Radio host Joyner joins Livingstone for Founder’s Day
Published 7:54 pm Thursday, February 7, 2019
Susan Brantley, great-granddaughter of Livingstone College Founder Joseph Charles Price, and Tom Joyner walk toward Varick Auditorium for Founder's Day. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
Livingstone freshmen wearing blue jackets watch for the senior class to walk into Varick Auditorium. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury post
Livingstone College freshmen walk into Varick Auditorium. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
Livingstone College celebrated its annual Founder's Day in the 140th year of the college. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
Bishop Darin Moore gives the invocation. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
Bishop Dennis Proctor reads the scripture. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
Bishop George Battle Jr. greets the crowd at Livingstone College Founder's Day. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
The Rev. Johnnie Henderson, president of the faculty assembly, speaks at Livingstone College Founder's Day. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
Azende King, president of the Student Government Association, brings greetings at Livingstone College Founder's Day. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
The keynote speaker and presidential award winner was radio host Tom Joyner. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
The Rev. George E. McKain II received an honorary degree. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
Miss Livingstone College Shelby Hunt and Mister Livingstone Everett Ransom join the procession to the memorial service for college founder Joseph Charles Price. Jon C. Lakey/Salisbury Post
By Samuel Motley
intern@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — It’s fitting that Livingstone College celebrates Founder’s Day during the month of February, Black History Month, said nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner on Thursday as he joined in a spiritually charged celebration of the school’s creation.
Livingstone, a historically black college, was reopened in 1882 by Dr. Joseph Charles Price, who became the school’s first president. It originally opened in 1879, and this year marks its 140th anniversary.
Joyner, who gave the school’s Founder’s Day address on Thursday, has an honorary doctorate from the school and came to Founder’s Day hoping, he said, that it would encourage people to give more so that “this great institution won’t be short-changed.”
A 1970 graduate of Tuskegee University in Alabama, Joyner has used his influence to support HBCUs. The Tom Joyner Foundation has raised $1 million for Livingstone.
“Big things are happening at Livingstone College, starting with this event,” Joyner said.
During the address, he asked, “What made Dr. Price have the will, the tenacity, and the confidence to become the founder and leader of Livingstone College in 1882?”
He answered by saying that Price “demonstrated faith in his people.”
“That is something that we used to do. That is something that we have stopped doing,” Joyner said. “It is something we need to begin doing again or we will continue to lose our churches, our businesses, our media outlets and our historically black universities.”
But there are a few things that can be done to ensure Price’s efforts were not in vain, Joyner said.
Those include giving back — donating and financially assisting HBCUs; supporting “black people and black causes” by finding “someone or something black that you can give your time to”; and being “intentional about improving the state of black America.”
“Will this 140th anniversary of this great school be the springboard for you to make a real plan of action?” he asked.
After the Founder’s Day ceremony, members of Livingstone staff, students and community marched to Price’s mausoleum, where his great-granddaughter Susan Brantley placed a wreath in his memory. Brantley said it was an honor to be there.
It “put a tear in my eye” and she was very proud, Brantley said.
Kimberly Harrington, assistant director of public relations at Livingstone, said Thursday’s ceremony went off without a hitch.
“We have raised over $200,000 today of our $700,000 goal,” Harrington said. “We could not have asked for a more perfect day — from the speaking, to the weather, to the generosity.”
Asked to comment on Founder’s Day, Livingstone President Jimmy R. Jenkins Sr. said, “Too often we don’t realize whose shoulders we are standing on.”
Founder’s Day, Jenkins said, “recognizes those who paved the way.”
