Alumni Profile: Frederick D. Bell Jr. (SLA ’20)

By Mary Sparacello

Frederick D. Bell Jr. (SLA ’20) was only 15 years old when he got involved in politics. Inspired by a televised speech given by then-President Barack Obama, Bell made the trek from the small Louisiana town where he grew up and showed up at the Democratic party headquarters in nearby Baton Rouge and asked if he could volunteer.

“They put me to work,” he says. He made phone calls and knocked on doors for local Democratic candidates. He was struck by how many people didn’t even know there were elections happening. “They had concerns about issues impacting their community, but didn't feel as if they had the outlet, nor the information necessary to go out and vote. There was a massive gap. I saw myself as a conduit of sorts helping to fill that gap. And it meant a lot to me to be able to drive people who were elderly or disabled to the polls.

“I couldn't vote but I was able to help someone exercise their right at the ballot box. And that's when I realized that ‘wow, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’” — Frederick D. Bell Jr. (SLA ’20)

Bell is now a Tulane alum working in Washington, D.C., and he is still as passionate about the importance of democracy as he was a decade ago.

It was two weeks after Bell graduated from high school that he made history in politics. In 2016, Bell, at 18, was the youngest delegate from Louisiana to attend the Democratic National Convention that year. There, he saw the man who inspired him to get into politics — Obama — speak in person.

“Despite however you view him politically, President Obama’s ability to connect, touch and move people is something that I don’t think we are going to see again for a generation,” Bell says. “It was his voice that called me to do this work. Being a young Black man and seeing him represent everything I could be, was abundantly affirming, especially as I lost my dad in 2013, right at the beginning of Obama’s second term. I began to look for an inspiring father figure and Obama represented that for me and so many others.”

Bell’s father died of a heart attack at the age of 38. The rural hospital where he lived didn’t have the resources to treat him, so he died waiting for a helicopter to take him to Baton Rouge. The circumstances of his death encouraged Bell to champion health equity, and he is now a board member of the Louisiana Center for Health Equity, a Baton Rouge nonprofit that works to address disparities in health and health care across Louisiana.

Bell’s father had run for sheriff of his rural Louisiana parish a couple years before he died, and although his campaign was unsuccessful, Bell was inspired by his father’s burgeoning belief in using politics to improve his community. “My father was perfectly imperfect, but I share his name so that means I share his legacy,” Bell said. “So I do my best to live up to the higher ideas he adopted in the latter part of his young life.”

If Obama is Bell’s greatest inspiration politically, Bell’s mother, Freda, who supported him and his oldest sister by working as a casino dealer, part-time bartender, and real estate agent, is his inspiration personally. “We would not be where we are today without her and her tenacious spirit.”

After high school, Bell attended Louisiana State University for two years, but kept getting emails from Tulane encouraging him to apply as a transfer candidate. He applied to Tulane and received a full-tuition scholarship, and started at Tulane his junior year. He hit the ground running, joining student government, the College Democrats, the pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, and the Dean’s Student Advisory Board for the School of Liberal Arts. In addition to that, he became a resident advisor, beatboxer for the Wavelength a cappella group, and was an occasional writer for the Hullabaloo. He also attended one chess club meeting.

Bell graduated with a degree in political science with a focus in economics and public policy. His final semester was cut short by COVID-19, so on the week when he was supposed to graduate, he was moderating a virtual panel on the “National Black Youth Response to COVID-19,” featuring School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Dean Thomas LaVeist and former Tulane professor and political consultant James Carville. The goal of the panel was to combat misinformation about the new virus and address the hesitancy within the Black community.

After graduation, Bell joined the U.S. Senate campaign of Jaime Harrison, of South Carolina, who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Senator Lindsey Graham.

Now, Bell is a senior associate on the democracy team at The Hub Project, which is a nonprofit advocacy firm that works to persuade public opinion through progressive campaigns and coalitions across the country.

Just as he did a decade ago, Bell encourages people to get involved in politics, even if that means just going out to the ballot box. “Voting is like exercising. It's like a muscle — you have to keep at it. And it's so core to our fragile democracy. Everyone should get involved because that's what our system of government depends on,” says Bell, adding that too often people retreat if they get discouraged by the current political climate. “The more they decide to stay out, it becomes, in fact a self-fulfilling prophecy. You're not going to get the results that you want because you are not engaging in the system.”

He stays active as a Tulane alum, representing the School of Liberal Arts on the Tulane Alumni Association Board of Directors. He encourages others to stay involved with alumni causes, by being a cheerleader for Tulane and creating a career pipeline for Tulane students. Building a strong university is like a real estate investment, Bell says — just like it’s important that an owner invests back into their property, so must alumni invest in their alma mater. “I’m doing what I can to invest, and just get more people engaged, no matter where they end up around the world.”

Ultimately, Bell plans to attend law school and “use my legal education to have a positive impact on the world.”

He is thankful for the education he received at Tulane, and one day, he intends to move back to New Orleans and leverage the experience and contacts that he is gaining in Washington to help the city improve — a role he sees as important for Tulane alumni.

“Despite all its challenges, New Orleans has so much potential, and I see Tulane in a unique position to not only help grow talent locally, but to also attract some of the best and brightest from around the globe who will stay and contribute to the greatest city in the world.”

“I see Tulane in a unique position to not only help grow talent locally, but to also attract some of the best and brightest from around the globe who will stay and contribute to the greatest city in the world.”