Malik Castro News Today

If you ask just about anyone at Howard University what’s the other name for their school, they will readily tell you: “The Mecca.”

While it’s widely believed that Howard University came to be known as “The Mecca” in the 1960s, new evidence shows the nickname is more than half a century older than that.

It's actually over 100 years old.

If you ask just about anyone at Howard University what’s the other name for their school, they will readily tell you: “The Mecca.”

In her coverage of the First Annual HBCU Classic, a recurring theme in Melinda Matthews’ interviews was a sense that this event was (and should be) just the beginning of broader initiatives aimed at improving chess’s inclusivity and reach.

Howard University’s chess club has been around since the early 1900s but hasn’t been active in recent years until a student decided to bring new life to the club in 2020.

Though it remains a fairly new program, the Howard University Chess team won the inaugural HBCU Chess Classic on April 22.

For much of its storied existence, Howard University in Washington D.C. – a historically Black university located in America’s capital city – has been known as "The Mecca of Black Education," or just "The Mecca". This year, at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Championship the Howard University Chess Club achieved the best result it has ever achieved in the Team Championship. A success that is partly due to hard training and the help of Jerald Times, an award-winnin...