Whitney Young Lecture: ‘Make a Difference’

“Today, more than ever, there is a need for the courage of a Whitney Young,” says Pollard.

By Lyn Stoesen, News Staff

University of the District of Columbia President William Pollard told those attending the Whitney Young Jr. Memorial Lecture and Tea on Feb. 20 that “each of us has a responsibility to make a difference in the world.”

Pollard was the keynote speaker at the event, which drew about 100 participants.

The afternoon-long program was held at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. The annual lecture is sponsored by the NASW Black Caucus and the NASW Foundation.

In addition to Pollard, the program included remarks from NASW Black Caucus Co-chairs Debra O’Neal and Sophia Manning, NASW Executive Director and Foundation President Elizabeth J. Clark, NASW President Terry Mizrahi and former Howard University social work dean and NASW Foundation social work pioneer Douglas Glasgow.

The lecture was founded to celebrate the life and legacy of Whitney M. Young Jr., a past NASW president. Young was a social worker who served as executive director of the National Urban League for 10 years. He was a noted civil rights leader, serving on many boards and advisory committees. He received the Medal of Freedom in 1969 from President Lyndon Johnson. Young died in 1971.

In his remarks, Douglas Glasgow reflected on his friendship with Young. “I am especially honored to be asked here to celebrate the legacy and life of Whitney Young,” Glasgow said. Glasgow worked with Young in the National Urban League and also through social work conferences and organizations.

	NASW Black Caucus Co-Chair Sophia Manning

Glasgow said he was impressed by Young. “He had a vision — an ability to believe he could move the powers in this nation. He had a vision of where he wanted to go and then had a plan with concrete steps toward actual goals.”

Keynote speaker William Lawrence Pollard became president of the University of the District of Columbia in 2002. Before that, Pollard was founding dean of the Syracuse University College of Human Services and Health Professions. He has held leadership positions with the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work and the Council on Social Work Education.

In his remarks, Pollard urged those attending “to ask ourselves, what has [Whitney Young’s] life meant? What do we do with what he has taught us?”

“Whitney Young was the product of the South who understood patience and planning,” Pollard said. “This today is not just about Whitney Young yesterday, but what we do with [his work] and what happens when we don’t.”

Pollard related a story about an elderly woman who gave to Booker T. Washington all she could afford to help him establish Tuskegee Institute — six eggs. Pollard used this story as a metaphor to inspire the social workers at the lecture to strive for greater goals.

The first “egg” Pollard offered was courage. “Courage is needed to do that which is right but not popular,” he said. “Today, more than ever, there is a need for the courage of a Whitney Young.”

Pollard’s second egg was leadership, and he urged those attending to take positions of leadership with NASW. Leadership, he said, “was Whitney Young’s greatest contribution to NASW.”

The third egg was equality. “Whitney Young understood there is still work to do today. Equality is still an elusive concept to far too many Americans,” Pollard said.

NASW Black Caucus Co-Chair Debra O'Neal

The “egg of involvement,” Pollard said, is a reminder that “things don’t get done unless we take action. A failure to get involved is a failure of citizenship.”

The fifth egg, inquisitiveness, “reminds us that all is not right with the world. We can improve conditions by carefully raising questions,” he said. He encouraged NASW members to raise the question, “Should we go to war with Iraq?”

The sixth egg was responsibility. “We have a responsibility to be advocates of change because people like Whitney Young have shown us the way,” Pollard said.

The afternoon concluded with a viewing of the video “How NASW Mobilized for Civil Rights,” created by former NASW President Kurt Reichert and his wife Betty, both NASW Foundation pioneers. The video included details on the association’s history of advocating civil rights both within NASW and in the larger social work community.

For details: www.naswfoundation.org