Aaron Ford

For almost two hundred years, Historically Black Colleges and Universities or HBCUs have played a pivotal role in the education of African-American people, and negro people internationally. These schools have provided the majority of black college graduates at the Graduate and Post-Graduate level; schools such as Hampton University, Morehouse University, Spellman University and Howard University are four universities at the forefront of the advanced education of blacks. For sometime there has been a discussion on whether or not these institutes should remain in existence or if they are just another form of racism. There were also concerning the quality of education provided at these institutions. In my opinion, from the evidence provided

Over the course of the years that Black Studies has been a separate functioning entity, there have been different ideological and political reasons for why Black studies is needed in institutions of higher education. Scholars such as Nathan Hare, John Henrik Clark, John W. Blassingame and Devere E. Pentony have given their own varied rationales as to why they believe Black Studies is a necessity within these institutions; if it is even one at all. Each of these men have different opinions on this topic but they do share one similar perspective. The historical importance of black people should be taught and made a fundamental component of Black Studies because in institutions of higher education, where the populations are predominantly white, staying connected to the black culture can be difficult. Getting educated about it enables students to stay connected to their roots and use it to improve their future. Many black people grow up unaware of who they are and where they come from because in the current education system black people have been pushed to the side or spoken about very briefly. Students do not understand the struggles of African American people, so therefore having courses that educate them about the history of blacks, will spark understanding of black people as a whole and there might be a change in black and even possibly white communities.

It wasn’t that the black students weren’t as advanced, it was just that they were not given the opportunity to gain more knowledge as easily and weren’t given the opportunity to show off what they knew. In the end, white students ended up being more successful, but not because they should have been. It was because black students were not given the opportunities that white students seemed more advanced. Though in comparison to schools for black kids they were great, it wasn’t as though schools for white children were top schools in the world either. “One-room grade schools were still common in York County, Nebraska, and other Great Plains states. Children from several grades sat in one room, often led by a teacher not much older than the students.” (Reinhardt and Ganzel). The majority of public school children, which was a large percentage of the country’s students, did not graduate with enough knowledge to go on to college or a well paying job. The Great Depression made funding the schools hard, so even white schools weren’t very rich, not to mention how little black schools

African American studies, which can be seen as the first Ethnic Studies to be introduced in Academia has several values that they want to embody. Originally, African American studies was a grassroots student-led response to institutional racism in Higher Education. These students in the 60’s felt that African Americans’ narrative was not vocalized in Higher Education curriculum (115). Nathan Huggins would also include that African American Studies was indirectly fighting for social justice (116). Robert L Harris would argue that African American Studies can be traced back even further to the 1890’s when people were researching the Black Culture, but he would ultimately agree that African American Studies formerly became part of the Higher Education institution around 1960’s/70’s. African American Studies focused on the struggles between black-nationalism

Referring back to six decades ago, education for blacks individually faced dramatic conflicting challenges. Due to the Supreme Court enforcing the law in 1883, which denied them access to use the same source of public transportation, recreational facilities and schools as white people. Academic activities, financial aid, and even the proper education had been deprived from black students. Resulting in improper knowledge to become successful later on in life; which may lead to poverty or an exiguous amount of income for black families. Throughout the 1960s the black community started an enrollment boom , because of economic gains from the Great Migration, World War II and of course the Brown vs. Board of education case, black students began to attend

As an African-American male attending a predominantly white institution (PWI) of higher learning, I, at times, had to overcome several obstacles—from a lack of connectedness to being the victim of occasional microaggressions, there was a clear dichotomy that could not be ignored. I instantly felt a sense of empathy with Canada’s experiences at Bowdoin College. From the text, “[e]ach year, the same pattern repeated—a few more black students would be admitted, they would find Bowdoin alienating and white and oppressive, and they would demand that the administration admit more African American students” (2009). While I would argue that I don’t live in an area that could be considered tantamount to the Civil Rights era, there are pieces of this piece of the text that I can relate to. Frankly, there is something off-putting about attending an institution that was not designed or developed for your people. Throughout this chapter of the book, Canada made it clear that he did not feel connected with his college. At my undergraduate institution, I had many of the same sentiments as Canada. While it was certainly a lot more diverse than Bowdoin, I, like Canada, found myself having to actively and aggressively seek out opportunities to engage in opportunities with people who look like me—joining clubs and organizations and networking in various professional

Along with the political changes that have happened regarding race in America, educational changes as well as standards have risen as well. It is not a surprise that the correlation between college attendance rates for African

African Americans are in minority and are treated unequal from the whites. Institutional racism in education was a huge problem in the past and still is a problem now. African Americans struggled to learn how to read and write, while the whites could get a high-quality education with little to no struggle. African Americans couldn’t attend high quality colleges, because they were discriminated in public places. Institutional racism relates to the civil liberty; right to education. It is also relative to the essay “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass. Discrimination in the United States is the reason African Americans couldn’t get a quality education.

Searching for influential advocates for higher education, I come across an inspiring man who further fuels my passion for the preparation of underrepresented students. Dr. Elias Blake, Jr. He is noted for the attention he “brought fresh attention to the role of historically black colleges and became an authority on desegregation and the black educational experience” Schudel, 2007). I once waivered on the cultural importance of these historical institutions most times deeming them as antiquated and too late in the pipeline of academic progress for viability. Previously, I based my thoughts on my expereince having attended primary education that highlighted cultural appreciation aimed at preparing students for high achievement as a minority in America. I considered this cultural focus more valuable earlier on than the college level since self-perception develops so early on in life. However, I have since learned to look at topics through multiple prisms not just the value of cultural awareness.

Topic: The Importance of Affirmative Action in the College Admissions Process Thesis: In order to resolve underrepresentation of African Americans in higher education, affirmative action is needed to promote diversity, improve students’ critical thinking skills, and increase race-consciousness by utilizing race as a factor in college admissions. University of California Regents v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 98 S. Ct. 2733, 57 L. Ed. 2d 750 (1978).

With regular stores, passed season merchandises are usually markdown generally from 50 to 60 percent. However, typically with luxury brands, merchandises are barely or they don’t have markdowns at all. With luxury brands, like Tom Ford, their customer demand focused more about the quality and brand images rather than the price of products. Moreover, sales are not part of Tom Ford and many other luxury brands marketing strategy. Tom Ford is more about building the company brand image, reputation and the store awareness to their customers and consumers. Talking about Tom Ford for Neiman Marcus, there might be a low percentage of markdowns for products like shoes and sunglasses; and they typically generate around 10% or lower. However, instead of having heavily markdowns, the store usually has other

Education in the North wasn’t easy as well for the black community. As always blacks never have the best treatment, although some black northerners saw education as a way to a better life it wasn’t that easy for them. Black schools didn’t have the luxury that white school had. They didn’t have a lot of public schools and most parents weren’t making enough money to send them to a private school. Black children were

students turning out excellent graduates going on to their Ph.D.’s. There are over 28 percent of African-Americans with Ph.D.’s employed outside of their disciplines, recruiters at these universities say they cannot find qualified black candidates with their Ph.D.by not maintain their status quo these universities use these excuses to justify their hiring practices I believe that we will have equal opportunities but not talking and no action. Students must see and deserve diversity in higher education .Progression toward a goal to dismantle barriers to academe life for African-Americans professionals is only way to winning the battle (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

The African American community has almost always been targeted when it comes to not receiving a good education. A teacher of mine once said, “African American Students are not stupid. They are; however, followers. They follow what the trend is currently and that’s why there aren’t as many black children going to college because the majority are followers. You only get a few leaders from the crowd.” This spoke to me because I realized that schools had given up on African American students as a whole. Those few leaders weren’t even given a chance to lead. That’s why our society hands white children’s plans for a better education, They are already seen to succeed in the world while a black child is seen to destroy. African American children are restricted from getting a higher education because people stereotype and believe that they won’t go anywhere in life.

In an interview with African Americans who lived through the great depression, H.J. Williams recalls his education, “they’d teach us about agriculture… …But far as mechanical work and so on like that they wadn’t teaching nothing like that at that time” Racists believe that other races deserve less than their own. By learning only about agriculture, the African Americans would most of the time be underpaid farmers. The victims of racism will be given less chances to succeed and will almost certainly have to work harder to get anything. Another quote from H.J. Williams states “daddy wasn’t able to buy me school books and that’s when I dropped out of school. Didn’t go no further. I went as high as the 8th grade” The education system was made by white Americans for white Americans to succeed. African Americans were forced to drop out because the books cost too much, they cost too much because the parents of the African American children don’t make enough money, and they don’t make enough money because they got a poor education. It’s a loop, the victims of racism are being forced into poverty, and thus can’t contribute to the betterment of our community. The people who are victim to racism are going to have a much harder time completing college then a rich white kid. All those people who could’ve made revelations in medicine, industry or agriculture get passed by simply because of the color of their