WASHINGTON – Howard University is the proud recipient of a collection of photographs titled “Witness” by Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Ph.D., an activist, philanthropist, scholar and artist. She captured the majority of the 100 photographs during and after her tenure as the U.S. ambassador to Austria, when it was her role to help stop the genocidal war during the breakup of Yugoslavia. The collection also includes pictures from sub-Saharan countries, where women leaders preventing and stopping violent conflict have inspired Hunt. She calls them “women waging peace.” The collection will be displayed within two forthcoming campus projects: the  Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership and the Undergraduate Commons (formerly Undergraduate Library).

“We are very grateful for Ambassador Hunt’s gift to the University,” said Anthony K. Wutoh, Ph.D., R.Ph., provost and chief academic officer of Howard University. “While she could have chosen to share this collection with a variety of institutions, our common commitment to the development of women leaders and educational opportunities for girls made it all the more meaningful that she chose Howard University as the recipient.”

Over the past year, as Hunt researched the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States, she realized how Black and white women – primarily abolitionists – worked together in the late 1830s, until their partnership was derailed as issues of race infected the movement’s leadership by midcentury. As she read about the famous women’s suffrage march in 1913 along Pennsylvania Avenue, just before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration, she learned that among the marchers was a group of brave students from Howard – the Deltas. That didn’t surprise her, but it most certainly inspired her.

“What a privilege it is for me to have a presence at Howard University. As I’ve settled into my new home 15 minutes from Howard, I’ve become aware of the vast network of leaders formed by a sisterhood that reaches across the country. Howard University has a major place in history – its moral leadership and its contributions to shaping the leadership of our nation,” said Hunt.

The 1960s was a time of upsetting and hopeful change for Hunt, even like today. The voices of Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Gloria Steinem, Joan Baez, Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were breaking through. Inspired, Hunt was in the streets, in the convergence of social movements – not only women’s equality, but also civil rights and an end to war. Hunt believed that for all their internal inconsistencies and external differences, the movements were synergistic. Each had leaders demanding dignity, justice and nonviolence, and those values are reflected in the family of photographs that Howard University is adopting.

“For example, Liberia’s stability after a horrific 14-year civil war in an impoverished country was under the leadership of the first female president elected in Africa. And there’s Rwanda, where women have taken a leading role helping rebuild their nation after a genocide that wiped out one-tenth of the population in 100 days,” Hunt said.

Hunt made her mark as a civic leader and philanthropist in her adopted city of Denver, where for two decades she led community initiatives for two mayors and the governor of Colorado on social justice issues, such as public education, affordable housing, women’s empowerment, gay rights and mental health reform.

Hunt is the founder of Hunt Alternatives, which has advanced innovative and systemic approaches to social change at local, national and global levels for more than three decades. Her work related to combating the demand for illegal purchased sex (including trafficking) and promoting the full inclusion of women leaders in international security processes spans more than 60 countries. In addition, the foundation focuses on advocating political parity for American women in the highest levels of elected positions, supporting scores of leaders of domestic social movements and disseminating strategies to strengthen youth arts organizations among disadvantaged populations. She has won multiple awards for her persistent activism, philanthropy and scholarship, and has founded numerous philanthropic and nonprofit organizations.

Pictured: "On the Road," Kenya from "Witness" courtesy of Amb. Swanee Hunt.

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About Howard University

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to Excellence in Truth and Service and has produced one Schwarzman Scholar, three Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 11 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Fellows and more than 165 Fulbright recipients. Howard also produces more on-campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu.

Media Contact: Misha Cornelius, misha.cornelius@howard.edu