Hbcus Essay

Thesis: HBCU’s are necessary for the future of democratic America because they better prepare African American students as individuals and for the workforce.

“The Black Studies Program: Strategy and Structure” was published Fall of 1972 in The Jounal of Negro Education. It’s contents are a relection on the years before when colleges and universitys were allowing African Americans to attend , but did not provide curriculum about or for African Americans.

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

The new generation of upcoming college scholars have been appearing to have a lot of debate over the criteria of an HBCU not being corresponding to a PWI. It is time to understand and be able to get involved with the debate about Historically Black College/University (HBCU) versus Predominantly White Institution (PWI). To proceed it is best to start with the definition of these terms because everyone needs to have knowledge when it comes to this subject. This subject also needs to be more than just a debate between students attending HBCUs and African Americans at PWIs. Quite shockingly, there are many out there that do not know what an HBCU is and if they do they think of these “black schools” as a form of racism. When it boils down to HBCU’s

“Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, have played an important role in enriching the lives of not just African Americans, but our entire country.”(Keller) What Ric Keller states here is an opinion that outlines a compelling fact about HBCUs that along with several other significant information that may come as a surprise. Essentially, the great debate between the choice of whether an Historically Black College and University or Predominantly White Institution is more beneficial or not can become a pondering interrogation. Each acronym defines itself, Historically Black Colleges and Universities(HBCUs) were established by the means of providing an education for predominantly African American students. Whereas, Predominantly White Intuitions(PWI) serve to instruct and educated the opposite or in other words those of Caucasian descent.

This debate has led many scholars to question: Are HBCUs still relevant, and are they the best institutions to train our next generation of leaders?

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964. As amended by The Higher Education Act of 1965, a part B institution refers to any “Historically Black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of Black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation.” Though in 1837 Cheyne University of Pennsylvania and 1854 Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) had been established for Black education, Black Colleges and Universities became recognized by the United States Government in the 1890’s.

If HBCUs are to survive, they must increase financial contributions from alumni. This is particularly true at private institutions, where there is little or no revenue from states, upon which public institutions rely heavily. Alumni giving at public HBCUs is also becoming increasingly important because state funding is decreasing and the overall funding received from states is not on par with their majority institution counterparts (Gasman, 2010). HBCUs must enhance their alumni fundraising results in order to generate revenue to sustain them. Understanding the motivators to alumni giving at HBCUs can be critical to helping them improve alumni giving rates, and thus, the amount provided by them. There have been many research studies to determine the factors that affect alumni giving. One study found that there is a positive correlation between alumni perceptions of their undergraduate experience and their chances of financially supporting and participating with their institution (Gaier, 2005). Institutions should understand the key factors that contribute to those alumni perceptions so that they can make operational decisions designed to improve student

They were made to give African Americans citizens rise to instructive opportunities. HBCUs are an imperative piece of American history due to the effect they had and now have on society. These foundations have permitted African Americans to have a chance to wind up fruitful, beneficial subjects. They have negated old generalizations that expressed that blacks were uninformed or not able to learn and accomplish like whites have. Truly, historically black colleges and universities have done superb things for the African American community. The presence of HBCU's is essential on the grounds that future eras can see what diligent work and commitment can fulfill. This is genuine in light of the fact that the greater part of these chronicled establishments were made to overcome and snag the kept African Americans from having the capacity to acquire the same training as whatever remains of America. These foundations are critical and stand as confirmation of their reasons. As with most colleges, too, there are pros and cons to attending an HBCU. I’ve known some students who missed the racial diversity that they had in high school so they transferred out of an HBCU, but there are also many who relished the support that an HBCU provided. I’ve also known African-American students who attended primarily white high schools and valued the chance that an

“Double consciousness describes the individual sensation of feeling as though your identity is divided into several parts, making it impossible to have one unified identity”(Understanding W.E.B DuBois, n.d.). This proposal was brought forth by W.E.B Bois. He believed that African American’s were struggling with these repressed feelings of not knowing who they are; they could not combine their African background with their now developed American identity. This concept was developed in 1903, but is still very relevant today; one may be able to relate the relevance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to this theory/ conclusion. At a Historically Black College or University, an individual has the ability to further their education. I decide to attend Virginia Union University to gain a better understanding of my history, to bond with others within the black community, and to profit from the HBCU experience.

The purpose of this paper is to argue based on the founding principles for their establishment, HBCUs hold no educational justification to continue in the midst of the twenty-first century. Frist, the paper will cover a brief historical context around the founding principles of HBCUs. Next, legislation that allowed them to thrive and maintained existence will be presented. To conclude, implications for HBCUs and potential next steps will be presented. Historically Black Colleges and Universities were an instrumental educational piece for African American during the 19th and 20th century, they are not longer relevant in the 21st century

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), there are 101 Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Title III of the Higher Education Act of 1965 defines HBCUs as “…any historically Black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of Black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation” (US Department of Education, 2017). It is important to note that unlike other Minority Serving Institutions, HBCUs, are only one of two types of institutions (Tribal Colleges & Universities or TCUs are the other) federally designated by law and therefore, cannot increase in number with an act of Congress (Li, 2007). In other words, every time an HBCU closes its doors, we get one step closer to the elimination of the historical and consequential institutions.

look around, and once again I'm in the minority'" (as quoted in Mangan, 2015). Students who attend HBCUs do so with the impression that they will be surrounded by a grand majority of black students, professors, culture and history. Most HBCU students do not enter their first day of college expecting to see a significant amount of racial diversity on campus, however, due to shifts in HBCUs, a significant amount of racial diversity is exactly what they encounter. This causes HBCUs to lose their identity of being historically black. For example, a student at Delaware State University states "I don't really think of Del State as a historically black college, even though it is, because it's so diverse" (as quoted in Madeline, 2015). This is a great

For blacks, the history of higher education typically points to segregated education. Before the Civil War, the social system promoted the belief that blacks wouldn’t get return on their time spent in higher education. Brown and Ricard (2007) noted that most North institutions were reluctant to allow black enrollment in colleges and universities, and in the South, where slaveholder’s were still powerhouse businessmen, slaves would never be allowed to become more educated than their owners. The reluctance of the White leaders to allow blacks to formally be accepted into higher education programs held blacks back from achieving what many aspired to, and were fully capable of, experience.

HBCUs can at earliest be dated back to before the Civil War, when the majority of colleges wouldn’t admit African American students on the premise of their race alone These schools were created specifically for the education of African Americans due to the fact that while some states had educational facilities open to all in the North and West, most of the South had segregated systems that forbade the admittance of African Americans. In 1890, the Agricultural College Act was passed, requiring segregated states to create a separate land grant