Eight graduating seniors from the New Haven Public Schools will receive scholarships to attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as the first cohort of the James W.C. Pennington Fellowship, a new Yale initiative created last year.
The students, who will attend five different HBCUs this fall, will receive up to $20,000 toward tuition and fees per year over the course of four years.
The Pennington Fellowship program, which was announced by Yale President Peter Salovey in December, is funded by Yale and administered by New Haven Promise, a college scholarship and career development program co-founded by Yale in 2010 to make higher education more accessible to local students.
The new program is part of a broad initiative, known as Belonging at Yale, that aims to create a stronger and more inclusive university environment and strengthen ties with the New Haven community. Belonging at Yale efforts enhance diversity, support equity, and promote an environment of welcome, inclusion, and respect.
The creation of the Pennington Fellowship emerged from the work of the Yale and Slavery Working Group, which was created in 2020 to examine the university’s historical roles in and associations with slavery, the slave trade, and abolition. Among its findings, the working group has revealed details of an effort by individuals in the Yale and New Haven communities to thwart a proposal to establish what could have been America’s first institution of higher learning for Black students in 1831.
The new program will enable more New Haven high school graduates to attend participating HBCUs around the country.
“I congratulate the first cohort of Pennington Fellows, brilliant students who have worked hard to earn this honor,” said Salovey. “Of course, they benefited from the support of their families, teachers, and mentors from our home city, so I am grateful to everyone who helped them achieve their goals. I also thank all the HBCUs who have partnered with Yale and New Haven Promise to provide this extraordinary educational opportunity for these students.”
Members of the first cohort of Pennington scholars are, from Co-Operative Arts and Humanities High School, Trinity Ford and Antoine Pittman, both of whom will attend Morgan State University, and Brianna Lane, who will attend Hampton University; from Hillhouse High School, Anaya Moye, who will attend Morgan State, and Skye Williams, who will attend North Carolina A&T University; from New Haven Academy, Migdalia Marquez, who will attend Howard University; and from Amistad Academy, Lamiyah McNeil, who will attend Morgan State, and Tiara Walters, who will attend Spelman College.
They were selected from more than 100 New Haven high school students who expressed an interest in the program.
“For many of our students, the opportunity to step onto a college campus and immediately feel part of a diverse community is empowering and even life-changing,” said Iline Tracey, New Haven’s superintendent of schools. “We are grateful to Yale for creating the Pennington Fellowship program, which will foster their success, and we celebrate the first cohort of scholarship recipients.”
“I specifically want to go to an HBCU not only for academic success but to be around other Black artists who had to be good, who had to be the best of the best to get where they are,” said Antoine Pittman.
Added Tiara Walters: “I know that by attending Spelman College, I will get the college experience that I am hoping for, and I know this to be true because the most important impact from my [summer] class at Smith College was the fact that the course was taught by a Black professor.”
The program bears the name of Reverend James W. C. Pennington, the first Black student to attend Yale. Born enslaved on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, he lived for 24 years as a fugitive before securing his freedom. Pennington was prevented from formally enrolling at Yale because of his skin color, but he audited classes at Yale Divinity School before continuing a noteworthy career as a minister, antislavery organizer, scholar, and speaker
“The Pennington Fellowship was established after deep research by a working group of faculty and staff uncovered historical shortcomings that the president’s office wanted to address,” said Patricia Melton ’83, president of New Haven Promise.
The program is separate from and incremental to the New Haven Promise scholarship program, which remains unchanged. For more than a decade, New Haven Promise has provided scholarships for public school students in the city to attend college in Connecticut.
Yale established the Pennington program in partnership with six HBCUs: Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Spelman College.
Applications for the next class of Pennington scholars will open on Oct. 1 in conjunction with New Haven Promise’s senior application process.
