Latest news with #Hubert
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Lynched at 18, College Student's Legacy Lives On as Nephew Accepts His Degree 95 Years Later: 'Martyr of Justice'
In June 1930, Dennis Hubert, a sophomore divinity school student, was killed in a racially motivated attack at a playground Almost 100 years later, his nephew, Imam Plemon El-Amin, gratefully accepted his honorary posthumous bachelor's degree 'People are conscious of his life, which means he's still alive," El-Amin said Nearly a century after an 18-year-old Black college student was lynched at a Georgia playground, his nephew has accepted his honorary posthumous bachelor's degree. Dennis Hubert, a sophomore divinity school student, received the posthumous degree from Morehouse College, a historically Black college in Atlanta, on Sunday, May 18, CNN and FOX affiliate WAGA reported. His nephew, Imam Plemon El-Amin, whom he never got the chance to meet, gladly accepted Hubert's Bachelor of Arts degree in religion. During the graduation ceremony, David Thomas, the university's president, described Hubert as a 'son of Morehouse, a martyr of justice, and what history now sees as the Trayvon Martin of the 1930s in Atlanta,' according to CNN. The college and El-Amin did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment. For El-Amin, now 75, the moment was important to his family and resonated with a common sentiment in Islam: a person who dies leaves nothing behind except for their good deeds, knowledge and loved ones who pray for them. 'Many prayers were said in his name,' El-Amin told the outlet about the ceremony. 'Many people remembered him and were informed about his life and his legacy, and so the knowledge was there, as well as the charity of him sacrificing his life so that we would be more conscious of the value of young life and the value of human life, but also the value of justice.' On June 15, 1930, Hubert had spent the day at his mother's and grandmother's houses before going to the playground of Crogman School, a segregated school for Black children. He was in the area for less than 15 minutes before seven white men came up to the college student and accused him of insulting a white woman, according to the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). They began attacking him, despite Hubert saying he knew nothing about their allegations. 'What do you want of me? I have done nothing,' a witness recalled the young man saying. 'Without investigation, police involvement, or trial, one of the white men held a gun to the back of Dennis Hubert's head and shot him at point blank range in front of at least two dozen witnesses,' wrote the nonprofit organization, which was founded by lawyer Bryan Stevenson to end mass incarceration and fight against racial injustice. The fatal attack was part of a wave of racially motivated killings during that era in the United States, especially in the south. There were more than 4,000 lynchings in the south between 1877 and 1950, the EJI reported. After Hubert's death, which reverberated through the county because his family was so well known, the seven men were arrested — an unusual occurrence at the time. Two days after the men were denied bail, the home of Hubert's father, a beloved pastor, was intentionally burned to the ground, and a Baptist church that was attempting to raise money for the rebuilding and support the men's prosecution was tear-gassed. 'A few days later Dennis's cousin, Rev. Charles R. Hubert, narrowly escaped an attempted murder,' the EJI wrote, adding that the chapel for Morehouse sister college, Spelman College, 'was attacked by night riders who threw stones and shattered the Chapel's lamps.' Despite the witnesses who saw Dennis's murder, the seven men involved were acquitted and were convicted of lesser offenses. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 'One defendant received 12-15 years imprisonment for voluntary manslaughter, while the defendant who confessed to firing the fatal shot received a sentence of just two years,' according to the nonprofit. Almost a century after the Hubert family was terrorized — and lost a promising son — they are grateful he is finally recognized. 'Ninety-five years later, people are conscious of his life, which means he's still alive,' El-Amin said, according to CNN, 'though not here with us physically or in body, but his life, his will, and he is providing inspiration for those of us left behind.' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
A Black 18-year-old college student was lynched on a playground 95 years ago. His nephew just accepted his posthumous degree
As Imam Plemon El-Amin stood on stage at Morehouse College in front of hundreds of people, donning graduation regalia his uncle Dennis Hubert never got to wear, all he could think was that Hubert would never be forgotten – even 95 years after he was killed. Hubert, an 18-year-old African American divinity student at Morehouse College, was lynched in June 1930 by a mob of seven White men on the playground of a segregated Atlanta school. Last Sunday, the historically Black all-male college where Hubert was a rising sophomore awarded him a posthumous Bachelor of Arts degree in religion. At the commencement ceremony, Morehouse President David Thomas called Hubert a 'son of Morehouse, a martyr of justice, and what history now sees as the Trayvon Martin of the 1930s in Atlanta.' El-Amin, who never met Hubert, says the moment reminded him of an Islamic saying: There are three things a person leaves behind after their death – their charity, knowledge and family members who pray for them. 'Many prayers were said in his name,' El-Amin said about the ceremony, where the 75-year-old accepted the posthumous degree on his uncle's behalf. 'Many people remembered him and were informed about his life and his legacy, and so the knowledge was there, as well as the charity of him sacrificing his life so that we would be more conscious of the value of young life and the value of human life, but also the value of justice.' El-Amin's family has had 'a long tradition' of a 'connection with Morehouse,' he said, with multiple generations graduating from the institution. Ten men in his family graduated from Morehouse and seven women graduated from its sister school, Spelman College. 'I was proud of Morehouse to give Dennis the honor, and I'm quite appreciative,' El-Amin said. 'The whole Hubert family is really appreciative of that.' Hubert's family had well-established roots in the community: his father was a prominent preacher and his mother was the principal of the elementary school where Hubert was killed, according to El-Amin. 'For one of their promising children, who (was) a rising sophomore at the Morehouse College to be murdered just in cold blood … at that time, 1930, is saying that there (were) no human rights given to the people of Georgia,' El-Amin said. Hubert was one of at least 38 lynching victims killed in Fulton County between 1877 and 1950, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. In Georgia, nearly 600 African Americans were lynched in that period – the second highest number of lynchings in any state. 'When we begin to address this history, when we begin to try to create remedies for the harm and suffering that terror violence and lynching violence created, I think we lay a path down that will help us move forward, which is why I was so pleased that Morehouse decided to award a degree posthumously to Dennis Hubert,' said Bryan Stevenson, the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Like many lynching victims, Hubert was a young man with a bright future ahead of him. When he was killed, the student had been the driver for John Hope, the first Black president of Morehouse. 'This is a recognition of Dennis as not only a human being, but also as someone that had made his mark and was beginning to make his mark at Morehouse, and was not able to make his full mark here in the city or in life, but that people have a high regard for him,' El-Amin said. Less than 15 minutes after Hubert arrived at the Crogman School for Negroes that fateful evening on June 15, 1930, several White men attacked Hubert, falsely accusing him of insulting a White woman. 'What do you want of me? I have done nothing,' Hubert told the mob before one of the men shot him point-blank in the back of the head in front of two dozen witnesses. Hubert's killing sent shockwaves across the community, and the men were soon indicted in connection with his killing – accountability that was rare during that period, according to the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition. The defense argued the killing was 'justifiable homicide' because of the alleged insult. 'The African American community was pushing for justice, and they did get some things that were first in terms of justice between Black and White folk,' El-Amin said. Two days after the men were denied bail, the home of Dennis Hubert's father, Rev. G. J. Hubert, was burned to the ground, according to the coalition. When a Black Baptist church held a fundraiser to rebuild the home and support prosecution of the men, a White mob bombed it with tear gas. Days later, Dennis Hubert's cousin, Rev. Charles R. Hubert, escaped an attempt on his life, and the Spelman College chapel was attacked, according to the coalition. The men were acquitted of murder charges, and only two were convicted of lesser offenses, according to the coalition. One man received a sentence of 12 to 15 years for voluntary manslaughter, while another who confessed to firing the fatal shot received a sentence of just two years. El-Amin's mother, who was 12 when her brother was killed, scarcely spoke about Hubert because of the pain his loss had wrought. 'He was probably her protector and her person that she looked up to,' El-Amin said. But when she grew older and El-Amin became her caretaker, his mother would often call him 'Dennis,' which was 'quite moving' for El-Amin. Though Hubert died 20 years before his nephew was born, the tragedy scarred the family for generations. Growing up as the only son in his family, El-Amin said his mother worried about him because she couldn't bear to lose another family member. Other family members moved out of Atlanta to escape the trauma. They were among more than six million Black people who fled the South to escape racial terrorism between 1916 and 1970, according to the coalition. While Hubert's death traumatized El-Amin's family, he says he's comforted by his faith. 'Life doesn't stop with death and … God rewards those who are oppressed and those who are unjustly murdered,' he said. Part of the tragedy of Hubert's lynching was a lack of awareness surrounding his story among Morehouse graduates until only recently, several alumni said. Michael Tyler, a 1977 Morehouse graduate, said he doesn't 'believe that any of my classmates, or anybody during our generation, was aware of what had transpired with Dennis Hubert.' A few years ago, Tyler learned of Hubert's story when he visited an exhibit memorializing him at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Sean Jones, a 1998 graduate who serves as president of the Atlanta branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, discovered that piece of his school's history in 2021, then called for a discussion of it at the next alumni meeting. As a board member of the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition, Jones constantly advocated for the college to formally recognize Hubert and educate both students and alumni about his story. 'It's personal, it's painful, and … oftentimes it's a scary thing, because some persons have nightmares about it once they hear this kind of history,' Jones said. 'But it is something that must be discussed, must be highlighted.' The lack of awareness about the tragedy – even among Morehouse graduates – made the college's tribute that much more meaningful, Tyler and Jones said. 'It was extraordinarily significant and compelling, and something that I am exceedingly proud of my alma mater for doing – telling a story that had not been told in the public domain as it needed to be,' Tyler said. With the long-overdue recognition, '(Hubert's) memory will continue to inspire a new generation of Morehouse Men to serve with courage, speak truth to power, and uphold the ideals of equity and moral leadership in their respective callings,' a Morehouse College spokesperson said in a statement. Morehouse had approached El-Amin about the decision to award Hubert a degree a year and a half ago and initially planned to recognize Hubert last year, he said. Morehouse's faculty and students had nominated Hubert for the honorary degree, according to the college president. 'We remember the son who should have become a man here. We remember the voice that would have preached liberation. We remember the dreamer who was never given the chance to dream aloud,' Thomas said at the ceremony. El-Amin believes the school's decision to honor Dennis was influenced by the work of the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition and the Equal Justice Initiative to memorialize Hubert along with other lynching victims. The organizations in 2021 collected soil from the site of Hubert's killing – now the Crogman School Lofts apartment complex – and placed a marker there in his honor in 2022. A group of Morehouse students who attended the 2022 commemoration joined hands, encircled the memorial marker and sang the 'Dear Old Morehouse' hymn in Hubert's honor, Tyler recalled. 'Ninety-five years later, people are conscious of his life, which means he's still alive, though not here with us physically or in body, but his life, his will, and he is providing inspiration for those of us left behind,' El-Amin said. Such memorials may help educate future generations and prevent the return of past injustices, community members said. They're especially important today 'when there's such a hostility in some spaces to learning the history of struggle and violence against Black people,' Stevenson, of the Equal Justice Initiative, said. 'We can see that those very, very terrible times are not that far away and can easily come back,' El-Amin said.
Otago Daily Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Pupils amazed by alien art installation
Bringing talk of aliens to the Geraldine Primary School playground with his large art installation are artist Jonti Hubert (right) with his children (from left) Sequoia, 13, Rowan, 19, Willow, 21, and Juniper, 9. PHOTOS: SHELLEY INON A "moon landing" at Geraldine Primary School has started whispers of aliens. A large art installation — named simply "epod" — has had its grand opening. The installation was the creation of Geraldine-based artist Jonti Hubert. School principal Stu Wilcox said Mr Hubert had been coaching his son's hockey team. When the two men had stopped to chat one day, Mr Hubert had told him about what he was creating. The construction had taken over two years to build, but had been in the pipeline since 2019. When he offered it to the school for an undefined amount of time, Mr Wilcox was thrilled to accept. Mr Wilcox said the installation fed into the school's developing social emotional programme, Te Āiotanga (tranquillity, calm and peace), which helped pupils identify their emotions and build a "kete" of tools that they could use when needed. "If a child is in a space of disregulation they can't learn." After the art installation had arrived at Geraldine Primary School, the play ground had been abuzz with ideas of what could be hidden inside the newly installed ''epod'', with many pupils suspecting aliens. While Mr Hubert said his creation could be whatever the children or public wanted it to be, Mr Wilcox thought it could provide pupils with an opportunity to reflect and consider how they were feeling. Mr Hubert and his family — along with Mr Wilcox — had transported the "epod" along the streets on a purpose-built trolley one Sunday afternoon. Mr Hubert had fixed it under some well-established trees, serendipitously the long ground screws did not hit a single root. Mr Wilcox said when the children arrived the next day there had been "a lot of talk of aliens". He said that was the thing he loved about children — instead of going to Google to make sense of it all, they simply made the answer up. It was not a permanent installation and could disappear as suddenly as it arrived. Mr Hubert said, "For me it is about practising moments of change ... as time flows from the known to the unknown and back to the known again. "Nothing is permanent." They hoped to open the "epod" to the wider community in future.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Eleven North Carolina students honored for Military Child of the Year Award
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — The city of Jacksonville is honoring eleven North Carolina students who are semi-finalists of the Military Child of the Year Award, including the two winners as well. Isabella Smith from Hubert won for the Marine Corps, and Emily Baldeosingh from Havelock won for the National Guard. Two N.C. girls receive 2025 Military Child of the Year award. 'It can be a really difficult lifestyle. And so really the best advice I can give is just go for a lot of things in life,' Swansboro High School student, Isabella Smith said. 'It's really easy to be scared for things, but once you just let that fear go and you just go for it and give it your all it, it's hard, but then it just makes it so much better.' Operation Homefront recognizes military children from across the country. Each student gets a bag of rewards including a proclamation from Governor Josh Stein and an engraved football from the Carolina Panthers. Click the video above for more information. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Khaleej Times
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Dubai beats Paris, Sydney to become fourth most popular food destination on social media
Dubai is the fourth most popular food destination in the world on social media, according to a new survey conducted by an international travel agency. Travelbag compiled a list of 50 cities worldwide and analysed their Instagram and TikTok data to identify the most popular food destinations on social media as part of a wider study. It found that Dubai had over 2 million posts on Instagram and 127,900 TikTok videos showcasing the city's food culture. With these figures, it surpassed other cities like Sydney, Chicago and Paris. London topped the list followed by Toronto and Melbourne with almost 3 million Instagram posts each. Bhupender Nath, the founder and MD of Passion F&B, the group that manages Michelin-starred concepts like Tresind Studio and Avatara among others, said the result is not surprising. 'Dubai has become a global culinary hotspot,' he said. 'A few years ago, international brands were coming into Dubai from cities like London or Paris. But now, the trend is reversing. As a proud Dubai-based, homegrown group, we're now taking the concepts we launched here — like Trèsind, Carnival, and Avatara — to other parts of the world. It's a sign that Dubai is a food leader and no longer just a food destination.' According to the Travelbag report, Dubai stands out as a 'culinary giant', with 106 food and drink activities, a number that far surpasses other top cities like Melbourne which has 78 and Toronto, which has 40. Home to hundreds of restaurants, the emirate's dining scene has been exploding with some of the best concepts in the world choosing to set up shop in the city. In 2022, the Michelin guide was launched in the city, propelled many homegrown concepts in the country to superstardom. Dubai restaurants, like Tresind Studio and Orfali Bros. Bistro have also made it to the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. 'Instagrammability' matters Dubai-based international blogger Hubert, who posts as Mister Taster on Instagram, has been in this business for 15 years and calls himself the 'dinosaur' of food blogging. He lived in UK and Iran before moving to the emirate in 2022 after being granted a Golden Visa. He said 'virality' and 'social media presence' were integral to a restaurant's success now. 'A restaurant needs to have good food but also a good social media strategy to ensure that people know about it,' he said. 'A chef who is presentable on camera also goes a long way in making your brand well-known. When I was starting out, I used to post only photos. Now, you need videos but of course, the most important thing is good food. You can do all the marketing in the world but if the food is not good, people will not come back.' He said cultural ties to food and a backstory were the key ingredients to a good viral food video. 'One of my most popular videos was about a place that made Regag bread,' he said. 'We have over 55 million views on it. It was nothing fancy, but it was local cuisine and told the story of the UAE. Another video of mine about eating a whole lamb with rice also did really well with over 28 million views.' A Dubai gastronomy industry report in 2023 had revealed that the city ranked second worldwide in terms of restaurant density. Telling the story According to Nath, telling a story is what has contributed to some of the most popular dishes in their restaurants. 'Take the iconic chaat trolley at Trèsind, or the Gajak dessert at Carnival by Trèsind — both are designed to surprise, and tell a story rooted in nostalgia and flavor,' he said. 'Today, the visual appeal of a dish or a space is often the first thing that captures a guest's attention — especially on social media. But for us, it is not just about looking good. It's about creating an emotional connection. That's what keeps guests coming back and recommending it to their friends and family.' He credited the power of Dubai's culinary scene to its diversity. 'It's one of the few cities where you can enjoy a progressive Indian tasting menu one night, authentic Emirati cuisine the next, and finish the week with elevated Japanese or Mediterranean fare,' he said. 'There's a hunger for quality and creativity here. Even before the arrival of Michelin, World's 50 Best, or Gault & Millau, the industry was thriving. But the launch of these prestigious platforms has pushed the scene further, setting benchmarks that match or even exceed international standards. Restaurants are now not only creating memorable dishes but also delivering experiences that rival the best in the world.'
