- (male announcer) This program is made possible by the WKNO Production Fund, with major funding from the Plough Foundation.

[upbeat band music] - Historically black colleges and universities, otherwise known as HBCUs, are a staple of black American culture and education.

Over 100 of these historic institutions, each with its own unique flavor, speckle the country.

And here, in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, beyond the Pyramid and the likes of Beale Street, tucked away in the urban streets of Soulsville and sitting right on the corner of Walker Avenue, we have our own HBCU, LeMoyne-Owen College.

- When you heard there was gonna be a documentary on LeMoyne-Owen College, what was your first reaction?

- I was excited.

I felt like it was about time that we shed some light on the only HBCU in the city of Memphis.

- Anytime something's gonna put my school on the map, especially in perpetuity, I'm excited about it, it's long overdue.

- So many more will know of LOC's legacy and contributions to the region, country, and the world.

- Oh, wow, my first reaction was, "I'm so excited, it's so well deserved and it's so well needed."

- A lot of people don't know about LeMoyne-Owen College and I think that it's just so absurd.

- I don't think LeMoyne-Owen gets the respect that it deserves.

That's why I think this documentary is good.

- It's gonna open a lot of eyes, it's gonna open a lot of ears.

'Cause they need to know what's going on in south Memphis.

It's something positive.

- LeMoyne needs a documentary.

We need like the world to know who LeMoyne is.

- It's the city's HBCU, it's Memphis's HBCU.

- LeMoyne-Owen College, magic happens here.

[upbeat band music] - Some say that LeMoyne-Owen College is Memphis's best kept secret, a hidden treasure buried away at 807 Walker Avenue.

Today seems like any other day at LOC's cozy 15-acre campus, but amongst the youthful bustle of the student body lie markers displaying the school's true age.

It's the 160-year anniversary of the college.

Between the bright eyes of eager students, and the warm smiles of welcoming faculty, one thing is certain, there's magic in the air.

And here at LOC that statement is quite literal.

The school's theme is magic, and those who come here are called magicians.

- Ah, what is the magic of LOC?

I can't tell you.

If I told you I'd be giving you everything that we got.

- Being at LeMoyne-Owen College, it's an experience.

You can be and do anything that you want to be, and LeMoyne-Owen College sort of lets us know that.

It just has a way of spreading that magic, of understanding that.

- LeMoyne is a place of love.

It's a place of magic.

It's a place of support.

It's a place of community.

It's a place of you being who you truly are without no regrets.

- I've been using this tagline, "There's magic happening on Walker Avenue."

And that's the truth.

- Well what is the magic of LOC?

To understand it, you first have to learn where it came from.

And to do that, you've gotta go back almost 200 years.

[gentle music] - So I really can't talk about LeMoyne-Owen College without talking about La Amistad.

In 1839, there was a West Mende tribe on the ship that were captured and were on their way to the United States.

During that time, the West Indian tribe members created a revolt on the ship, and ultimately they killed some people.

They killed the captain, they killed some of the crewmen and demanded that they take them back to Sierra Leone.

Unfortunately, because of the waters, and the night, and the rippling of the evening waters, the ship ended up in Long Island, New York.

So once they got to the United States, or to New York, they were arrested, and imprisoned, and charged with murder.

The West Mende Indian tribe needed some defense so this group of abolitionists came forward to help them, and ultimately they became the American Missionary Association.

They were a religious based organization, so they were very deep into the tenet of the Bible that totally thought that owning another person was a sin.

They were the ones who ultimately got these tribe members free.

And so once they were free, and this case went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Ultimately they were also charged with educating these freed men, or these free, Africans at that time.

And so the American Missionary Association, that was their charge.

To not only abolish slavery, but also to educate freed men.

- Education is critical for people of color.

As you can see through our history, education is the key that opens the door to monumental change in our communities.

- Education is where we get our doctors, our lawyers.

It gives us an opportunity to do something different.

- When you're wanting to have better, when you are wanting to do better in life, education is everything.

- Without an education, without skills, opportunity will not be there.

The reason why African Americans were so persistent in seeking education is because they were intelligent people.

They can see the world around them.

They can see that whites have had these opportunities to go to school, to learn th ings, to be prepared for life, both economically and socially.

So it's not a stretch for them to say, "This is what we want."

- It was the beacon of light that they needed in order to excel, or succeed, or to prosper, or to grow, or to just learn to read and write.

And so I really truly believe that education was their key to their freedom.

Not necessarily just their physical freedom from bondage, but just freedom to be able to pursue whatever their dreams were.

- To address this deep yearning for opportunity and education for people of color, freed Africans and abolitionists alike would take the bold step of creating educational institutions for them.

The grassroots of what we now call HBCUs.

- The American Missionary Association started nine African-American institutions, and one of them was LeMoyne-Owen College.

There was a Camp Shiloh, just about a couple hours from Memphis, where the first school was, and they sent one of their members, Lucinda Humphrey, who was actually a nurse.

So 1862, of course, is when Ms. Lucinda Humphrey started Camp Shiloh.

She actually started teaching some of the little children their ABCs at night, after she'd done all of her nursing.

And one of the colonels, who was a chaplain in that Union army, decided that, "Hmm, we have a lot of children "in these various camps.

We should definitely try to educate them."

And so the American Missionary Association, again, was very prominent in providing those tools and services that they needed to help them start their schools.

So one of the schools was at Camp Shiloh.

Then ultimately, in 1866, they moved to Memphis and called themselves Lincoln Chapel.

- Functioning as both an elementary school for African-Americans, and as a church where they learned about Christianity and God, Lincoln Chapel was able to thrive for a year.

In part because of its placement in the urban setting of Memphis.

- I think it's true that because it's in an urban setting, an educational institution would be more accepted.

Slavery in Memphis was a little different than what we think of when we first think of sort of the traditional plantation slavery.

Urban slavery in Memphis provided more opportunities for you to become a skilled worker that afforded you some freedom that others didn't have.

Being in an urban setting meant that the majority of slaves were either skilled workers, they drove wagons, they were bricklayers, carpenters, or worked inside of their owners' homes.

They had something that was marketable, that was useful when emancipation came.

But whites in general didn't like the idea of former slaves being educated.

And in 1866, a civil disturbance became a massacre when a group of African-American soldiers, actually they had just been discharged, found themselves in a confrontation with the police over the arrest of an African-American, who they felt was being treated unfairly.

That became a pitched battle between the police and these former soldiers.

And eventually it sort of petered out as darkness came.

But rumors began to spread in the white community that African-Americans were arming themselves and were going to try to take over the city.

So in response to this, and to what had happened earlier in the day, armed whites moved into those neighborhoods and shot anybody who was black.

Man, woman, child, didn't matter.

They also burned down several churches and several schools.

So the fact that they burned down schools tells us that a lot of whites resented African-Americans going to school.

But African-Americans were determined to be educated.

- Though the Memphis Massacre had reduced Lincoln Chapel to ash, the hopes and dreams of its black students were anything but up in smoke.

That's when Dr. Francis Julius LeMoyne, a prominent abolitionist and physician in Washington, Pennsylvania, caught wind of the Memphis School.

Though he had originally planned to spread his finances to aid schools across the country, he decided to give his entire $20,000 donation to the restoration of Lincoln Chapel.

- Dr. Julius LeMoyne was very compassionate when it came to educating freed men.

He specifically said, in a le tter when he donated $20,000, that he didn't necessarily want the school to be a certain religious school, or a certain type of school, he wanted it to be an all-inclusive school that was non-sectarian and didn't have any specific religion attached to it, but it would inherently have religious values.

- In 1871, the school would be renamed LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School in his honor, while also expanding its curriculum to include the education of black teachers in Memphis.

In 1901, the curriculum will broaden again, now to include a high school syllabus.

- In 1914, they moved from Orleans Street to Walker Avenue and the first building was Steele Hall.

It was named after the first principal of Lincoln Chapel, Andrew J. Steele.

Later, in 1924, the school became a junior college.

And in 1934, the Tennessee chartered it as a four-year degree granting institution.

The name was changed to LeMoyne College.

- LeMoyne College swiftly became renowned for its high quality of education, and its pipeline for producing young scholars and trained teachers of color.

The school even excelled in its non-academic pursuits, like its early football team, from which its current theme is derived.

- We weren't originally the Magicians, we were the Yellow Jackets.

And the way we got the name Magician was because of our football team.

Our football team during that time was so good that the players thought that we were doing magic tricks in order to get a touchdown.

And we then evolved into the Magicians.

- The school was thriving, they had a vast amount of respect in the community and in the neighborhood.

There was lots of service and civic engagement going on as well.

Our first African-American president, Dr. Hollis F. Price, came in 1943.

He was a gem for sure.

He was originally from Virginia, he taught for a little while at Tuskegee Institute, he taught agricultural economics, and then he came to LeMoyne as the Dean of Students.

He felt like students should definitely learn as much as they can, but they should also be engulfed in the Bible and be religious, and being good to your fellow man.

So enter Owen College, which was situated on Vance Avenue and built in 1934, named after S.A. Owen, who was the pastor at Metropolitan Baptist Church, and also the Vice President of the Tennessee National Baptist Convention.

The school was struggling so in 1967, Dr. Hollis F. Price had a conversation with the powers that be at Owen College and they merged in 1968 to form LeMoyne-Owen College.

- So you will hear a lot of older alums say, "Oh, I graduated from LeMoyne."

They don't mean LeMoyne-Owen College, they mean LeMoyne.

So the last graduating class was in 1968, and the first graduating class of LeMoyne-Owen College was in 1969.

- I am a proud, very proud graduate of LeMoyne College, man.

I get a little emotional because had it not been for this college I don't think I would've completed college.

- Born from the union of LeMoyne and Owen colleges, LeMoyne-Owen College proudly stood as Memphis' only HBCU, championing an already established commitment to black excellence at a time when all other institutions were racially segregated.

- Because LeMoyne-Owen was the only historically black college in the area during those times, people looked to LeMoyne-Owen for their education and for their success.

The schools weren't integrated at that time.

University of Memphis, or Memphis State at that time, wasn't integrated until 1968.

- Maybe I was fortunate it was segregated because I came to this college.

It was nurturing.

We learned about black history.

There was a culture here.

There was a soul here.

There was a heart here.

- LeMoyne-Owen had a very good reputation from the '30s to the '60s because they were producing many of the leaders in the city.

- Absolutely, some of the best and the brightest in the world.

Everybody knows Dr. Herenton, Memphis' first African American mayor.

Also, Benjamin Hooks, State Representative Joe Towns, Larry Miller, Myron Lowery, Marion Barry.

The list goes on and on and on.

- A lot of the teachers in the city school system were graduates of LeMoyne.

- There would've been fewer doctors, fewer accountants, fewer dentists, fewer lawyers, because so many of those people who would go on into the skilled professions got their start at LeMoyne-Owen.

LeMoyne-Owen definitely is a foundation for the city of Memphis.

They did so much more than teach people to read and write, although that's very important.

They built, truly, the black middle class in Memphis.

Not only did that fuel economic success for the city as a whole, because they're paying a great deal of taxes, they're supporting the government, they're supporting civic institutions, charities, all of those things, but it also is a leader in the civil rights movement, in the crushing of segregation.

- And crush segregation it did.

Of course, back in 1960, they weren't calling it the Civil Rights Movement quite yet.

It was called the Sit-in Movement, named after the practice of African-Americans peaceably sitting in segregated establishments in protest of unfair treatment.

LeMoyne students would spearhead the efforts in the Bluff City, but they first got the idea from students just a little to the east.

- It was a very racist setting.

Around the country, beginning in North Carolina, students decided that they were going to begin changing things.

They had lunch counters that were segregated, so they decided to go down to Woolworth's, which was like the number one five and dime store, and they decided to sit at those lunch counters and order lunch.

Well, the managers had never seen that before, because it was the mode of the day, African-Americans were not welcome in the lunch counters.

Lunch counters were only for European Americans.

And that was the beginning of the sit-in movement in America.

Well, we had students in social studies that were keeping up with what was going on in the rest of America and they said, "Wow, this is the same thing that's happening here."

- The beginning of that movement in Memphis was that my former classmate at LeMoyne, Marion Barry, who would go on later to become the councilman and then mayor of Washington DC, as most people know.

He graduated and he went up to Nashville and got his master's at Fisk University.

- And in Tennessee, Nashville was the first city that had sit-ins, and Marion was a part of what was going on in Nashville.

- He helped organize the sit-ins in Nashville, that was in 1960.

And then in March of that year he came back home to Memphis and came on campus here at LeMoyne, and Owen College as well, and talked to the students about being involved in sit-ins, and it's time for Memphis to do something.

- We met with him on Friday, that next day, on the Saturday, we sat in.

That was the first arrest.

Some the students from Owen, he talked to them too, they actually went on that Friday evening, it was the 18th of March.

There were no arrests so it didn't make big news like it did that Saturday when we went from LeMoyne.

So that was the real start of it.

- And with that first act of protest, Ernestine and other LeMoyne students found themselves at the helm of the Memphis sit-in movement.

- It was students who led the sit-in movements, and then finally the community, the black community as a whole did support us overall.

- Memphis was in an unrest, as far as race relations were concerned.

And on campus the students were very much involved in that civic engagement.

They were part of the protests, they were a part of the sit-ins.

And Dr. Hollis F. Price was a mediator in a lot of those protests, because the students were wanting to go up in arms for various reasons.

- Our parents are paying taxes to finance the settings in the downtown area.

So that was evil and immoral to make our parents pay taxes to build and finance these things, but yet deny the services to us.

- There was nothing we could do where white people were.

And even those things that would've made us better, either we were excluded completely or we could only go on a certain day.

You had to use the back door in some of the institution, you couldn't go through the front door, you had to go through the back door.

And every time you had to be humiliated like that, you said to yourself, "I'm God's child.

"I'm just as good as anybody else.

"Why am I treated differently "based simply upon the color of my skin?

It's not right."

And when the sit-in movement came, I was so happy.

I was ready for it.

I mean, I didn't even hesitate because I was tired of being treated as less than a second class citizen because of the color of my skin.

- Our purpose was not to sit down beside little white girls and little white boys, it was to get the opportunities that they had, to open things to be open to us.

So that was the intent.

It wasn't for integration, it wasn't to integrate, it was to desegregate.

So there's a bit of a difference there.

I recall very quite vividly to go into the library it was totally forbidden territory.

And I remember clearly having sort of an out of body experience and found myself standing in front of the library desk 'cause it was such an alien thing to do.

You know?

Our strategy was that we would just take a seat.

So I went to the book rack and got a book, or a magazine, or something, and just sat down at the table to read.

And after a short while there were police cars surrounding the library.

And, of course, they came in and told us we had to leave and to get up from our seats.

I didn't, so of course I got a little assistance from them to get up from my seat.

I was arrested, you know, they took us down and got my mug shot.

It's there somewhere now, you know, fingerprinted and all of that and then put into the jail cells, yeah.

- Would you ever want your record, you know, cleaned or erased?

- No.

Heavens, no, I'm proud of it.

Why would I want it erased?

- How come?

- How come?

Because it was something that needed to be done.

- The Memphis sit-in movement had more successes than the other sit-in movements.

The sit-in movements that began in Greensboro, North Carolina and spread to Nashville and spread to other parts of the south, primarily focused on lunch counters.

LeMoyne students and S.A. Owen students, they focused on public institutions.

They sat in at the public library, at the zoo, at the art gallery, public institutions that their taxpayer dollars went to support.

It gives them a much stronger argument that not only is this about equal access to food and drink, and a space, but it's also about the rights of a citizen to be able to enjoy the same amenities that whites do, because they're paying the same amount of money.

So by Memphis focusing on public institutions, as opposed to simply private businesses, makes this a much more important movement.

In many ways, the most important sit-in movement because it leads to the desegregation, very quickly, of the public library, the Memphis Zoo, the Brooks Art Gallery.

It starts in 1960, by the end of 1961, all of these institutions have been desegregated.

Those are major victories that didn't come to a lot of other places.

- That's one of the proud moments in the history of this college, as far as I'm concerned.

You know, it's an academic institution, but yet it was an institution that was devoted to social change and justice.

- We understood that this was a challenge before us that had to be addressed by the community.

And who better than us?

Things that we had talked about at home, we knew this is something that has to be done.

And that's what we did.

And looked forward to it.

- Oh, I felt...

I felt that I was outstanding.

That I had the nerve to participate in a movement.

I had never been in a movement before.

And it started there on campus.

I am very proud of LeMoyne.

- And that same pride still rings through today at the LeMoyne-Owen campus as symbols like Steele Hall stand as functioning testaments to the trailblazers of the past.

- I feel honored to be a part of that legacy.

One thing that's important to me with coming to an HBCU, and a school with such a rich history in education, is to be able to make the legacy proud.

- I think just the resilience that LeMoyne-Owen has is commendable, and something that keeps you motivated as a student, as an alumni.

- This institution was burned, but it was restored to life.

That was in 1866, and now we are in 2023 and this college is vibrant, it's alive, and it's still contributing to the wellbeing of Memphis and the American society.

- What I love about LeMoyne-Owen is the fact that it's so unique in its own way.

I think that LeMoyne being the only black school in the city, having to compete against so much and still thrive, and still being the beacon that it is for higher learning definitely just captured me.

- This school served a purpose of allowing African-American people, like myself, to come in and become educated so as to be able to make additional contributions to the world.

And that's what many of the students here have done.

Without HBCUs, and without a LeMoyne-Owen College, many people would not have had an opportunity to attend college.

And all that talent that they had within them, all their dreams, all the things that they carried within them would've been buried.

- And so now to alums, and to us, you know, we believe even though like even you look at this building, it's 70 years old.

I mean we've taken care of it for generations and to be able to make the magic happen in here, to keep this building together, you gotta be a magician, my brother.

- It certainly seems like the magic of LOC has charmed the hearts of students and faculty for generations.

But what is that magic?

Well it depends on who you ask.

- The magic of LOC is in the people and the culture.

You come here and you're automatically accepted.

People at LeMoyne-Owen College meet students where they are.

- The magic that we instill in them every day is that they can succeed, and that they will succeed with our help, with our guidance, and with the necessary tools that we equip them with.

- So not only do we educate the students when they come, we provide a holistic approach.

So magic happens here at LOC because we show our students that we actually care about them altogether, not just academically.

- And that's important because so many people can get caught in being a nu mber at a larger institution.

Here the professor's gonna call you in and out of class, which is a good thing.

But also can help you really realize what your goals and aspirations are.

- Not everyone knows what they wanna be when they first get to college.

Sometimes it takes a little bit of trial and error and LeMoyne-Owen College allows people to flourish in that way.

- The magic of LOC is watching students have that a-ha moment, when they get a chance to realize that they can actually do something that they really didn't think that they could do.

When they make that accomplishment, when they get a chance to create, and to stand on their own two feet at graduation and realize that they're ready and prepared to go face the world.

- The magic in being at LOC is that you can do anything you wanna do, as long as you just put your mind to it.

The magic is thinking you're not gonna succeed, and you do.

The magic is meeting someone, and you have the same interests, the same likes, same struggles even.

The magic is succeeding in the end.

- I just say the magic in the community, it doesn't have to be a big school to feel like home, or for you to feel welcomed or to feel like it's something big happening.

- The love that you get, and the nurturing that you get, there's nothing that compares to it.

Nothing at all.

- The magic in LOC is the development of blackness, and truly enjoying being a person of color.

- When I attended LeMoyne-Owen College, I really received a sense of what my culture was about.

And, you know, I could look at any point around campus and see someone that looks like me.

And you know, we really established a bond attending LeMoyne-Owen College.

- Our magic is our people.

Our people and their love for the institution.

And that's a critical co mponent of our staying power.

One hundred and sixty one years la ter, students come to LOC as strangers and they leave as family.

- And with every new class adding a fresh branch to the family tree, it's only reasonable that there'd be an annual time when everyone could come together.

After all, what's a family without a reunion?

[upbeat music] It's homecoming week for the Magicians and school spirit is at an all time high in 2022.

With this year's celebration being the first since the coronavirus pandemic, the Magician family couldn't be happier to come back together.

- Homecoming is always, always a thrill, especially at a HBCU.

We're all just in a melting pot, everybody knows everybody regardless of what year you graduated.

I graduated in 2015, but I guarantee I know someone who graduated in 1997.

I know people who graduated in the '80s.

I know people who graduated in '71, Clint Jackson, shout out to him.

We just know.

And we know this because our alums always come back to the schools.

- The small population at LeMoyne-Owen gives everyone the opportunity to interact.

And I think everyone who comes here feels that it is a family.

- Once you get on that yard, like all the stress, everything you got going through in your life, all that disappears for just those few hours.

It's just mainly a get together.

It's like a family reunion.

- From past alumni of the sit-in movement, to greener graduates and current students, everyone's got an invite to this cookout.

Magicians appear for all kinds of events, and here at the homecoming game, LOC's sports culture is summoned to the spotlight.

- Athletics is a big deal at LeMoyne, because they have turned out some of the best student athletes that have came through those doors.

It has turned out some of the best coaches that have came through those doors.

- The first HBCU to win the Division Three National Championship, LeMoyne-Owen College.

We see greatness around us, everywhere we're taught.

We're sitting in Bruce Johnson Hall and you look at all the names up in the rafters and it nothing but great people.

You know, whether you talk about Dr. Herenton, Clint Jackson, you got Jesse Chapman, Robert Lipscomb.

I mean all those people became leaders, and they came through the athletic program under a great man, Jerry C. Johnson.

- I can truly say our athletes are not the stereotypical jocks with the low GPAs.

Our coaches are hard on our athletes.

You are a student first before you're an athlete.

- I know at some universities they say athletes get special treatment.

At LeMoyne, everybody's treated the same.

And 95% of the young ladies that I recruited had over a 3.0 all the way to a 3.9.

Ninety-five percent of 'em graduated in four years.

I set my practices up around their class schedule.

So in order for a student to graduate, it takes a village to help that student accomplish his or her goal as a student athlete.

- These athletes aren't just athletes, these are students that we sit in class with every day.

And to see that you have people cheering for you outside of your biology class, outside of your physics class, outside of your communication class, you're our hero, you need to represent us good.

- And when it comes time to represent at homecoming, that cheering could never be more insane.

- It is like a big party.

So when it comes to basketball games, it is super intense.

You can feel the tension in the air at games.

It can get borderline on the point of yelling.

Yeah.

[crowd chanting] - But athletics aren't the only thing worth getting excited about at this reunion.

Stepping right behind that final whistle comes another staple of not only LeMoyne-Owen, but HBCUs in general.

The Greek life.

- Black Greek letter or ganizations are the heartbeat to the black institutions, for real.

I joined Alpha Phi Alpha and, man, some of the greatest times of my life.

You know, being on the yard doing step shows at the drop of a hat, if we got st udents touring the college and stuff like that.

You know, walking around with letters on, they'll stop us, we'll do some steps, you know.

We technically become like the spokesman for the college.

- The first time I ever felt like I was chosen first was when I went through Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated.

That really was a big comforting boost 'cause that was the only thing in life that ever chose me first.

And I felt like somebody at that point, somebody truly cared about me.

I felt like somebody who didn't have to love me, loved me.

- It gives you a family outside of the family that you were born into.

Just like when you come to an HBCU, you gain another family, that's what happens when you join a sorority or a fraternity.

We live in such a huge world, and sometimes it can be hard to find your people.

But these letters mean that no matter where I go on this planet, there is somebody who aligns with my values.

- The National Panhellenic Society, which makes up The Divine Nine organizations, all nine organizations are on campus.

They set the tone for what happens on campus pretty much.

- We are the forefront of the school in many ways, that's why Greek life is still a main thing to look at.

And it's been around since the early 1900s.

- The charter members of the schools here in the city are originally members of LeMoyne-Owen College.

There will be no University of Memphis Kappas if it wasn't for the LeMoyne-Owen Kappas.

There wouldn't be no CBU Kappas if it wasn't for LeMoyne-Owen Kappas.

The same with the Deltas and the AKAs and the Alphas.

So it had to start somewhere, and since we are the mother chapter of the city, then everything else branched off.

- While attending LeMoyne-Owen College, we would definitely go to University of Memphis, to Rhodes, to CBU, mainly to deal with the Greeks, you know, to support what they were doing.

But the vibe at LeMoyne-Owen College was different.

Like CBU, Rhodes and U of M would come to LeMoyne whatever we had because we were, I would say, the Greeks that were supreme.

Can I say that?

I guess our chapters were older, you know, the legacy in it all.

But on a Greek level, the HBCU experience is just different.

- Once the homecoming game, and impromptu step show, draw to a close, the Magicians prep for their next trick on the following evening.

In the Student Center, bathed in a radiant purple and white, it's formal wear only for LOC's Coronation.

It's here that leaders and ambassadors for each academic year and campus organization are brought to the forefront, or royal engagement for Memphis's first family.

[gentle music] At the height of the magical evening a new dynasty appears in the spotlight.

The LeMoyne-Owen family looks on in favor to crown a new king and queen.

Jurriyan Johnson and Kionna Shaw, the new Mr. and Miss LOC.

- I'd never thought in a million years I would be Miss LOC.

My cousin is the 73rd Miss LeMoyne.

This is the exact copy of the crown my cousin has.

And it just...

It brings me joy that I'm able to make my family proud and continue a legacy on LeMoyne-Owen campus.

- I can totally agree with that, because being Mr. LOC, it's an honor and a privilege to hold a high aspect on a college campus such as LeMoyne-Owen.

I've never thought that I would be able to do something like that.

So being able to share that with my best friend, that was something magical.

- I have an experience of being at a PWI, and I made great memories there, but I didn't feel like I was getting the education that I needed, and I did not feel like I was getting the help that I needed to obtain success.

But here they actually challenge me to be a better Kionna and be the doctor that I know I can be.

- I won't be the first to say LeMoyne-Owen was not my first choice.

I went to Southwest first, because of the Tennessee Promise, the two free years.

I didn't know LeMoyne offered that.

If I knew it, I would've came here, because I'm from the surrounding community.

I grew up right behind the school on Edith Street.

So LeMoyne-Owen has always been family.

It's always been a part of me.

So when I was able to come back home, I jumped at it.

- Mr. and Miss LOC stand as shining examples of LeMoyne-Owen and its student body.

So it would make sense that they're not the only students with non-traditional journeys to their HBCU enrollment.

- One of the biggest tricks that the magician can do is transform things.

That's what the magic is at LeMoyne.

LeMoyne transforms its students.

It transformed me.

Here I am, I'm a kid in high school with a 2.0 and a 16 on the ACT.

No colleges wanted to touch me, no colleges wanted to even look my way, you know?

But LeMoyne-Owen gave me a full scholarship to be a part of their music program.

So here I am, a kid, not even thinking that I'm gonna go to college.

I was gonna go to the military.

LeMoyne-Owen gave me an opportunity to further my education, and then not only that, develop as a man.

I was developed at LeMoyne.

I didn't just get an education, I had a faculty, teachers, doctors, everybody pouring into me on so many different levels, more so than just, "Hey, pass this class."

They really took me in, a young boy from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and groomed me to be Mr. LeMoyne-Owen College, and the first Mr. HBCU from LeMoyne-Owen College.

And another plug, LeMoyne-Owen College is the only HBCU in the entire United States to have two Mr.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

- I came to LOC because I was actually going through a traumatic experience.

My mother ended up passing away in 2021 and she wanted me to go to a HBCU, so I came to LeMoyne-Owen.

I chose LeMoyne because I needed that family feel.

My family dynamic is kind of broken, so LeMoyne really gave me that.

Just from talking to some of the individuals that are here, and to some of the faculty and everything, everybody is positive, everybody's encouraging.

So I needed that in my life.

I needed supportive people.

- For some people it's a second chance school.

It's a school for people that probably didn't have any idea of what they wanted to do with their lives.

It's for people that, you know, come from broken homes that just need to escape.

It's also for athletes that couldn't find it somewhere from another school.

So the magic behind LOC is blessing them with the gift to use their magic to be able to move forward in the world.

- It's 2023 and a new spring semester at LeMoyne-Owen College is in full throttle.

The sun shines on the magician campus, revealing that just a few steps away from Steele Hall, on the other side of Dr. Hollis F. Price Street, stands Metropolitan Baptist, a symbol of another staple of the HBCU and LOC culture, the black church.

- The church is ingrained in the HBCU experience because really the black church and the black school, they continue to mirror each other.

Their histories come from the same roots and so the destinies of the black church, and the destinies of HBCUs are intertwined.

The joy for Metropolitan and LeMoyne are that we get a chance to enjoy each other from 10 feet away.

- Previously pastored by the president of the former Owen College, Reverend Samuel Augustus Owen, Metropolitan Baptist Church has proudly stood with the Magicians for as long as any student can remember.

- Down through the years we've had students who have been a part of our church.

A number of our members have been faculty members, administrators here at the school.

Our choir leader, John W. Whitaker, was the choir director here, and so was the case later on with other choir directors.

So it's been a good relationship.

It has meant something to students - Throughout the years, Metropolitan has been the venue for a plethora of LeMoyne events and speakers, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the '60s.

But it's Wednesday morning at LOC, and just like every week when the clock strikes 11, the church opens its doors to all magicians.

It's time for chapel.

- So chapel is really one of the foundational spiritual aspects of life for a LeMoyne-Owen student.

On Wednesdays, the students from LeMoyne gather right here in our chapel, they look at our pulpit, which is inscribed, "Extra effort wins," and they have speakers from all over the city, all over the country, who will address them and share words that are inspiring for them as they're matriculating at LeMoyne-Owen College.

And so my prayer for the students at LeMoyne is that they have people who come to chapel that believe in them, who can speak life into them, and who can encourage them along their academic journey.

- Chapel is always meant to be an encouragement to the students that are just now coming, and it's always meant to be a motivation, or a motivational spark, to those that are already at the school, or those that may have graduated from the school.

And when I see what's going on around me in my city, it really causes me to respect chapel a whole lot more.

- I believe that the students at LeMoyne, they are the epitome of the HBCU environment.

And so what we try to do, even like with chapel, is to create a moment of clarity wh ere they can stay focused on the prize ahead, where they can find their magic, where they can find their purpose, where they can be centered, and come to know who they are.

- The spirit of the church comes full circle as graduation draws near for the class of 2023.

It becomes a venue for the end of the year Lantern Service, and a place of reflection for graduates new and old.

- Oh, graduation was amazing.

- Graduation was great.

- I loved graduation.

It was me knowing I have ended one journey, but I'm prepared to go into the next.

When I got up and just to hear the cheers, just to hear the applause, just to hear and see the smiling face of the President and see the smiling faces of my teachers and my professors, to see the smiling faces of my coaches, just to see these people be so happy for me, it made graduation all the more perfect for me.

- Of course, when it comes to the class of '23 this reflection does come with a bit of senioritis.

- I'm ready to go.

I'm ready to go.

Every door that opened and came to me, I took it and walked in it.

So starting from my freshman year 'til now, I can never tell the school how grateful I am.

- I'm excited.

I'm tired.

I'm excited, I'm ready to be done with it.

With school, period.

But I'm excited, 'cause I never thought I'd get to this point.

I have found my voice, that I feel like I've never had, and I can express how I feel now.

And with me being this old, like I keep on saying I'm old because I've just, I'm learning this at 30 years old.

When I went to LeMoyne-Owen College I had five children, three little girls and the two boys.

And I'm excited about that, because, you know, my babies, they get to see their mom walk across stage, and I just never thought it would happen.

- It's going to feel amazing.

I will be the first of my grandmother's grandchildren, and the first of my mother's children to have a four year degree.

And so I hold it as a honor to be able to walk this journey, not only to make my family proud, but to make me proud.

- It's May 13th for the bustling crowd at Mount Vernon Baptist Church.

Graduation day has finally arrived for the LeMoyne-Owen College Class of 2023, the final act of these eager magicians.

They made it with no tricks up their sleeves.

Although their classwork is far behind them, as they prep for the pomp and circumstance they do have one more assignment for the day.

Enjoy their moment.

[gentle music] Photo ops.

Big smiles.

Stepping.

The final calls of sisterhood.

It's a bittersweet moment for LOC, with both tears of joy for the great task behind them and of sadness for the farewells before them.

It's a storybook ending for the academic journey of the Class of '23.

Now, as proud alumni, they take on the role of carrying on their school's magical legacy, spreading its story to others and ensuring that its future remains bright.

- The future of LeMoyne-Owen College is bright.

With greater awareness of HBCUs in general, and the broader Memphis community more engaged with LOC, there's really no limit to where we can go.

- The sky's the limit.

We are looking at doing technology and innovation.

That includes things such as game design, security, and cybersecurity research.

- We're only one of a few institutions in the state of Tennessee, one of only a few HBCUs nationally, who have the cybersecurity program.

So we're excited about what that will mean for our institution.

National exposure, local exposure, but, more importantly, what it will mean for career opportunities for our students.

And you can't talk about an HBCU without talking about a band.

So yes, plans are underway.

A band is coming to LOC.

- The best is yet to come.

And 50 years from now, I am hoping that I play a vital role inside of the school.

The only direction is up from here.

- LOC is an acronym.

You know, leadership, opportunity and change.

That's what the core foundation of LeMoyne-Owen College is.

You know, they prepare us to be leaders.

That's exactly what I got.

- We need the city to continue to connect with us.

We do a lot on our corner of Walker, and the impact is felt across the city, and the world quite frankly.

- Our students leave this campus and begin a life of leadership, opportunity and change.

That's invaluable.

- One of the challenges that we have is making sure stakeholders and investors recognize how important we are to the overall wellbeing of the county and the city, and even beyond.

- LeMoyne-Owen College is really a gem in the city, especially for the underserved community.

LeMoyne-Owen still tends to be an institution that services a lot of first generation college students, students that would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend college.

So LeMoyne-Owen College continues to offer itself as a beacon of hope to those students, and we think that they will co ntinue to be an important part of the Memphis community.

- LeMoyne-Owen is doing great work on an annual basis, improving the quality of talent, and retaining talent in our community.

That's good for everybody.

That's good for business owners, that's good for people that live here and wanna raise families here.

- When you consider the fact that LeMoyne-Owen is a 160-plus years old, needless to say, it has taken the civic community, it has taken the business community, it has taken the religious community, alumni, well wishers, friends, philanthropic donations, FedEx... Just a couple years ago the Greater Community Foundation made the largest single donation in the history of the institution.

On 807 Giving Day we had a person who was a part of this community to come and give $8.07.

It takes all of those.

It takes the million dollar gifts, and it takes $8.07 in order to make it happen.

So we're grateful for all the help, all the support that we get.

- In addition to financial support, we need everyone to promote the value of an HBCU experience and tell that message.

So often our contributions can go unnoticed or forgotten, but HBCU education has an incredible impact on all of our lives.

Even if you never step foot on our campus.

- We have a lot of work to do because there's still a lot of kids in this area who do not know about the magic over here on Walker Avenue.

- The work is not done.

The legacy is cherished and honored because of the alumni of the school.

If you know that you graduated from here, and you are better for it, then encourage someone else.

You know, really be the ambassador that you think the school would ne ed to keep the doors open.

- You know, LeMoyne-Owen College sits in south Memphis on a corner, you know, 807 Walker.

In the hood, as everybody says.

But think about what impacts that you can make in that hood saying, "Oh, I'm a LeMoyne-Owen College student."

- We came up with a slogan in 2019 and that slogan was, "Why not LeMoyne?"

- Why not?

Why not come to a school that can help you grow?

Why not come to a school...

Yes, LeMoyne does, you know, have some things that it needs to work on.

Yes, we are still growing.

But why not come to a place where the school is growing and you can help that school grow?

Why not come to a place where that school is going to like pour into you?

So why not?

- To the people that said that LeMoyne-Owen is the bottom of the barrel, that LeMoyne-Owen isn't a school worth going to, the best thing I can tell 'em is, "You don't know unless you tried it yourself."

And I guarantee you, when you come through that gate, or when you come through that door, and when you see all the history that's in Brown Lee, and when you see the bell that's on the campus, and when you go to Steele Hall, and when you go in GOH and you finally sit down in your class and you deal with your professors, I want you to tell me what it's like when you done walked out of that class, and they done poured their heart out to you, and they've tried to help you the best way that they can.

- The experience they're going to get here at LaMoyne-Owen College is gonna be life changing.

It's going to be the best of both worlds.

You're going to have the support systems, the resources, the scholarship opportunities, the networking opportunities, that you'd find at a larger institution, but you're also gonna have that sense of family, that nurturing environment, that one-on-one attention that you typically find at smaller institutions.

A LeMoyne-Owen College degree is the gateway to whatever they want to achieve.

And they're going to have a family for life here.

- The most significant little known fact about LeMoyne-Owen College is that we're the fifth oldest HBCU in the nation.

Oftentimes when people talk about LeMoyne-Owen, specifically in Memphis and Shelby County, they say, "Well we're the only HBCU."

And my particular response to that has been, "So what?"

What makes us different beyond the fact that we're the only HBCU?

I think what we have to sort of lean into, and what we want supporters to know, is that we're not novices, that we've been doing this for 160 years.

And when you look at other HBCUs, whose profile may be a bit bigger, whose footprint may be a little bit larger, for many of those institutions, when they were still a hope and a prayer the doors of LeMoyne-Owen were already open.

So for 160 years we've been doing this, and we don't do it just as well as other institutions.

In many instances, we do it be tter than other institutions.

We won't apologize for that.

We won't take that back.

That's why we can say proudly, without fear of challenge or contradiction, the magic really does happen at 807 Walker Avenue.

[upbeat music] ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ We got that ♪ ♪ We got that magic ♪ ♪ We're making it happen ♪ ♪ We got all that we need ♪ ♪ In our hands to succeed ♪ ♪ Love and faith just to pull us through ♪ ♪ Right here on our campus ♪ ♪ Is where magic happens ♪ ♪ It started with a spark on Walker Avenue ♪ ♪ Where the seeds in the ground back then have come to bloom ♪ ♪ Where I learned to believe ♪ ♪ In my ancestors dream ♪ ♪ Right here is where I learn what to do ♪ ♪ Change starts with me and you ♪ ♪ With love and strength, we're a family ♪ ♪ There's always a place in my heart for LOC ♪ ♪ Magic ♪ ♪ We're making it happen ♪ ♪ We got that magic ♪ ♪ Magic, magic, magic, magic, magic ♪ ♪ Magic ♪♪ [gentle music] - (male announcer) This program is made possible by the WKNO Production Fund, with major funding from the Plow Foundation.