Howard alumnus Daniel Miller’s Howard lineage runs deep, back to his great-grandfather, Col. Gorham Black III, who graduated in 1963.
For Daniel Miller and alums like him, Homecoming is more than a celebration. It lives up to its name: coming home.
“I can go walk around, look at those bricks and I can find my mom and my aunt’s name somewhere over there,” Daniel Miller said. “I could walk up on the Kappa plot and see my grandfather and great-grandfather’s names. Not a lot of people can say that.”
Daniel Miller, a fourth-generation Howard graduate and third-generation member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. Xi Chapter, earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 2025 and now works as a general contractor for F.H. Paschen.
His family regards being a Howard graduate with great importance, and he is reminded of this by the culture that surrounds him in places like The Yard.
Christie Dashiell, a singer, composer and educator, is another product of Howard’s roots. As a jazz studies alumna, Dashiell now teaches jazz voice at her alma mater. Her brother, father and grandfather all attended Howard, and that legacy continues to inspire her.
“As I expand on my career, my legacy can’t be just the notes that I sing. It has to be more. It has to be instilling in people that are coming up behind me the love for music and the love for Howard and the culture,” Christie Dashiell said.
Dashiell’s brother, Carroll Dashiell III, began studying jazz performance at Howard in 2005 and is now a professional musician. Their father, Carroll V. Dashiell Jr., serves as chair of Howard’s Department of Music. Acknowledging his father’s influence, Dashiell III highlighted the significance of this special week in October and the lasting impression Howard’s Homecoming leaves.
Carroll Dashiell III, Christie Dashiell, and their father, Carroll V. Dashiell Jr. (Photo courtesy of Carroll Dashiell III) 
Carroll Dashiell III and Christie Dashiell performing at the Recital Hall in the College of Fine Arts. (Photo courtesy of Carroll Dashiell III) 
Carroll Dashiell III and Christie Dashiell on the third floor in the college of fine arts. (Photo courtesy of Carroll Dashiell III) 
Carroll Dashiell III and Christie Dashiell on the third floor in the college of fine arts. (Photo courtesy of Carroll Dashiell III)
“There’s a sense of Black pride, love and joy in the air and it’s infectious and resonates in your soul. Those are memories that just last forever,” Dashiell III says.
Daniel Miller spoke to the cycle of mentorship that comes with being the new generation of alumni at Homecoming.
“I was standing out there at eighteen years old, having a good time with 40-year-olds and 26-year-olds. You look at them like big siblings and they look at you like little siblings,” Daniel Miller said.
His mother, Donna Black-Miller, is a third-generation legacy and 1987 School of Business alumna. Now a Cook County commissioner, she is running for U.S. Congress this year, hoping to become the first School of Business graduate to do so.
Howard’s Homecoming was so important to Donna Black-Miller that she left her son, Daniel, on the morning of his ninth birthday to make it to the celebration.
Homecoming, she said, has always been worth the trip — even when it required sacrifices.
“I had to leave to go to Homecoming and [Daniel Miller] couldn’t believe I was leaving on his birthday,” Donna Black-Miller said. “I said, ‘I think one day you’ll understand,’ and now I think he understands.”
Many look forward to this particular week in October. Howard’s Homecoming is momentous to the point that people keep a countdown clock for when the next one arrives.
“I’ve got friends who moved away and are working as well and they have a countdown clock, a timer clock to countdown the days until Homecoming,” Daniel Miller says.
When it comes to Homecoming, the culture extends beyond The Yard for both alumni and students.
“We all knew what it was. We all would save up our money and make sure our fits were clean for Yardfest because we knew that no matter if you were into fashion or not… you’ve got to come with that heat,” Carroll Dashiell III said.
Christie Dashiell remembers her first Yardfest vividly.
“My first Yardfest, the fashion was on point, and everybody came dressed to the nines. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have my Homecoming fit ready,” Dashiell said. “But when I came on The Yard, people looked so good. It was like the epitome of Black flyness.”
Along with fashion, photography plays a role in capturing moments to remember. In the 80s, Donna Black-Miller and her friends used film to preserve their memories.
“Even back in the day, before we had iPhones or cellphones of any kind, we still took pictures at Homecoming. It was a roll of film, and everybody knew not to just get one picture. When you ordered pictures, you got five copies of everything so that all your friends could have one,” Donna Black-Miller said.
For the Millers, Dashiells and many other Bison families, Homecoming is a reflection of what it means to return to The Yard, to each other and to the stories that keep Howard alive.
“[Howard] really puts the ‘home’ in Homecoming. You get mom’s mac and cheese and collard greens, and you listen to music in your backyard. That’s what it reminds me of,” Daniel Miller said.
Donna Black-Miller reflected on the time her father accompanied her to Homecoming and how it felt to later experience that same joy with her own son.
“I saw him on the yard with his frat brothers, and as an adult now looking back, I can really understand what that meant to him to be able to see his daughter on Howard’s yard,” Donna Black-Miller said. “Just like it meant the same thing for me to be able to see my son on Howard’s yard for Homecoming.”
Copy edited by D’Nyah Jefferson – Philmore
