**FILE** Sen. Raphael Warnock (º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ National Cathedral)
**FILE** Sen. Raphael Warnock (º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ National Cathedral)

Sen. Raphael Warnock will serve as guest preacher at º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ National Cathedral for its annual HBCU Sunday on Feb. 16.

HBCU Sunday, which pays tribute to historically Black colleges and universities, is a Black History Month event at the cathedral. Warnock, a Georgia Democrat who also serves as senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, will return to the cathedral, where he most recently preached for the Juneteenth holiday in 2023. He will speak from the same pulpit where his predecessor at Ebenezer, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., preached his final Sunday sermon in 1968.

The fifth annual HBCU Sunday service draws hundreds of alumni and students from the country’s HBCUs. This year’s service will feature guest music by the North Carolina Central University Choir and cathedral musicians.

More than 100 HBCUs exist in the United States. Most were established in the South after the Civil War, often with the assistance of religious missionary organizations based in the Northern United States. HBCUs opened the door of educational opportunity for many Black Americans who were once legally denied an education.

HBCUs have provided Black students with a nurturing environment to explore their collective identities and cultures. They have played a vital role in educating many individuals and communities and strengthening this nation.

Warnock was raised in Savannah, Georgia, by two pastors and attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, one of the nation’s best-known HBCUs. He received his doctoral degree from Union Theological Seminary and in 2005 became the youngest person named to lead Ebenezer Baptist Church.

In 2021, Warnock became the first Black Democratic U.S. senator elected from a Deep South state. He won reelection in 2022.

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