![\"Student](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_115FMUGraduation14NEWPP.jpeg\" "\\"Student")
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Student Creanne Alicia Butler reacts as she graduates with a degree in aeronautical science, during the spring 2022 commencement ceremony at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens in 2022.<\/p>\n
Pedro Portal<\/p>\n
Miami Herald File<\/p>\n
In this commencement season, I am not only thankful for the thousands of young people \u2014 and some old ones \u2014 who feel it necessary to further their education. I am especially thankful for the growing number of African Americans who are taking advantage of this awesome opportunity \u2014 some of whom are the first in their families to earn a college degree.<\/p>\n
The love of learning is steeped in our African American DNA. Looking back over the history of African Americans, many of our fore parents died for the simple pleasure of learning to read. Yet, education was so important that many risked their lives just to be able to learn their ABC\u2019s.<\/p>\n
I sat among the hundreds of families and friends watching a sea of faces, most of whom were Black (3,100 at Howard University on May 9), heads adorned with the traditional mortarboard, many decorated with personal messages, marching into their future. It was a magical moment.<\/p>\n
So many thoughts crowded my mind as I watched the procession. I thought of my own mom, who didn\u2019t understand the significance of my earning a scholarship in voice in 1956, as a senior at Booker T. Washington Junior\/Senior High School, and would not allow me to take advantage of it. I later learned she thought she was sparing me form the disappointment of not becoming a noted singer. She didn\u2019t understand that I could use the scholarship as a steppingstone at Knoxville College to become a teacher or a nurse or a social worker, professions that African Americans were assured of getting work in the South back in the day. In the same manner, Momma never complimented me on anything I wrote for my English classes, nor did she ever display any of my art projects in our home.<\/p>\n
When I eventually was able to enter Miami Dade College at 29, a widowed mother of two sons, Momma was my babysitter. I was an education major, which was fine with her. It was practical and I wouldn\u2019t have trouble getting a job in some Black school.<\/p>\n
That was Momma\u2019s dream for me. It wasn\u2019t my dream. My dream of becoming a writer was asleep. It took the advice of a white southern gentleman, the late Fred Shaw, to awaken it. Mr. Shaw was a vice president at the college, and he was also the book editor for the Miami Herald. We became friends when he came into the library, where I worked, to pick up the books to review.<\/p>\n
One evening I got the nerve to ask him to read a paper I had to turn in the next day. He did. When he finished reading my paper, the conversation we had changed my life forever.<\/p>\n
It went like this:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is your major?\u201d he asked. I told him I was studying to become a teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to change your major to journalism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
I laughed. \u201cThe Herald won\u2019t hire me,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m Black.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Shaw didn\u2019t laugh. He looked at me and said: \u201cBea, things are changing in this country. You need to be ready for the change. I want you to change your major to journalism and get in Barbara Garfunkel\u2019s journalism class.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took Mr. Shaw\u2019s advice, never telling Momma. When I became a reporter in June 1970, I know there were at least three people in Miami who were proud of me \u2013 Mr. Shaw, Miss Garfunkel, and Momma.<\/p>\n
![\"Cecily](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_7824.jpeg\" "\\"IMG_7824.jpeg\\"")
Cecily A. Duffie <\/p>\n