A man of modest beginnings, H. Carl McCall was raised by a single mother on welfare in Roxbury, Mass. His mother, teachers and church leaders provided an abundance of love, mentorship and guidance that more than compensated for any lack in material possessions, McCall said in an interview with The Dartmouth on Friday.
In 1954, McCall arrived on the Dartmouth campus. He described the College of the 50s as "in relative terms, a beacon of racial openness." McCall's incoming freshman class had double the number of black students who had entered the previous year.
He was one of eight. The entire school had 20 black students, and McCall said he and fellow black students "felt a bit like curiosities" on campus.
During his years as an undergraduate at Dartmouth, McCall majored in government and service in student government. Outside of academics, he delivered The D at 6 a.m. in the morning.
After overcoming the initial adjustment period, he and his black classmates realized that they had to live up to their own expectations as well as the expectations of an entire race. The students cherished the opportunity offered to them and were determined to make the most of their experience, McCall said, and would study harder and perform better. In the process, they discarded stereotypes -- both their own and others' about them, he said.
McCall explained, "I came to realize that the more I learned side by side with my white counterparts -- the more I engaged in intense discussions and debate in class. The more I talked about ideas, the less it mattered what we looked like -- and where we came from. Thus the process of my liberation through education began."
He referred to then-Dartmouth President John Dickey's statement that, "the liberal arts were the liberating arts." Education is the key to opening new doors of understanding and breaking down barriers. McCall said that Dartmouth taught him how to engage in thoughtful debate and critical thinking.
McCall ran as the Democratic Candidate for Governor of New York in 2002. He is the State's first African American major party candidate. He received 1.5 million votes and lost the election to George Pataki.
McCall said that Pataki was "telling suburban voters that I wanted to steal their kid's education money ... As political moves go, it was a beauty." McCall said that he is unlikely to run for office again since he feels that too much time is spent raising money and he finds fundraising to be "distasteful."
Currently, McCall serves as the Vice Chairman of HealthPoint, a private equity firm which invests in the healthcare industry. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is married to Dr. Joyce Brown and has one daughter.
He offered the following piece of advice to graduating seniors. "Work hard, be willing to take risks and don't worry about failing because you can learn through failing."
