Rooted in Culture

Freddie Golden is a sophomore Computer Science major at Morehouse College. While attending a Historically Black College (HBCU) Freddie is inspired and proud to be a part of the Black community and celebrate Black History Month.

“Black History Month to me just means cultivation of our history, cultivation of culture, just bringing everybody together that looks like me and has my similarities. It's a big combination of who we are, and where we come from, and a way to celebrate that. It's a lot of times where we were downplayed and overlooked but [now] it’s a time where we can celebrate being here and being appreciated in our time and place,” said Golden.

As Freddie mentioned the importance of Black History Month to him, he also mentions who he looks up to and his biggest inspiration is his mother.  “Just seeing everything [my mother]  has been through, she’s a single mother of four. She just raised us all in a good way, we all went to college, and we all have our path. That's my biggest motivation for seeing how strong she’s been our entire lives and how she's been able to push through so many things and still provide for us. She’s my biggest inspiration to keep going in my studies, passions, and later in life for what I want to do for my kids,” said Golden. 

Another thing Freddie loves about being a part of the Black community is the reliability in life through shared experiences. “ You can see a meme on the internet of something so random, but it’s a part of Black culture and everybody gets it, it’s like an inside joke. It’s just a funny and relatable thing that we all saw in our past, or something that we all experienced. I realized that we all have lived the same life in a sense. I like the reliability in our culture, almost all of us have the same struggles, experiencing the same environment, and it’s such a good thing to be a part of that community, and I take pride in it,” said Golden. 

When it comes to ways that Freddie wants to reinvest back into his community, he has already started by pouring into the youth in Chicago. “I have a book out right now that focuses on the youth of Chicago and the people who are in underrepresented communities. I felt like I needed a mentor when I was younger. My book is called ‘The Million-Dollar Dream,’ and it’s a book about how I gained one million dollars in scholarships and how other people can do it as well. I feel like people need to understand scholarships, and going to school for free is possible, so that’s a way I give back to my community by showing young people and people that look like me that going to school is possible and necessary to push to the next phase of your life,” said Golden.

Your gift to Pursue Scholars today will be actively investing in young Chicago leaders to shine through the noise of that negative narrative and help them embark on a journey that will truly lead to change.