 "Photo: Matt Binter")
Two new stone pavers lay outside of the Alumni Center in the Johnson Terrace in celebration of K-State’s first male and female African-American graduates.
The pavers, made possible through the work of many multi-cultural organizations, were highlighted with a paver celebration Monday afternoon at the Alumni Center.
The celebration included the life history of the graduates, several musical selections and donor acknowledgments.
Tony Crawford and Pat Patton, both university archivists who have studied the lives of George Washington Owens and Minnie Howell Champe for many years, gave the history of the graduates.
Owens was the first black student to ever enroll at the university, then known as Kansas State Agricultural College. He was born near Alma, Kan., and, according to archives, enrolled at KSAC in 1896. During his speech, Crawford read several selections from Owens’ autobiography that demonstrated his determination and drive to be successful in life. “I resolved to be the first,” Owens wrote about graduating.
Owens graduated in 1899 with a bachelor’s degree in general science and went on to be very successful. Among his accomplishments were being Director of Agriculture at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he worked with Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, and his establishment of the agriculture department at what is now Virginia State College.
Howell Champe, born in Strawberry Plains, Tenn., was one of nine children. Her family moved to Manhattan in 1886 and she enrolled at KSAC in 1896. When Patton began researching Howell Champe 15 years ago, there was almost no record of her, but through much investigation Patton has slowly been able to piece together her life.
Howell Champe was a member of the Ionian Literary Society, established to help develop skills in forensic art, literature and music. She was also editor of The Ionian Oracle. She graduated from KSAC in 1901 with a bachelor’s degree in domestic science. She went on to be a teacher at many schools, including being the head of the home economics department at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, La.
The university now has a scholarship in memory of Howell Champe, the Minnie M. Howell Champe Scholarship, which was created by Patton.
Don Slater, who lived across the street from Howell Champe when he was a child, said he remembered her being very kind, and knew her as “the cookie lady.”
“She was very motivated in education,” he said. “She loved teaching.”
Rosa Hicks, who also lived across from Howell Champe, knew her as an adult. She said she appreciated that the university was taking the time to celebrate Howell Champe’s life.
“She was just a lovely person, down to earth,” she said.
Apart from the history speeches given at the paver celebration, two members of United Black Voices, Breanna Stewart, freshman in music, and Donovan Woods, freshman in vocal performance, performed musical selections they felt represented the message of the celebrations.
Woods said he was grateful to be a part of the program, and he learned things about K-State’s history he never knew before. He said the graduates’ “drive to not take no for an answer” was inspirational, and helped him put his studies into perspective.
Myra Gordon, associate provost of Diversity and Dual Career Development, said Owens and Howell Champe’s legacy continues on and affects the lives of students today.
“I think they demonstrated how even over 100 years ago, a college education has transformative power in the life of a multi-cultural person,” she said. “Everybody needs some place to take inspiration. Who they are and what they’ve done gives us reason to pause and say, ‘I can do it.’”
Myra also closed the program thanking the organizations that took part in making it a reality. The organizations that contributed were the Black Student Union, United Black Voices, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Beta Sigma, Zeta Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Psi and Sigma Gamma Rho.
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