Michael Steele's low blows...