Henrietta Lacks was a Virginia-born woman and great-great granddaughter of a slave. She was a wife and a mother of five, but unfortunately lost her life to cervical cancer at the age of 31. While being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital before her death, a sample of her cervical cells were taken without her knowledge. At that time, it was customary for cells taken outside the body to die quickly, so it was a surprise to the doctors that observed the samples to see Lacks’ cells not only surviving outside of her body, but multiplying at rapid rates.
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Students at Drexel University were shocked to find out almost two weeks ago that a member of their school community became the victim of a hate crime. On Wednesday, February 20, the University received an email from Drexel President John Fry condemning the incident in which a Black freshman found the N-word written on the bumble-bee name tag hanging on her door in Myers Hall.
Cyntoia Brown, born Cyntoia Denise Mitchell, is a name familiar with many, even without knowing why. Brown, born in 1988 in Tennessee, was convicted at the age of 16 of first degree murder, felony murder, and aggravated robbery after killing a man who had given her money in exchange for sex It was with great honor that DBAC’s Vice President and PR Manager, Raihanah Siddiq and Tianna Williams, were able to serve as mentors to 30 incoming Drexel Freshmen through the Empowerment Retreat program last weekend. The retreat was born from a collaborative effort of different faculty members across the university. The committee consisted of Fatimah Conteh from DragonsTeach, Tasha Gardner from the Center for Learning and Academic Success Services (CLASS), Bernetta Millonde from Diversity Initiatives & Community Relations, and Ileana Santos-Gonzalez from Freshman Admissions. Their mission was to give new students of color a leg up in their academic career by providing them with peer mentors and meetings with faculty members to inform them of the resources and possible experiences available to them on campus. Well, kind of. The Black Action Committee’s mission remains the same from its inception; to push for the social equality and advancement of the Black community on and off Drexel’s campus. The current executive board members hope to take the torch that was lit back in 2015 and carried by the various boards since and carry it farther.
With the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, DBAC looks forward to building its membership and community on campus, as well as committing to its cause as a service and activist group. Our new logo reminds us of our mission and purpose and serves to show what we’re about to anyone looking our way. So follow us here or on any of our social medias below to keep up to date on everything DBAC! |
DBAC DISPATCHCulture - Activism - Community Service Archives
March 2019
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