Dubois

• In a 2019 article, The New York Times tried to find the origins of the use of the term for Howard when U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, one of the school’s most well-known alumnae, was still a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
• It seemed intriguing to me as a longtime admirer of Malcolm X – and also as one who made the pilgrimage to the original Mecca in Saudi Arabia, as Malcolm famously did in 1964.
• Still, as a veteran education writer with an extensive history of covering historically Black colleges and universities – including Howard – I decided to dig deeper.

A new era

• This was – contrary to what The New York Times said about the term emerging after the death of Malcolm X in 1965 – nearly 15 years before he was even born.
• My finding comes at a time when Howard, located in Washington, D.C., is entering a new era.
• R-1 is a classification level reserved for universities that grant doctoral degrees and also have “very high research activity.”

Going way back

• Its founders envisioned Howard as a school for educating and training Black physicians, teachers and ministers from the nearly 4 million newly freed slaves.
• There, I did a simple search for the term “Mecca” and got more than 400 results, including the one from 1909.

The meaning of ‘The Mecca’

• It is most often meant to preserve Howard’s reputation as a beacon of Black thought.
• That first reference from February 1909 came in an article written by J.A.
• Mitchell, a student who referred to Howard as a potential Mecca for young Black students.
• A few years later, in a 1913 edition of the Howard University Journal, an article stated:
  “Howard is a strategic institution.

A different Mecca?

• Anyone familiar with the culture at Howard knows there’s a long-standing rivalry between Howard University and Hampton University, located in Hampton, Virginia, over which school is ‶the real HU.” My research shows there might have once been a debate over which school is “The Mecca” as well.
• When Booker T. Washington arrived at Hampton in 1872 – five years after Howard University was founded in 1867 – Hampton, Virginia, was known as the “Mecca of the ambitious colored youth of the dismantled South,” according to a 1910 Howard manuscript titled “A Ride with Booker T. Washington.” Hampton isn’t the only U.S. city to be known as a Black Mecca.
• As noted in a 1925 edition of “The Crisis” – the NAACP magazine founded in 1910 by W.E.B.
• DuBois – Washington, D.C., was “regarded as the Mecca of the American Negro, for here he is under the wing of the eagle and can’t be made the victim of hostile legislation or rules.” Around the same time, Alain Locke, who taught English and philosophy at Howard in the early 1910s and started the school’s philosophy department, proclaimed Harlem as the “Mecca of the new Negro.” Locke is also known as the “dean of the Harlem Renaissance.” The point is this idea of a Black Mecca was constantly shifting and continues to shift to this day.

The Mecca of the future

• Despite archival records that show Howard was called The Mecca as early as 1909, other details have yet to be discovered.
• Perhaps under the leadership of President Vinson, a champion of digital scholarship, Howard students and scholars can continue to research how Howard came to be known as The Mecca.

• Effective immediately, one hospital has been approved for an elevation in trauma center level from Level II Trauma Center Accreditation to Level I Trauma Center Accreditation in Pennsylvania: Robert Packer Hospital — Sayre, PA
  Effective August 1, 2023, one new hospital has been approved for Level II Trauma Center Accreditation in Pennsylvania: Penn Highlands DuBois — DuBois, PA
  Effective August 1, 2023, there will be 51 accredited trauma centers in Pennsylvania.
• Hershey — PennState Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center/PennState Health Children's Hospital
  Bethlehem — St. Luke's University Health Network — St. Luke's University Hospital
  Philadelphia — Tower Health — St. Christopher's Hospital for Children
  Easton — St. Luke's University Health Network — St. Luke's Hospital Anderson Campus
  Langhorne — Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic — St. Mary Medical Center
  Coaldale — St. Luke's University Health Network — St. Luke's Hospital - Miners Campus
  Lehighton — St. Luke's University Health Network — St. Luke's - Carbon Campus
  Orwigsburg — St. Luke's University Health Network — Geisinger St. Luke's Hospital
  Quakertown — St. Luke's University Health Network — St. Luke's Hospital-Upper Bucks Campus
  Stroudsburg — St. Luke's University Health Network — St. Luke's Hospital-Monroe Campus
  The Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation (PTSF) is a non-profit corporation recognized by the Emergency Medical Services Act (Act 1985-45).
• The PTSF is the organization responsible for accrediting trauma centers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
• Trauma centers are hospitals with resources immediately available to provide optimal care and reduce the likelihood of death or disability to injured patients.

• Standard Process® has once again been named a Southeast Wisconsin Top Workplace by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Top Workplaces for 2023.
• Standard Process also won the award in 2021 and 2022.
• In addition, Standard Process was awarded with a Culture Excellence Award for compensation and benefits.
• Beyond competitive salaries and robust benefits, Standard Process employees enjoy offerings that aren't offered by a large number of other companies.

• ERIE, Pa., Jan. 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The FirstEnergy Foundation has granted surprise "Gifts of the Season" totaling $40,000 to four local nonprofits that are working to make lives better in communities within Penelec's service area.
• The facilities at 200 Lincoln St. include an indoor track and fitness room and an outdoor playground and roller-skating area.
• Since its inception in 2016, the campaign has awarded more than $500,000 to organizations that work to strengthen communities.
• Visit FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and follow FirstEnergy on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp .