black excellence // The Observer

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‘It was never about a dream’: NAACP president and CEO speaks at Notre Dame Black excellence celebration dinner

Bella Laufenberg | Thursday, January 26, 2023

On Thursday evening, hundreds of Notre Dame students, staff and faculty weathered the northern Indiana winter to gather in the Morris Inn Smith Ballroom. From the other side of the nation, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Derrick Johnson and other activists traveled to join them. Together, they

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Notre Dame commemorates MLK, racial justice with Walk the Walk Week

Bella Laufenberg | Wednesday, January 18, 2023

On July 21, 1964, political peacemaker and then-University president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh joined hands with Martin Luther King, Jr. after an impromptu address to crowds at a civil rights rally in Chicago. Hesburgh and King, standing side-by-side and hand-in-hand, sang “We shall overcome,” originally a gospel song that had since been adopted as an anthem

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Saint Mary’s hosts ‘Black Excellence in Politics’ discussion

Emma Gonzalez | Friday, February 12, 2021

During a virtual conversation with the Saint Mary’s community Thursday evening titled “Black Excellence in Politics” 1995 alumna Dr. Felicia Brabec discussed her role in the fight for racial equity. Brabec, currently a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, is also a practicing clinical psychologist. Despite her deep commitment to student government during her