Matriculation Convocation

“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.

President Barack Obama spoke his remarks at Howard University commencement ceremony for the class of 2016. This special moment in the speech is honoring people of color, especially African Americans and made history at this University, having the president to present his speech (Donnella). Obama explained how America was different when he graduated college and society is now accepting new cultures and backgrounds within today’s workforce and education. Obama wants the audience to take opportunities and learning new skills to expand their education.

The United States of America often forgets that historically black colleges and universities were created out of necessity. It has only been a couple of decades since African Americans have been allowed to get degrees from predominantly white institutions. Millions of African Americans have given their blood, sweat, and tears in hopes of gaining basic rights like education to their descendants. America has come a long way within the past fifty years but there is still a disconnect when it comes to believing what the average African American can accomplish as an individual. When it comes to historically black colleges and universities there is still a stigma that the education is less rigorous and

African American education systems and colleges faced many issues systematically and socially. The process of integrating colleges was a process faced with opposition because the idea that higher education was made for strictly for white upper-class men was still the underlying ideal. While equal opportunity was promoted in the light, behind the scenes, systematically money, policy, procedure hindered black education and equal opportunity. Realizing this injustice, black students sought to find their own solutions to social justice issues happening not only within higher education but their communities while leading by example.

Another major predicament that plays a large role in the amount of African Americans that do not receive a higher education is once they get to college, they do not have a typical or enjoyable experience once there. In today’s society, it is hard to imagine that there is still racism and segregation in schools and colleges today but the reality is, it still does very much exist. This is especially true when black students attend predominantly white universities. Even though most colleges promote themselves by talking about how diverse their

Marybeth Gasman and Ufuoma Abiola’s article Colorism Within the Historically Black Colleges and Universities it investigates the significant of color prejudice at HBCUs. This article examines the origins, manifestations and damaging results of colorism on black college campuses. In this article the authors are trying to find a way to solve the problem of colorism at HBCUs and create an environment where students can be success regardless of whether they are dark skin or light skin. After they do this they offer recommendations for future research.

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

However, in order to do this, the nine African-American students had to overcome a lot of verbal abuse as well as a lot of threats from other citizens. But as they began to grow in confidence, they ignored the doubters and as a result, they accomplished their goals. Their dreams of graduating from a segregated school not only changed their lives, but the lives of all Americans during that time period. It basically paved the way for future generations to have a more friendly environment where all citizens had respect for one another. The message these nine students presented is that if you have the determination and courage to do the work and strive for your goal, you can accomplish anything and make the world a better

For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that

It was only a year ago when I was faced with making a very important decision that would affect me for the rest of my life. It was time for me to choose an institution of higher learning to continue my studies that would eventually lead me to my career. My decision wasn’t simply which university or college to choose, but as a young black student, whether to choose a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) or a Predominately White Institution (PWI). This would take me on an insightful journey and I would make my decision after discussing the pros and cons of both institutions and through interactions with students, faculty and staff. Before too long

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

Historically black colleges and universities, otherwise known as HBCUs, have played an integral role in advancing the education of underprivileged black teenagers since their inception after the American Civil War. They have had students extremely well known in their fields today, such as billionaire entertainer Oprah Winfrey, the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. Though their graduation rates tend to be around 1 in 3, they have produced a majority of successful African American professionals. For the continued advancement of African Americans, HBCUs are necessary for offering educational opportunities that their students had been historically denied and presently out of financial reach, while promoting strong family values and equality that may be lacking at traditional schools and displaying positive African American role models in their alumni and staff.

Rob Nelson brought this article with an extrinsic ethos in it based on the character of the author. Rob Nelson is a well known African-American editor in Chief of Chapel Hill’s Daily Tar Heel newspaper. Its estimated print readership of 38,000 makes it the largest community newspaper in Orange County (DTH Media, 2011). This is a well-known magazine for the audience; therefore, all the information and article from Daily Tar Heel must be reliable to the audience. Since he was born and raised in an African- American community, Nelson usually reflects on issues about race and practicing racism in his writing. Later on, the article was re-published in the academic journal, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, a journal that has a high academically reliable and strong authority. The readers knew about Nelson and his authority before they read his article.

David Kane is an African-American young gentleman, who has been latterly awarded the position of a principal at the Thurgood Marshall High School, Illinois. The school is two years old and divided into four “house”, each comprised of 300 students, 18 faculty members and a housemaster. Dr. Louis Parker had been the school’s first principal and had an impressive background, but he reassigned in disillusionment and many described him as a “broken man” .

In a publication titled ‘Black Women in Academe’, author Yolanda Moses describes how “isolation, invisibility, hostility, indifference, and a lack of understanding of the Black women’s experiences are all too often part of the climate Black women may face on campuses” (Moses, 1989). The detrimental environment surrounding these women frequently results in sullenness, lack of social assertiveness, and belief that they are less competent than male students. Even if time spent at an academic institution is minimal, with this kind of prejudice faced at an early age, any woman- black or otherwise, would suffer the rest of their life. In response to the discrimination faced at universities, some have created programs to aid black students and other minorities; these programs tend to generalize the needs of all its black students and do not fully support black women specifically.