Though within sight of the finish line, the journey of Xavier Morrison to a bachelor’s degree has been filled with detours and the occasional pothole.
It started conventionally enough. Morrison was raised in Quitman, Georgia. His father was a truck driver, his mother worked at a hospital. After graduating from high school in 2009, Morrison attended the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a public historically Black university.
After two semesters, he left. “It was quite dangerous,” he said. “Gun violence, violence in general and gangs.”
He returned to Georgia and enrolled at Morehouse University, a private HBCU in Atlanta. It was difficult at the time to obtain financial aid so after a year he transferred to Georgia State University, also in Atlanta.
He attended Georgia State for one year but while lifting weights to prepare for the university’s new football program, he injured his lower back, herniating two discs. He was forced to medically withdraw from classes.
“I missed the football season and couldn’t comfortably sit in a classroom,” he said.
He left the university to undergo physical therapy for the next six months. When he tried to return, there was confusion over his student loans, which the university wanted him to pay back before returning to classes.
“I felt like I was on a treadmill and not going anywhere,” Morrison said.
He paid back the loans by working in restaurants and as a veterinary assistant at two animal clinics. Instead of returning to college, however, he next decided to enlist in the U.S. Navy.
“I wanted to join the military so they could assist with paying for school,” he said.
During boot camp, he got married in Chicago.
“I was immediately deployed,” Morrison said. “There was no honeymoon.”
He was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. Initially he was connected to the engineering department, working on electrical and mechanical systems. In his second year, he joined the legal department as a sort of paralegal.
After three years, he left the Navy. By this time, he had decided to attend North Carolina Central University (NCCU).
“There is something about a Black college,” Morrison said. “It’s a personal touch to it. I feel like everyone is family.”
His own family – a wife plus a daughter born in 2021 – moved to Durham in January 2022. For eight months he worked for a semiconductor manufacturer in Durham, then enrolled at NCCU with the Navy paying for tuition and housing.
“It was challenging,” Morrison said. “Not just school itself but with people depending on me. I had a house and children (a second daughter was born in 2023). I couldn’t neglect being a husband and father.”
He started as a biology major and later changed to political science with concentrations in pre-law and theory and civic engagement. As part of his degree program, he was a student research assistant in the Voting Rights Lab. He engaged in voter education; encouraged people to vote early and be aware of provisional ballots, wrote public service announcements about voting that were broadcast on the campus radio station and engaged with his church – South Side Church of Christ – on voter education matters.
Now 33 years old with a bachelor’s degree in sight, Morrison describes himself as “more focused and determined than ever.”
He next plans to enroll in a joint-degree program, earning both a law degree and a Master of Public Administration. Individuals with such degrees could become a city lawyer, city manager or urban planning director.
“You can address issues in the community,” Morrison said.
