President Barack Obama is widely recognized as a talented public speaker, and his historical election has generated much discussion about his rhetoric.

The Black Lives Matter Movement is alive and growing as the media capitalizes on the killings of Black men. Amid the marches, protests, funeral services, television appearances, political rallies, and other symbolic gestures that have allowed those touched by the tragedies to express themselves emotionally, one might wonder how, in particular, the mothers of these young Black men respond, cope, and move forward with their lives. With an understanding of this type of loss, two women decided to reach out to a family in order to share in their grief and offer words of support. This article examines the letters written by Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant III, and Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, to the family of Michael Brown. It seeks to uncover the rhetoric of their grief and highlight the necessity of their words as a part of the grieving and healing process.

The nonverbal communication behavior of Black people continues to take new forms as time progresses. In Kochman's 1972 book, Rappin' and Stylin' Out: Communication in Urban Black America, Benjamin Cooke introduced an initial classification and code of nonverbal behaviors among people of African descent. In this study, students react to Cooke's study conducted in the late 1960s by commenting on Cooke's initial findings in comparison to nonverbal behaviors practiced among Black people as of late. Respondents suggest that while differences and variations exist between the expression of nonverbal behaviors exhibited by the original group studied and people recently observed, there yet remains a similarity in the cultural significance and motivation behind the displays.

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Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) serve the educational needs of students of African descent while providing an atmosphere of nurture and guidance enriched in cultural norms. In considering how HBCUs can remain competitive, this chapter recommends that one of the first steps is to return to the basics, reviewing the historical significance, missions and traditions of HBCUs. In doing so, this work investigates the role HBCUs play in student identity and character development by looking at the history, mission and traditions of Morehouse College and Howard University. The authors, who both are alumni of these institutions, respectively, will examine relevant documents and statements from the schools as well as provide auto-ethnographic narratives explicating the impact those institutions had on their academic, social and professional successes.