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The Conversation
The Conversation
Politics
Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Lecturer in Journalism, University of Maryland

The untold story of how Howard University came to be known as 'The Mecca'

Howard University Mecca Booker T Washington Malcolm X Carter G Woodson Kamala Harris United States Hampton The Conversation The New York Times
Howard University students assemble for a graduation ceremony in 2016. Jose Luis Magana for the Associated Press

If you ask just about anyone at Howard University what’s the other name for their school, they will readily tell you: “The Mecca.”

The name has been extolled by former students, such as acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates, who wrote in his 2015 book “Between the World and Me” that his “only Mecca was, is, and shall always be Howard University.”

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