Basketball legend Charles Barkley has donated $1 million to Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Barkley decided to donate to the women’s HBCU after seeing the positive impact the prestigious institution had on Jordyn Hudson, who is currently a student at Spelman and the daughter of his business partner, John Hudson.
In the coming fall, Jordyn Hudson will be Spelman’s sophomore class president. She is also the producer of the documentary Shape the Culture: Then & Now, which examines how activists of the 1960s are connected with today’s activists.
Barkley told the outlet, “John has been a great mentor, a great friend, and a great business partner. I was ready to do another HBCU and with his daughter doing great things at Spelman, so I told him, ‘Why not there?’
Spelman’s president Helene Gayle said in a statement, “Charles Barkley’s $1 million gifts to Spelman College comes at a significant time as we continue to close education and wealth inequality for Black families and maintain affordable education opportunities for women of African descent.
As one of the country’s leading engines of social mobility and the nation’s leading HBCU, this generous gift will help build upon Spelman’s legacy of developing the next generation of leaders.”
