Shawn Zachery
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (Dec. 19, 2023) – Shawn Zachery has just completed her 10th season as head director of the Black Foxes Dance Line at Prairie View A&M University. There’s no better way to celebrate her accomplishments than being featured in the book “HBCU Made,” compiled and edited by Ayesha Rascoe, host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.
Rascoe contacted Zachery after reading an article on Essence.com, in which she was interviewed. “We were interviewed by various media outlets after the release of “March” on The CW Network, but I was still surprised that someone picked up on my interview and invited me to contribute to their project,” Zachery stated.
Rascoe was drawn to Zachery’s knowledge about the HBCU Dance performance genre and thought her experiences as a Dancing Doll at Southern University and a coach for four different HBCU dance teams would be a great story to tell. “I was shocked, to say the least, when she told me some of the other invited authors for the project,” Zachery stated.
“HBCU Made” tells personal and in-depth stories from well-known HBCU graduates on the impact attending an HBCU had on their lives and careers. Some of the authors featured are Roy Wood, Jr., Stacy Abrams, Branford Marsalis and April Ryan, to name a few. Rascoe is a graduate of Howard University, so she was excited to hear Zachery got her first dance team coaching experience there. In the book, Zachery talks about her journey from Southern to PVAMU and the experiences that made attending and working for an HBCU worthwhile.
Zachery said, “I’m so honored to have been chosen for this project. I still can’t believe it!”
“HBCU Made” is now available for preorder and will be widely available on January 20.
This story originally appeared at pvamu.edu/marchingstorm.
-PVAMU-