Howard University Bison HBCU College Santa Claus Figurine

H-U! You Know! This Christmas, the call comes from Santa himself. The Howard University Bison HBCU College Santa Claus Figurine dresses a 12-inch Black Santa Claus in a navy coat and stocking cap trimmed in white faux fur, then sends him out with a navy toy sack stamped HOWARD BISON. For alumni who still measure every campus against the Mecca, this is holiday decor that answers back.

Santa in Howard Blue

A navy stocking cap with a white fur brim, a sprig of holly, and a gold bell at the tip frames Santa's sculpted brown face, rosy cheeks, and full, curly black beard. His navy coat is edged in white fur and cinched with a black belt and gold buckle over red pants and black boots. One hand holds a frosted mini Christmas tree. The other carries his naughty and nice list, a long cloth scroll stitched with names. A gold twisted cord leads to the navy toy sack at his feet, printed with the white HOWARD BISON logo and topped with a wrapped red gift, a candy cane, holly, and red and gold berry picks.

The Legacy Behind the Bison

Congress chartered Howard University on March 2, 1867, and classes opened that May on the second floor of a wooden frame building on what is now Georgia Avenue. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, head of the Freedmen's Bureau, was among its founders, and the school grew within two years from a plan for a theological seminary into colleges of liberal arts and medicine. The name "the Mecca" appears in print as early as 1909, and in 2025 Howard became the first HBCU to earn the R1 research classification.

The Hilltop has produced Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who earned his law degree there in 1933; Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, class of 1953; Vice President Kamala Harris, class of 1986; author Zora Neale Hurston, who co-founded The Hilltop newspaper; and actor Chadwick Boseman, class of 2000, whose name now graces Howard's fine arts college. The Showtime Marching Band escorted Vice President Harris at her 2021 inauguration, and the H-U! You Know! call and response has rung through the stands since the 1990s.

Christmas Decorations for the Mecca

Give this African American Santa Claus figurine a spot on the mantel, a bookshelf, or an office desk where visitors can see where you studied. It makes a Christmas gift for a Howard graduate who misses the Yard, a student home for winter break, or the family that has sent generation after generation up Georgia Avenue. He arrives in a green snowflake gift box with a display window, ready to wrap or set out.