Diverse Education News September 17, 2020 Two New Orleans HBCU Presidents Participate in COVID-19 Vaccine Trial NBC News<https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/2-hbcu-presidents-join-covid-19-vaccine-trial-recommended-students-n1240240> reported that two presidents of historically Black colleges and universities, Drs. Walter M. Kimbrough of Dillard University and Dr. C. Reynold Verret of Xavier University of Louisiana, "stunned their campuses when they announced in a joint message that they had participated in a vaccine trial for COVID-19 and then encouraged students to do the same." According to NBC News, this announcement "immediately conjured up conversations about a common distrust of medical institutions among Black Americans, stemming from an extended list of past malfeasance, especially the study of untreated syphilis among Black men, also known as the Tuskegee experiment." However, Verret told the news outlet that it is important that African Americans participate in trials. Verret insisted that he and Kimbrough "were not making a political statement by participating in the trial, but instead they were making clear the need for Black people to be part of the effort to reach herd immunity." SANDRA M. PHOENIX HBCU Library Alliance Executive Director Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library 111 James P. Brawley Drive SW Atlanta GA 30314 404-978-2118 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> Honor the ancestors, honor the children and those yet to come. Building Capacity for Humanities Special Collections at HBCUs - Become an ally and partner with us to protect, preserve and share a more authentic record of American history. Follow this link http://hbculibraries.org/humanities-2019.html for more information. Follow this link http://hbculibraries.org/ and click on the Donate Now button to invest in this project. Your support is appreciated. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/