In a poignant homage to a tragic past, Morehouse College posthumously awarded Dennis T. Hubert, an 18-year-old student who was lynched in 1930, a degree during its commencement ceremony on Sunday. The gesture, which sought to address historical racial injustices, was reported by FOX 5 Atlanta. Hubert, a sophomore divinity student at the time of his death, was slain on the playground of Crogman School by a group of white men after he was falsely accused of disrespecting a white woman.
Hubert, the son of Rev. Gaddus J. Hubert, a prominent Black minister in Atlanta, became the target of these men who returned with reinforcements and shot him dead. The aftermath of his death saw his father's home burnt and a series of violent attacks against the Black community, including his cousin's almost lethal encounter and an attack on Spelman College's Sisters' Chapel, as detailed by Atlanta’s The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Despite indictments, convictions for murder were avoided, with one attacker sentenced to merely two years imprisonment for confessing to the fatal shot.
The laudatory action was Morehouse's way of restoring the honor and dignity that history denied Hubert. The family members who attended the event received the posthumous degree on his behalf. “Today, we do what history failed to do. We restore dignity. We restore honor,” said David A. Thomas, the outgoing president of the college, in a statement obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta. The degree was accepted by Hubert's nephew, Iman Plemon El-Amin, as mentioned in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Morehouse's poignant commemoration transcended mere ceremony; it was a moment of collective memory, and a stern recognition of the dreams and aspirations brutally cut short. “We remember the son who should have become a man here,” Thomas told the audience, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We remember that he would have preached liberation. We remember the dreamer who was never given the chance to dream.”
