Stories. Everyone has them. Freeman Hrabowski III shared a few powerful stories to almost 2,000 people in the Carrier Dome on Sunday.

When he was 12, he was thrown in jail for peacefully marching with Martin Luther King Jr. in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala.

At the age of 19, he graduated from college, and would go on to earn both a master’s and Ph.D before the age of 25.

And in 2012, he was named by President Barack Obama to chair the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. Time magazine also named him one of the most influential people in the world.

Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, spoke to the Syracuse University community at the 29th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. With the theme of “Pursuing the Dream: Above All Odds,” Hrabowski shared two stories, both emphasizing the idea that education transforms lives and that it serves as a foundation for dreams and values.

With the upbeat melody of Ray Charles’ rendition of “Country Roads” in the background, SU students, local residents and community leaders all sat together.
Representative Dan Maffei (D-Syracuse) and Chancellor Kent Syverud were also in attendance.

Chatter filled the Dome, as guests bonded over their disbelief of the polar vortex; others talked about Syracuse’s recent win against Pittsburgh, all while munching on Southern favorites like collard greens, fried chicken and barbeque pork ribs.

But this quickly came to a close as the lights dimmed and the sound from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. brothers’ stepping echoed throughout the Dome. The fraternity brought a valuable significance to the event, as both King and Hrabowski were brothers.

Hrabowski was introduced by Syeisha Byrd, the chair of the 2014 MLK Celebration committee. Hrabowski, Byrd said, pursued his dream — and King’s dream — despite the violence, name-calling and threats he faced.

Hrabowski’s first story focused on him being distracted in church as a ninth grade student living in Birmingham, Ala. during the 1960s.

As he sat in the pew — with a pencil for math problems in one hand and peanut M&Ms in the other — he said he somewhat remembers listening to the speaker.

But he was soon paying full attention when the man said, “And if the children decide to participate in this peaceful march, all of America will understand that even 10-year-olds want a good education and know the difference between right and wrong.”

This man was Martin Luther King, Jr. — and he inspired Hrabowski to take a stand and fight against racial inequality.

“I was tired of being told my school was not as good,” he said. “I was tired of hand-me-down books that were raggedy and white kids had used for years. And I wanted to know what it meant to get a great education because I loved school.”

Hrabowski’s excitement soon turned to fear. Even though he knew there would be dogs and fire hoses threatening him, he knew he had to go through with it.

“Now students, the lesson is this: Sometimes when people do courageous things, it is not really that they are courageous. It is that they feel they have no choice, but to do what they have to do,” Hrabowski said.

But during the time of the march, Hrabowski described himself to be a “fat little math nerd.”

“The only thing I ever attacked was a math problem,” he said. “But I was determined to do this.”

Because of the march, Hrabowski spent the weekend in jail. But it’s an experience he said he would never forget.

“The message tonight is this — the values that we hold, will shape not only who we are today, but who we will be in the future,” he said.

Tiffany Steinwert, the dean of Hendricks Chapel, said she was inspired by Hrabowski’s reasons for why people do courageous things.

“What Dr. Hrabowski really highlighted in that moment was that we do courageous things all the time because we have to. And what we need to do now as a community, as a university, is to begin to think about what are those places that we have to,” Steinwert said. “We are in this together.”

Alexandra O’Neil, a fifth-year industrial design major, wasn’t familiar with Hrabowski and his accomplishments before the event but said his story about King deeply affected her.

“I was just surprised that he met MLK. Hearing his story — and having it be a first hand account with King — was just really inspiring,” O’Neil said. “It definitely made me think about my life and what I’m doing with it.”

The difference between 1963 and 2014, Hrabowski said, is that if one has been educated, no matter his or her race, all kinds of opportunities are available.

The idea was highlighted in Hrabowski’s last story, which focused on one of his own UMBC students. The student was a kid from inner city Baltimore who was studying Russian culture and language.

When he met this student, Hrabowski said he asked about his family. The student replied that he didn’t have one, and instead, was a ward of the state. Both parents had become addicted to drugs, and at the age of 13, the student was left to fend for himself in a crack house.

This student knew that the only way to get out of poverty was through education and to study enough to go to college, Hrabowski said.

The student went on to become a Fulbright Scholar, earned a graduate degree from Princeton University and now currently works at the State Department.

Joseph Bryant, board president of the Southside Community Coalition, a nonprofit organization that works to revitalize parts of Syracuse’s South Side, said he thought Hrabowski’s speech was empowering.

“I think it hit on two points,” Bryant said after the speech. “One, always dream. And then you need to be educated to create opportunities in this world.”

Bryant was also one of the four recipients of the Unsung Hero Award, which is annually presented to members of the Syracuse community.

Other recipients included Debra Person, who is the founder and executive director of Exodus 3 Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit organization for women in need; Georgia Popoff, who is a resident of the East neighborhood and is active in different arts programs in Syracuse; and Dorothy Russell — also known as “Dottie from the Schine” — who has spent her entire career in SU Food Services.

At some points, the crowd was so moved by Hrabowski’s stories that they almost drowned his words with applause several times throughout the speech.

“Students, with all of the problems you may have, with all of the challenges you may see, when you know there is somebody who cares about you — that is a strength you can always rely on,” Hrabowski said. “Syracuse you are a very special place, but you can be even better.”

And as Hrabowski finished, the audience stood to give him a standing ovation, grateful to hear the stories he told.

—Assistant News Editor Jacob Pramuk contributed reporting to this article.

Published on January 21, 2014 at 2:23 am

Contact Meredith: mhnewman@syr.edu | @MerNewman93