The gospel choir’s voices echoed through Cramton Auditorium, their blue and white robes swaying as they filled Howard University's historic venue with spiritual melodies. Just a week after classes resumed at the prestigious HBCU, Rev. Al Sharpton took the stage to deliver a sermon that was equal parts spiritual guidance and a political rallying cry.
Reverend Al Sharpton meets with Howard University students ahead of Thursday's March on Wall Street.
Rather than gathering in the nation's capital this year, Sharpton announced that thousands of demonstrators—including college students from across the country—will converge on New York's financial district this Thursday for a March on Wall Street, starting at 10 a.m. at the African Burial Ground and marching directly to Wall Street.
"The real people that are deferring the dream are on Wall Street," Sharpton told the audience. “They're the ones that are financing the moves for redistricting and robbing us of our right to vote and representation. So rather than come to Washington, we said, 'We going to Wall Street this year, where they do business.'"
Using the biblical story of David facing Goliath as his central theme, Sharpton challenged the congregation to confront contemporary challenges with biblical courage.
The prominent civil rights leader was particularly pointed in his political criticism of President Donald J. Trump and his attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion and U.S. cities led by Black mayors.
Sharpton delivered some of his harshest criticism when addressing attempts to sanitize American history, particularly regarding slavery. He expressed outrage at what he described as efforts to downplay historical injustices.
“The fact that they are threatening institutions,” Sharpton said, his voice rising. “Can you imagine? It's almost unthinkable to me that they're saying that we are going through the Smithsonian Museum to make sure that they are in line with the feelings of one man at history.”
Sharpton said that he was incensed by suggestions that historical narratives should be altered and he chided the president who claimed that the museums focus too much on “how bad slavery was.”
In one of the sermon's most powerful moments, Sharpton shared his family's connection to slavery, describing how genealogical research in 2007 revealed that his great-grandfather had been enslaved on a South Carolina plantation owned by the late Senator Strom Thurmond's ancestors.
"My great grandfather was a slave," he told the audience. "And it occurred to me for the first time that my name Sharpton is really the owner's name of my great grandfather. I don't know my name, and you don't know your name."
Now, Sharpton added, is the time for Americans—particularly students—to fight back against the assault on history.
"If we are afraid to stand up, then we are not deserving of those that stood up and gave their lives so we could have a life worth living," he said.
Howard University students, led by senior Tabia J. Lee, president of the school’s National Action Network chapter, will bring a delegation to participate in Thursday's march. The student involvement, she said, represents Sharpton's challenge that young people take a broader leadership role in today's social justice movements.
Howard students noted that Sharpton’s visit to campus came as Howard University faces its own transition, with Dr. Ben Vinson announcing his resignation last week as president and former president Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick returning to lead the storied institution on an interim basis.
Throughout the nearly hour-long address, Sharpton wove together themes of personal faith, historical memory, and political action. He reminded the audience of their ancestors' resilience.
"Do you know when they walked off that plantation in 1863? After being in slavery 246 years, they had no money because they worked for no wages. They had no education; it was against the law for them to read or write... All you had is God."
The March on Wall Street, he said, represents more than just a protest location change—it's a strategic pivot toward confronting economic inequality at its source. And he challenged the college students to take their stand.
“Do you know in '63 when they marched here in Washington? They were still segregated. They didn't have the Civil Rights Act until '64. People rode the bus all night, had chicken sandwiches in a paper bag, because there wasn't a restaurant that would serve them on the way. Had to go in the woods to use the bathroom because they couldn't use a rest stop, but they came anyhow,” he said. “And here you are, 60 years later, eating at any restaurant you want, checking into any hotel you want, living in any community you want, and somebody got to beg you to stand up? How broke down have we got?"
