Graduation is quickly approaching, and for seniors who take Yoruba language and culture courses as a language requirement, it means saying goodbye to a four-year-long community.
Yoruba at Howard serves as a community space on campus where everyone is welcome. Students taking Yoruba classes, as well as those who are part of the Yoruba ethnic group, often gather to share cultural experiences, build friendships and learn together. The celebration on April 23 specifically honored seniors and highlighted their experiences as Yoruba students.
Emma Brown, a Yoruba student and graduating senior, shared the ways the Yoruba program at Howard enhanced her student experience.
“I’ve had more of an intimate connection to people who are not necessarily from the U.S. but are still Black,” she said.
Brown believes it is important to build connections with members of the African diaspora outside the United States and taking Yoruba as her language has helped her do so.
“I’ve really gotten to know people at Howard who have an interest in connecting back to the African diaspora through Yoruba,” she said.
Brown and the rest of the seniors received gifts and were granted the opportunity to share their experiences taking Yoruba classes at Howard, including study abroad experiences that the program has granted them. They also gave advice to underclassmen and prospective Yoruba students. Many of the seniors who spoke shared positive views on their decision to take Yoruba as a foreign language.
Latrese Johnson, a senior at Howard who studied Yoruba as her foreign language, says that even as an African American student, she has appreciated taking Yoruba.
“I am African American,” she said, “I think it’s important to study an African language because it gives you insight into how a certain group of people sees the world.”
Attendees moved through the event dancing to music, playing games, sampling cultural dishes and soaking in one last celebration together before the seniors graduate. Their professor also shared words of wisdom and encouragement for the graduating seniors. Seniors took individual photos as well as a group photo to commemorate their time and involvement with Howard’s Yoruba program.
Abiba Moncriffe, a sophomore honors African American studies major from DeSoto, Texas, attended the event. For Moncriffe, studying Yoruba was not originally part of the plan. But after having trouble registering for the Spanish courses that she originally wanted to take, she signed up for Yoruba and hasn’t looked back.
“I absolutely love the class, and I love the professor,” she said, “It really is a community, we’re all family.”
According to Oluwatomisin Kale, a sophomore biology major from Cleveland, Ohio, by way of Nigeria, this event was planned by her, a fellow Yoruba student and Professor Oluwafunke Ogunya, the only Yoruba professor at Howard.
“I think it’s a special thing that she is doing for her seniors,” she said. “I think it’s really important for her to continue to recognize the language.”
According to Kale, Professor Ogunya also oversaw the Fulbright-Hays Yoruba Group Project Abroad, a study abroad program that allowed Yoruba students to travel to Nigeria during the summer; however, that program is not active at this time.
Professor Ogunya, popularly known as “Olùkọ́,” is the Yoruba Language and Culture Professor at Howard University. She joined Howard in 2022 and has been teaching Yoruba classes for four years, working with the current graduating seniors since she first arrived.
“These students were freshmen when I joined Howard, so it’s like we grew together,” she said.
Even if students choose to take all four levels of Yoruba courses (YORU 001-004), they still have the option to return and take the Yoruba culture course titled “The Yoruba People, Culture and Globalization,” which began this semester and fulfills the humanities requirement.
The “Yoruba at Howard,” students’ club founded by Ogunya in 2024 is another way for students to form a community outside the classroom. They host events such as game nights and movie nights throughout the year, and maintain a social media presence.
“We’re trying to make it an official organization at Howard,” she said, “I’m aiming to grow the program.”
According to Ogunya, the social media account is used not only to share information about events with students but also as an online learning platform for visitors and anyone interested in learning more about the language. They post proverbs and graphics so people can learn more about the Yoruba language, because Professor Ogunya believes in learning both inside and outside the classroom.
In addition to hosting events, the club offers tutorials and a language table so advanced language students can mentor students with beginner-level proficiency. According to Ogunya, this helps students build community while productively learning the language.
“Yoruba people operate a communal system,” she said, “they collaborate, they bring people together, so that’s the same culture we’re trying to incorporate through Yoruba at Howard.”
Copy edited by Daryl R. Thomas Jr.