Black History Month profile: Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III
Before Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III became a nationally and internationally recognized leader in education, he was born in 1950 to educator parents in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1963, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, he participated in a peaceful protest during a march called the Children’s Crusade and was jailed for five days. He continues to lead a life of service and dedication to elevating the African American community as well as advocating for minority justice as a whole, more recently by drastically increasing minority representation in STEM fields.
Dr. Hrabowski, the great-great-grandson of the enslaved Eaton Hrabowski, who adopted his Polish owner’s last name, is the third Freeman in his family, the third to have been born free. He graduated from Hampton University at 19 and achieved a master’s degree in mathematics and a doctorate in higher education administration and statistics from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at the age of 24.
In 1987, Dr. Hrabowski became vice provost at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), a school established in the University of Maryland system in 1966. In 1988 he co-founded the prestigious Meyerhoff Scholars Program. He met with Baltimore natives Robert and Jane Meyerhoff to discuss an undergrad STEM program for African American males dedicated to earning doctorates, thus increasing their national representation in STEM. The first students entered UMBC as Meyerhoff Scholars in 1989, and women were accepted the next year. In 1996, the program was opened to all applicants who believe in minority representation in mathematics, engineering, medicine, etc. The program has been extremely successful. Alumni include Kizzmekia Corbett, who in 2020 became the first Black woman to create a vaccine, developing the technology of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, as well as Jerome Adams, the 20th Surgeon General of the United States. In 1992, Dr. Hrabowski became president of UMBC and increased the recognition of the small commuter school to a university on the Most Innovative National Universities list. Several universities have adapted the Meyerhoff Scholars Program, including Howard University, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Pennsylvania State Univeristy.
Dr. Hrabowski has received numerous honors. Among them are an honorary doctorate from Harvard University in 2010 and the Academic Leadership Award from the Carnegie Corporation of New York in 2011. He has served as a President Obama appointee to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans and was recognized as one of TIME magazine‘s World‘s 100 Most Influential People in 2012. He was also a Mathematically Gifted & Black 2017 Honoree.
Dr. Hrabowski, now 75 years old, retired from the role as president of UMBC in 2022, after three decades of service. He is married to Jacqueline Coleman Hrabowski, also a Hampton graduate and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. They are both active in community improvement and advocacy as they continue to give back to their community and the world.
