Homecoming celebrations at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) will look a little different this year thanks to COVID-19. From Oct. 21 to Oct. 25, the Support Black Colleges clothing line will host their first-ever virtual homecoming for those of you who can’t physically celebrate your homecomings in person.
Ari Lennox, 2 Chainz, Kirk Franklin, Mulatto, Moneybagg Yo, Blac Youngsta, Marvin Sapp, Kierra Sheard and Gemaine are slated to perform during the week-long event, which will be hosted by comedians Darren Brand and Pretty Vee.
“You can’t stop Homecoming, our culture is too big and our HBCU community deserves more. These times have proved to be trying but we are going to give HBCU students everything we have,” said Corey Arvinger and Justin Phillips, CEOs and co-founders of Support Black Colleges, in a joint press statement.
Throughout the week, there will also be several panel discussions featuring guest speakers such as Anthony Anderson, Deion Sanders, Cortez Bryant, Levell Morton and many more. Celebrities such as Tisha Campbell, Ruben Studdard, Kevonstage, Not Carlton Banks and Lexis Brown will be featured as guest appearances throughout the week.
Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, several HBCUs have received record-breaking donations. Howard University, Hampton University and Xavier University all received sizable donations from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott.
Additionally, HBCUs have been getting a lot of recognition from celebrities recently. Last week, Travis Scott announced on Twitter that he would be covering a semester of tuition for five HBCU students.
“AND I KNOW SCHOOL JUST STARTED AND I WANNA TAKE CARE OF 5 KIDS TUITION FOR THEIR FIRST SEMESTER OF SCHOOL!!! WHY NOT!!!!!” he tweeted. He then clarified his tweet by saying he wanted to award students who attended HBCUs. “5 KIDS [WHO] ATTEND A HBCU,” he tweeted. “Send me ur schools ya heard!!!”
For more information about the virtual homecoming, click here.