My Long Walk at The Mecca

The Long Walk is a historical metaphor that exists in the very soul of Howard University. It represents the avenue to success that all Howard students have walked while enrolled in the university, and beyond, as they conquer new lifetime achievements beyond the campus they often call home.

“The Long Walk” is a documentary based on a book by the very same name, written by Harry G. Robinson and Hazel Ruth Edwards in 1996. The documentary explores the placemaking legacy of Howard University, from its very conception by General Oliver Otis Howard.

Viewing this documentary as a soon-to-be graduate of The Mecca, leaves a much more impactful imprint than when I first viewed the film my sophomore year. I now fully understand the gravity and expectation of excellence. Excellence is never an option to those that walk through the halls and across the campus of Howard University. The expectation of excellence (without excuse as some Media, Journalism and Film students and alumni may say) was built into the very bricks that make up most of the university. General Howard had a vision for his university, and that was for it to be the capstone of Negro education. And in his vision, he had master plans of the university drawn up that encapsulated the essence of excellence. Every material used to build the university was picked with intention, so that the physical university represented and encapsulated the distinction and eminence of its name and of its students.

The most impactful moment of the documentary to me was the portion that discussed the building of the gates that surround the outermost parts of Howard’s main campus. “They didn’t go to the store to buy gates and fences. They studied gates and fences. Of cemeteries, of churches, of palaces, so that these would be the great symbol of Howard University.” Robinson continues, saying that Albert Casselle and Louis Edward Frye, the architects responsible to the university’s construction, wanted gates carefully placed, so that “…you would be greeted by these great gates and fences that said ‘This is an important place. It’s a place that has world status.’” I think about this quote when I see the endless pictures on social media of alumni posing at these very same gates in their graduation cap and gown, thankful to the university that gave and taught them so much, and ready to embark on their next journey. Countless alumni stand and look up at these gates with admiration, pride and humility in their eyes, and add to the “world status” of Howard University. I am excited to be one of the next graduates to stand under those great gates and leave my fingerprints on a place that divinely embodies eternal greatness. I am ready for my Long Walk.