A legend’s celebration took place Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the 2010 Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship Community Event.
More than 300 people came together at Shorter Community AME Church to honor the legacy of Noel, a professor, activist and humanitarian, who passed away February 2008. Family members in attendance included her daughter Angela Noel, son Edmond “Buddy” Noel, Esq., and grandson Peter Noel.
Performances from beginning to end featured the Metro State African Drumming Ensemble, the Metro State Choir and Community Choir, as well as skits from Rachel B. Noel Middle School students and staff. The seamless evening of inspiration offered words of hope from numerous leaders from Metro State including President Stephen Jordan, who said, “We are honored and delighted to pay tribute to Rachel B. Noel tonight and every year.”
In keeping with the evening’s theme “Education: Impacting our Global Community,” this year’s Noel Professor Julius E. Coles spoke of his global experiences.
The former president of Africare talked about the importance of international travel, education and pure grit. During his presentation he reminisced about his first trip to Africa in the 60s when he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta. “It was a modern society. Not the village we heard of. Never in my life had I been in a country where blacks ran the government.”
He added, “They didn’t wear dashikis and afros” as many African Americans did at that time.
Coles said the African experience helped him to understand who he was and that he should go back to improve the quality of life in Africa. His second travel experience came in the form of a $3,000 scholarship from Merrill Lynch to travel the world for one year. He traveled for seven months from Russia to Africa, “hitchhiking, motorcycle, training, anyway I could get there. For the first time in my life I went to school with white people and people across the world. It liberated me. It made me a human being. It gave me confidence I could compete with anyone in the world.”
He admitted that it was difficult to come back to a segregated Atlanta. But he did, continuing his education, studying “12 hours a day, with a day of week for social life. I graduated on time.” It was a great message about education that he had also delivered earlier in the day to Rachel B. Noel Middle School students at St. Cajetan’s Center.
Though Coles completed his graduate studies in 1966, he said he could only get a job after he called the school back and asked for assistance. Throughout his career he said, he “always had to prove himself over and over again.” He was constantly hearing “Because you are what you are, can you do this job?”
Coles did prove himself time and time again. From 2002 to 2009, he brought in more than $400 million in new commitments, almost doubling the total amount of development dollars generated by Africare over its 39-year history. Between 1970 and 2002, Africare provided almost $450 million through development projects across the continent of Africa.
During the evening Metro State honored those who exemplify Noel’s legacy:
Academic Excellence
Metro State African and African American Studies Department
Community Engagement
Jeff S. “Brother Jeff” Fard
Community Service
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Denver Alumnae Chapter
Spiritual Leadership
Shorter Community African Methodist Episcopal Church
Community Activism through the Faith Community
Lost Found Members of The Nation of Islam in North American Universal -African Improvement Association
During closing comments, Buddy Noel said “Metro State had done and is doing something very special” with the professorship.
See photo slide show.
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