Michael R. Winston, Ph.D. (B.A. ’62), a well recognized scholar who served on the Howard University faculty for almost 40 years, will return to offer the keynote lecture at the university’s 157th Charter Day Convocation on Friday, March 1.
The annual convocation, which commemorates Howard University’s establishment, will begin at 11 a.m. in Cramton Auditorium. It will be livestreamed on Howard University’s YouTube site and broadcast on WHUR FM. On March 16, WHUT, Howard University’s public television station, will run a full rebroadcast.
Winston has a long history with Howard University, dating back 65 years. After graduating from Stuyvesant High School in New York City, Winston enrolled in Howard University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. Winston, a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, received a Moten Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh to study British intellectual and social history. He also holds a master’s degree in French history and a PhD in European history from the University of California, Berkeley. But it was at Howard University that Winston’s knowledge and enthusiasm for history made a lasting impression.
Winston was appointed assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts in 1968, which has since become the College of Arts and Sciences. He eventually rose to the position of Director of Research in the Department of History before becoming the inaugural director of Howard’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, the largest and most comprehensive repository of documents and books on the global Black experience, including the personal and professional works of notable figures in Black history such as Alain Locke, Mary Frances Berry, Kwame Nkrumah, and Vernon Jordan. Moorland-Spingarn began as Moorland Library in 1914 and evolved under Winston’s guidance to become a renowned research institution with a University Archives Division, Manuscripts Division, Black Press Archives, library, and museum. In addition, Winston received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University in 2019.
Winston is a co-author of “The Negro in the United States, Vol. 11,” as well as “The Howard University Department of History, 1913-1973.” He also co-edited The Dictionary of American Negro Biography with Rayford W. Logan, as well as Historical Judgments Reconsidered with Genna Rae McNeil. He has also contributed papers and reviews to numerous scientific and professional magazines. In 2012, the Oxford Handbook of Psychology published his collaboration work with Cynthia E. Winston-Proctor, “Cultural Psychology of Racial Ideology in Historical Perspective: An Analytic Approach to Understanding Racialized Societies and the Psychological Effects on Lives.”
Howard University President Ben Vinson III, Ph.D., stated that Winston’s career has had a far-reaching impact on the university and its stakeholders. Vinson, a historian himself, feels Winston will have a lot to say about Howard’s history and current relevance during his Charter Day Convocation talk.
“I have long admired the impressive career of Michael Winston and the ways in which he has used his knowledge and passion for accurately telling stories about the history of our nation and our world,” Vinson said in a statement. “As we prepare to assemble for Charter Day Convocation later this week, I look forward to hearing from Dr. Winston and I am sure we will all gain a greater understanding of the important role Howard University has played and its impact on our world.”
The Charter Day Convocation is part of a week-long ceremony commemorating Howard University’s establishment. On March 2, 1867, then-President Andrew Jackson signed legislation awarding Howard University a charter in order to expand educational possibilities for those who had previously had restricted access. Since its inception, Howard has grown to become one of the world’s leading institutions of higher learning, with notable alumni including Vice President Kamala Harris, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Academy Award-nominated actor Chadwick Boseman, Grammy Award-winning opera singer Jessye Norman, and ophthalmologist and inventor Patricia Bath.
In addition to the Charter Day Convocation, Howard will host a Bison Spirit Week, which will include a range of daily activities aimed at increasing participation and enthusiasm for the University’s anniversary among students, workers, and alumni. The week will conclude with the 100th Charter Day Dinner on Saturday, March 2, at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Washington. The event, the University’s principal fundraiser for student scholarships, will be emceed by actor Anthony Anderson (BFA ’22), with alumnus singer Kenny Lattimore providing entertainment.
For more information and to purchase tickets for the dinner, visit the 2024 Charter Day Dinner site.
