The 2024 Provost’s Forum explored how universities can foster constructive discourse and greater understanding on the conflicts in the Middle East and apply knowledge and skills to help address critical needs in the region. Learn more here

The 2024 Provost’s Forum explored how universities can foster constructive discourse and greater understanding on the conflicts in the Middle East and apply knowledge and skills to help address critical needs in the region. Learn more here

Congratulations -- you did it! On behalf of Duke First, a community of first-generation and low-income students-turned alums, we are celebrating this moment with you. After getting into Duke, choosing to make it your home, and navigating through your program here, you’re now becoming an alum. This is a huge feat, and we know that as someone who identifies as FGLI, you may have also faced other challenges – work, financial demands, the stress of finding a good internship/job, or feeling like an outsider on campus and back at home.

This was a story too remarkable to stay in the classroom and academic journals.

For nearly two decades, Duke professor Mbaye Lo worked to bring attention to the life and writings of Omar ibn Said, a 19th century West African Muslim scholar enslaved and brought to North Carolina, where he astonished people with his knowledge even as they kept him enslaved and used his life to promote the “benefits” of slavery.