By Bonita B. HarrisSpecial to the AFRO
At 100, Andrew Billingsley is greater than a witness to historical past; he’s a part of it. From the Nice Melancholy to the current day, the famend sociologist and creator has formed how generations perceive household and group.
In March, colleagues, college students, household and buddies gathered to rejoice with him at his beloved alma mater, Hampton College. The particular occasion additionally marked the launch of the Andrew Billingsley Endowed Scholarship, extending his lifelong dedication to college students and better training.
The son of Alabama sharecroppers, Billingsley joined then-Hampton Institute Class of 1951 on the GI Invoice after serving in World Warfare II. After an revolutionary change program, he graduated from Grinnell School in Iowa.
HU President Darryl Williams mirrored on that full-circle journey, from HU scholar council president to Morgan State College president, and again once more.
“Thanks for the sunshine you may have shined, the instance you may have set, the trailblazer you’re, and in our stunning Hampton type of manner, this full circle second.”
Morgan State College President Dr. David Wilson, the Board of Regents and alumni honored Billingsley’s legacy.
“Dr. Billingsley did so much as Morgan’s first scholar-president. He introduced a imaginative and prescient for analysis and graduate training,” Wilson stated. “Working with the late Maryland Senator Verda Welcome, he helped lead the transition from Morgan State School to Morgan State College, securing the authority to conduct analysis and provide graduate packages. That occurred on the watch of Dr. Andrew Billingsley.”
Those that lived it felt his influence, together with the MSU Class of 1976.
“As the primary class to graduate below your presidency, we thanks, Dr. Billingsley, to your management at a defining second in Morgan’s historical past,” the group stated in an announcement. “Your dedication to academic fairness strengthened its mission, expanded its future, and secured its place in American training. That basis continues to face sturdy at the moment.”
Leaders throughout the nation additionally provided reflections. Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, president emeritus of the College of Maryland, Baltimore County, spoke to the skilled and private affect of Billingsley and his spouse, Amy Billingsley.
“You and Amy have been those who Jackie and I’ve appeared as much as for years, admiring your management and our longtime friendship. From Morgan to School Park to South Carolina, you helped the nation study extra about households, Black households, faith, the Black church, in addition to Civil Warfare hero and five-term Congressman Robert Smalls,” Hrabowski stated.
Norfolk State College President Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston highlighted the scholarly influence.
“A Fulbright scholar and acclaimed creator, Dr. Billingsley’s analysis continues to form the fields of sociology, social coverage, and baby welfare,” she stated.
Dr. Courtney McBath, president of Virginia Christian School, shared how Billingsley’s work formed him.
“Dr. Billingsley wrote the groundbreaking guide ‘Black Households in White America’ in 1968, among the many first books printed by a Black man in America with an earned Ph.D. to deal with the realities of Black households,” McBath stated. “Thanks for not giving up while you gave Black theologians like myself an understanding of our duty to our folks while you wrote ‘Mighty Like a River.’”
Lezli Baskerville, CEO of NAFEO (Nationwide Affiliation for Equal Alternative in Greater Training), added a nationwide perspective.
“On behalf of 106 HBCU presidents and chancellors and practically 80 PBI (predominantly Black establishment) CEOs, we salute centenarian Dr. Andrew Billingsley for a lifetime of service,” Baskerville stated. “He created methods out of no methods, and moved Morgan ahead with the steadfast assist of his life associate, Amy Billingsley.”
Elected officers additionally marked the second with formal and private recognitions,
together with U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), Gov. Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott put the lasting significance of Billingsley’s work within the nationwide report.
“One of many issues about being a member of Congress is you may get issues into the Congressional File, and it turns into a part of the everlasting historical past of america,” Scott stated. “All people remembers your good works and needs to guarantee that work shouldn’t be forgotten, particularly now when race and sociology are areas the place we nonetheless need assistance.”
South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn and Billingsley turned buddies when the latter served as a senior scholar in residence on the College of South Carolina for 14 years.
“Dr. Billingsley is one in every of our nation’s main students. His work has helped Individuals higher perceive the resilience, religion, and power which have sustained Black households throughout generations,” stated Clyburn. “Amongst his many contributions is his outstanding guide, ‘Craving to Breathe Free: Robert Smalls of South Carolina and His Households,’ for which I had the distinct honor of writing the foreword.”
Dr. Frances “Toni” Murphy Draper, writer and CEO of the AFRO-American Newspaper, weighed in about the entire household.
“The Billingsleys replicate the values he writes about and lives — religion, service and Group,” Draper stated. “Their instance stands as a dwelling extension of his legacy.”
Former tv reporter and Dominion Vitality advisor Bonita Billingsley Harris has spent her profession telling tales. Now, she’s serving to inform her father’s.
“I’ve interviewed many individuals through the years,” stated Harris. “However the individuals who taught me essentially the most, my dad and mom, Andrew and Amy Billingsley, had been sitting proper at our kitchen desk,” she stated.
“For me, celebrating my father’s one hundredth birthday is not only a few milestone. It’s about honoring a life that has formed so many others, together with mine.”
