What Howard Students Saw on Election Night

Students, alumni, and D.C. locals flooded the Yard at Howard University on Election Night in anticipation of watching Vice-President Kamala Harris make history on her alma mater’s soil. The Alpha Kappa Alpha soror would have been the first HBCU graduate to sit in the Oval Office if elected. Excitement was in the air as the crowd danced, sang, and played games. But as the evening progressed and Harris’s path to victory in the Blue Wall states narrowed, the mood shifted. No victory speech would be forthcoming.

We asked photographers with Howard’s student newspaper, The Hilltop, to capture the evening through their lenses. Below, they share what they saw and what this historic Election Day meant to them.