Howard University President, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, today announced that Howard University alum and award-winning author, Ta-Nehisi Coates will deliver the University’s 2016 Charter Day address, scheduled for 11:00 a.m., Friday, March 4, 2016, at Cramton Auditorium on the University’s main campus. 2016 marks the University’s 149^th Charter Day Convocation, since its founding in 1867.

“Ta-Nehisi Coates continues to use his talents to inspire others as well as elevate racial, political, and social consciousness and discourse in this country and around the world,” said Dr. Frederick, president of Howard University. “The Howard Community is deeply honored to welcome Mr. Coates’s return to the Mecca to reconnect with our campus and share in our 2016 Charter Day celebration,” added Frederick.

A national correspondent for The Atlantic, Coates published the memoir The Beautiful Struggle, in 2008, and his New York Times bestseller Between the World and Me, in 2015. Coates has received the National Magazine Award, the Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism, and the George Polk Award for his Atlantic cover story “The Case for Reparations.” One of 24 MacArthur Fellowship recipients in 2015, presented by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Coates was selected for “exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work,” according to the Foundation. Coates also received the highly acclaimed 2015 National Book Award for nonfiction, for Between the World and Me.

"It is my incredible honor to address Howard University on Charter Day,” Coates said.  “I have been lucky enough to receive a few accolades over the past year. Undoubtedly the chance to return home in this fashion outranks them all."

Coates attended Howard University as an undergraduate from 1993—1999, where he majored in History. Several of Coates’s siblings, extended family members, and close friends also attended Howard. In addition, Mr. Coates’s father, William Paul Coates, worked for the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, on the Howard University campus.

The Charter Day Convocation at Howard University is an annual event commemorating the Charter enacted by the United States Congress, and subsequently approved by U.S. President Andrew Johnson, that established Howard University on March 2, 1867.

In addition to welcoming Ta-Nehisi Coates back to the Capstone, Howard University will honor four extraordinary alumni during the event: Gina F. Adams, Esq.; The Honorable Ras J. Baraka; Michelle D. Bernard, Esq.; and Paulette Brown, Esq. Artis G. Hampshire-Cowan, Esq., former senior vice president and secretary to the Howard University Board of Trustees, will receive the distinguished service award.

The Washington Hilton Hotel will host the 92^nd Howard University Charter Day dinner, with a gala reception scheduled for 6:00 p.m., Saturday, March 5, 2016. Tickets to the Charter Day dinner and additional information are available by contacting Howard University Development and Alumni Relations, (202) 238-2430 or rsvp@howard.edu. All proceeds will be directed toward the Bridging the Gap Student Aid Campaign to promote student retention and graduation. More information can be found at http://www.howard.edu/charterday/

About Howard

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. Since 1998, the University has produced two Rhodes Scholars, two Truman Scholars, two Marshall Scholars, 30 Fulbright Scholars and 11 Pickering Fellows. 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, call (202) 238-2330, or visit the University's Web site at www.howard.edu.