Tehran Almasi Reflection

Tehran Almasi
@02618922

This week in freshman seminar we had the privilege listening to Dr. Alton B. Pollard III. Dr. Pollard is the dean of the school of Divinity here at Howard University. Dr. Pollard gave a lecture on religion, but his lecture wasn't trying to persuade us on which Religion was better than the next. He explained to us that the Africans coming from their home land to a mysterious new land needed a way to cope. Being African American I believe that we are naturally a religious people. So to hear that even though we were forced to come to this land against our will and treated less than human, we still turned to God. Dr. Pollard went on to tell us that religion is not just simply a god. It's based on the culture and time that shape what the religion is. To me this a deep because thinking of the time period and how Africans were not treated like humans. This new religion that the whites followed preached that everyone is equal. This I believe gave our ancestors the hope and strength to get by. Dr. Pollard also played a song called "Ship ahoy" by the O'Jays. I had not heard this song before but once it was played for me I knew it was a song that needed to be heard by my peers. The song was from the account of being on the coast of Africa and seeing these mysterious ships approaching them. While listening to the song in its entirety I tried to imagine myself in my ancestor's place. Not realizing that these ships were coming to take me away from my home and force me into physical labor, was something I just couldn't fathom.

Michael Carney

Michael Carney
@02646896
On this day of class I was very excited to hear about the upcoming lecture. In class our speaker was Dr. Alton B. Pollard III. Dr. pollard is currently the Dean of Howard’s School of Divinity. He spoke about religion and the definition of a religion. For me religion is a key aspect of my everyday life. Dr. Pollard referred to faith which helps me choose and to  think about everyday decisions. Dr. Pollard explains religion as a spiritual belief that varies by culture and region. In addition I believe faith is a huge factor in every single religion. In my point of view religion describes you as a person and your beliefs in a particular religion. In my opinion every religion believes in some kind of higher power, furthermore all of theses religions can be compared as a whole. Dr. Pollard soon talked about slavery and the hard labor contributed with there work. Also he played a famous song by the Ojays called " ship ahoy". The explained slaves traveling through the ocean of the slave trade. I’m glad that Dr. Pollard came and spoke to the class as a whole. Many students forget about there religion an faith contributed with it. School of Divinity is very popular on campus and I thank Dr. Pollard for furthering my interest with faith and particular religions. The African American community needs to be more involved and understand the exact meaning of Christianity. I thank Dr. Pollard to help me define myself as a Christian and the true meaning of Christianity. Many Universitys dont include a schoolfor religion and those majors and I thank Howard.
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Demetrius Gibson

Dr. Pollard is a Dean in the School of Divinity and his lecture he explained the importance of religion in the African community. He started with the defintion of religion, it is part of a culture and history that people shape. Then Dr. Pollard continued with the definition of culture, which is something the African formed in the new world as a creative expression of their own sense of humanity. Africans were pulled away from their homeland and still managed to find theirselves. I think that Africans bonded over the Christian religion because they hoped that their God would remove their lives that they lived in the New World. Christianity made them feel better than just simple individuals, instead it made them stronger. As the children of God, they relied on their religion to bring them equality, justice, and freedom. Freedom was more than the shackles bound around their feet being removed, it was the right to be educated. This is what every lecture we have had each week ultimately summates to, our African people seeking out education no matter what condiition they are in. As I stated in a previous post, African American have lost this hunger to find education, now we only settle because we do not know what it was to have to fight just to have the simple things in life.

charles harris

Charles harris  @02653030

On this day Dr. Alton pollard the third spoke in my freshmen seminar class the summary of his lecture was about religion in the African decent that followed or participated in it.  The lecture was mind blowing we learned about all types of things pertaining to the lecture topic. He told us that the key to success was through hard work and religion and if u know what you doing it will take you very far in life and especially in American society. My favorite part of the class is when he played us a song that he enjoyed listening to as he was growing up, the song was preformed by a legendary group called the O’ JAYS THE SONG WAS CALLED ship ahoy. By the name u might be able to tell what it is about but if you don’t I will inform you the song is about the slave trade. Another key point the speaker made was that when he was growing up in school he was doing very well in school but when he looked around at the other black classmates they weren’t doing as good and he wondering what was the problem he wanted to know why he was in the higher math courses in no one else was. He came to the conclusion that society made it that way and that it was his job to try and chance that. I could relate to this because I did very well in school and even though I went to a predominatelywhite high school when I look at African Americans in other schools in my city I see that that are also struggling.

Arick D. Scott's Reflection

     Last week, during Freshman Seminar, the guest speaker was a divine man by the name of Dr. Alton B. Pollard III. Dr. Pollard is the current dean of Howard University’s School of Divinity. Being such a spiritually intact person, being a pastor and dean must come naturally to Dr. Pollard. When speaking last week, he started his lecture by first describing the idea of religion by using a generic definition. Dr. Pollard describes religion as being as spiritual and mental belief that varies by culture and geographical region. There are many different beliefs around the world today, but almost every belief acknowledges the idea of a God, idol, or a higher power. Religion became somewhat of a tool that anointed priests or divine figures would use to manipulate others into behaving appropriately within society and it was used to explain the unexplainable topics such as: creation, birth, death, weather, natural disasters and spontaneous unfortunate events. Religion has been the bridge between humans and the uncertainties throughout our lifetime. Dr. Pollard continues his lecture by talking about a key factor of almost every religion: faith. Faith is the idea that one can trust and depend on his/her deity to supply and provide thus person with understanding, protection, and general purpose. Faith is the idea of believing strongly in one’s religious beliefs. Dr. Pollard relates faith to the African slaves will to endure and progress. African slaves suffered through hard labor for many years with the idea of someday being free. Dr. Pollard even played the song “Ship Ahoy” by The Ojays. This song is referring to the slave ships that cruised the mid-Atlantic passage during the slave trade. Slaves were finally freed and assimilated to American living and, in turn, created the African-Americans that exist today. Our African-American culture is rich and jubilant as we still carry many of the religious beliefs that nurtured the sanity of our ancestors. I would like to thank Dr. Alton B. Pollard III for once again reminding me of my existence in the United States and how important faith is in any lifetime, back then and now.