Dear Freeman,
This letter is one of gratitude from one of your mentees.
For the last three decades, you have been the ultimate
mentor for me, a guide in so many ways. Always there to support, willing to
make time for me.
I heard the stories about you before I ever stepped on your
University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) campus that you led for three
decades, a gem on the higher education landscape and one known for producing an
incredible
number of Black PhDs.
“There’s a college president there who will make visits to
students’ houses and sit in the living room to try to encourage them to come to
UMBC. Not because they are athletes, but because they are smart.”
You have always made being a nerd a cool thing to be!
We then had the privilege to work together in planning the
UMBC Freedom Seder, an event stemming from the Civil Rights Movement that uses Passover
to bring the Black and Jewish communities together through the theme of
freedom. I heard that you supported the event, and expected to meet you in the
ballroom on the day of the event. But here you were, at all of the planning
meetings with a bunch of undergrad students like me. Deferring to us as if we
were the Board of Regents.
A servant leader in all ways. Always.
Dr. Hrabowski, I must take a moment to brag on you. Is that
okay?
As a little boy from Birmingham, Alabama, you were great at
doing two things: eating and learning. You were pretty darn good at both, from
what you have shared with me.
At 19 years old, you graduated from college (Hampton
Institute) with high honors in mathematics and then became a PhD in math at age
24.
However, I think it was the moment where you had to decide
whether or not to march with the children of Birmingham in the summer of 1963
to protest the injustices of segregation that might have been a turning point
in your life. Given a task from Dr. King to look after the younger children who
were in jail with you, you saw your potential as a leader. Just a few months
after that, you bore witness to four of your classmates being killed in the
bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church.
But you have never become bitter. Angry at injustice, yes.
But you channel that in a loving way to the world.
No wonder there were calls for you to run for Governor of
the State of Maryland or to leave UMBC for bigger schools.
I think a lot of my ways of being and doing stem from you. For instance, my insistence at looking at what people and communities do well, even though my medical profession focuses on the opposite. I look at two of the first books you penned, writing about successful young black men and women, wanting to dig into what factors made them achieve.
I am honored to be your student.
I am honored to carry on your legacy.
May your path continue to carry blessings. Enjoy every
moment of retirement with Jackie and your grandson Elijah.
Thank you.
Ahe hee.
Ashe.
p.s. You now have a few more groupies to add to the LONG list thanks to this blog :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing to Heal friends and family - here is an 8-minute glimpse of Dr. Hrabowski, giving a closing speech at the 2025 American Conference on Education conference, offering us hope and perspective in this moment. Enjoy!
