By: Dominque Brodie (’19), Editor in Chief
Homecomings are special. They’re a unique phenomenon that college students and college graduates alike know very well. The sense of nostalgia, reunions with old friends, the chance to go back to where it all began. The idea of establishing home, comfort, and belonging in a place so foreign and for Black students specifically, a place that can sometimes feel less than welcoming, is so important and so powerful. At UNC particularly, Homecoming means so much; and especially to its Black alumni.
Donovan Livingston (‘09), describes homecoming as “coming to a place where I’m accepted, valued, appreciated, and challenged to think about how I can rise to the occasion.” Donovan, a UNC alumnus with two Master’s degrees from Harvard and Columbia Universities, is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. We spoke with him about his path, his passion, and the importance of Homecoming celebrations.
Donovan has gained worldwide attention for his spoken word poem “Lift Off,” which he delivered at Harvard Graduate School of Education’s commencement ceremony last spring. Since graduating from Harvard, Donovan has spoken at international conferences, at UNC during this fall’s Achieving Carolina Excellence, and even has a forthcoming book by way of Penguin Random House. Amidst all the fame and opportunities, Livingston has not forgotten about his true passion: educational access.
This passion is one that Donovan has been developing since his childhood. As the son of two educators, Donovan says “I saw the relationships they had with their students and how they were able to impact lives in a positive way.” Seeing both of his parents advancing in their respective academic fields inspired this passion, which was obvious in his extracurricular involvement at UNC. Donovan served as a counselor for Project Uplift for 3 years (a program for rising high school seniors), a mentor for Movement of Youth (a mentoring program for middle school students), and was a College Adviser through Carolina’s College Advising Corps after graduation. He reflects, saying “when I really thought about what I did in college and got the most joy out of, it was always these instances where I was working with young people in the Raleigh Durham Chapel HIll area. So I was like, maybe there’s something out there for me.”
When asked about his Carolina experience overall and how it has influenced his life, Donovan says that his growth during those four years happened both because of and in spite of Carolina. Carolina exposed him, as it does all of us, to students from diverse backgrounds and greatly expanded his worldview. This kind of growth was extremely valuable, but Donovan also says that he experienced some growth in spite of Carolina. After a rough first semester (his GPA was a 1.6) and having a professor tell him he “wasn’t college material,” Donovan was motivated to turn things around, and he did just that. “When he told me that, I had two choices: I could’ve listened to him and, you know, taken his words to heart, or I could’ve listened to him and turned [his comment] on itself,” Donovan remarks on the situation.
The cultural contributions Donovan saw himself making to the University setting through his spoken word, music, and acting helped him define his place at UNC as more than just academics. The confidence he gained through his involvement in EROT and local performances at places like Local 506 and Cat’s Cradle eventually spilled over into his classes, helping him improve his grades and his overall acclimation to Carolina.
In addition to this cultural confidence, Donovan says his friend group and the larger Black community at UNC helped embrace him and show the kind of community he sees as necessary to truly thrive at an institution like UNC. Being among the minority at UNC, Black students have to face the systemic racism that exists at any public institution in addition to the small everyday microagressions from faculty, staff, and fellow students. Donovan speaks to the collective nature of Black UNC, saying “it’s a community that thrives on each others success. And by that I mean we understood that we had a shared fate at the University.” This, Donovan says, is what is so important about the Black homecoming experience.
Coming back, for Donovan and so many other Black alumni, exemplifies not just a return to campus, but a return to a figurative home. Being in a place where we are constantly reminded of our minority status and still thriving is remarkable, and encourages an unshakable sense of community. Here, where only 9% of the student population is Black, we are somewhat forced to stick together. Coming together to embrace and overcome the seemingly shared fate of minorities at this institution establishes a trust, comfort, and support that remains long after graduation.
Donovan also speaks to his experiences at other institutions. With two master’s in Higher education and a doctorate in the works, he’s no stranger to the collegiate system. Donovan says being a minority at UNC only primed him for experiences at the two different ivy league institutions he attended, which are notorious for their lack of diversity. He says “I know that they saw something in me that I saw in myself, or knew existed within myself that I knew wasn’t being nurtured when I was at Carolina. So, I felt inspired to rise to the occasion and not let the fact that I was one of a few keep me from being my authentic self.” The confidence and perspective Donovan gained at Carolina has helped him succeed in his post-secondary education, and he hopes to do the same for other students from underrepresented backgrounds.
“I believe,” Donovan says, “the very nature of what I do as a college access professional is revolutionary. Everybody’s got their own revolution, right? Everybody’s got their own way of resisting that dominant narrative that says you can’t succeed because of X and this is my way of fighting back.”
