Howard Universal gathers visions and voices from The Mecca across generations, featuring archival reprints from the university’s yearbooks spanning 1947 to 2011 along with new images documented on the Washington D.C. campus by photographer D’Andre Williams. Celebrated artist Laraaji, cinematographer Bradford Young, and stylist Marcus Paul contribute alongside select reprints from the late Toni Morrison, whose legacy is integral to the intellectual lineage at Howard.

“At Howard University I felt the presence of an impressive intellectual lineage, one I had long been drawn to from afar. Writers, artists, poets, together on the hilltop. The campus as haven, as a shining reflection of black light. 

This tribute to the lineage reveals the phenomenon of everyday expression. The gesture of the student with eyes on the horizon, the dress of the teacher returning to guide, the traces of style as my way into a special history.” - Grace Wales Bonner. 

The publication is now available for free at the Howard University Campus in Washington D.C., Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, For Keeps Books Atlanta, the Stuart Hall Library in London and Reference Point in London. 

Design by Pablo Jomaron