Roots and Routes

Trying to achieve your dreams and reach your full potential in a town that has little to no guidance for youth, especially African American men, is a daunting task. Too often, young men from my hometown are given limited options for their future. The education system made us feel as if we were only created to work in trade career fields, or sign our lives away for four to six years to the various branches of the United States Military. College was a luxury that many, including myself, thought would never be an option.

In America, we are told that it is the land where everything and anything is possible. For many years, it wasn’t like that for African American. With many hard work, strength, and courage African American manage to earn the right to an education. To the African American community education became more of a need than a want. We’ve learn that education is such a powerful asset that with it you are unstoppable. You can do so much if you put your time and energy to it. Having an education to African American is the one hope for a brighter and better

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

For centuries African Americans have fought for equal rights, one of them being an opportunity for the chance to get an equal education. Many people believe that African Americans have an equal or better chance at getting an education than other students. This is not the case when in fact, it is actually harder for these three reasons: African American students tend to come from harsh, poverty stricken atmospheres. Shattered family lifestyles that make it difficult to pursue a higher education because they have not received the proper information. Secondly, just because African Americans are minorities does not mean that they receive a vast amount of government assistance or financial aid to pursue a higher education. Lastly, African

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

Even when an African-American student achieves such an amazing thing such as being valedictorian, they were still not given the opportunity to do what they wanted to do with their life, instead they would have to work on farms when they had talent to do so much

There were diffused ideals among African American leaders on how to handle racial inequalities in society during the progressive era, but its leaders would form the pathways on which future generations would commence on in gaining racial equality. Following is a part of an essay written by African American

“ The future of African American political, economic, and socio cultural incorporation in America requires the continued expansion of rights, law, and public policy designed to bring balance to, and hopefully eradicate the historical barriers that limited, Black interests to begin with.”

Today, African American students are under-represented in college and universities, and the reason is the ongoing disenfranchisement of African American students. Our education system needs be more responsive and needs to pay more attention to the college preparation for these students. People of color historically have been misrepresented, exploited, silenced, and taken for granted in education research (Dillard, 2000; Stanfield, 1995), (H. Richard Milner IV, 2008).

a generation African Americans to question the doctrine of separate but equal and help pave for

Society has made it so hard for blacks to become successful, but for the great minds of the students at CAU; it’s so easy for them to succeed and not for them to fall into what society calls the “system”. This too, is a reason as why some African Americans feel like they just don’t have to try. The harder they try; they may still get nowhere being limited to so many great opportunities. Although there are no excuses to be made for the African American communities, this reasoning’s will leave some people to think they will never be good enough for society. “Eliminate what’s distracting you and keep it moving in order to succeed” are words that I will always remember Helen Smith Price saying before the closing of Founders Convocation 2017. In life not everyone will support you nor help you get to where you want to be and those are the people you leave behind in order to succeed. As a graduating senior of Clark Atlanta University I will always “Find a Way or Make

Growing up as an African American in a white world in the late 1800’s was incredibly ruthless. Even after slavery, blacks had a hard time trying to get work, education or civil rights. Education was a major topic in debate for blacks and whites. Education, the most important thing in life, acts as the key to a person 's future. Education leads to knowledge, and knowledge leads to power. It teaches humans how to prosper and make good decisions. With a good education, people hold the ability to achieve all types of goals, and more doors will open for them. African-Americans held every right to obtain this basic human right. White and blacks took on many different paths with education and W.E.B. Du Bois tell a short story about it all.

A documentary we watched in class revealed the truth about how African Americans are falling behind in school and being placed in lower level classes than whites. Some African Americans are reading at a first grade level and are being placed in remedial classes, compared to white students who are striving in AP classes (Renaud). Part of the reason they continue to be educationally unequal is that they many of them lack the motivation to show up at school. Luckily, there are a few African Americans being placed in AP classes that are predominantly white because they are trying to “not end up like their parents,” yet, they continue to segregate themselves socially by all bunching together on one side of the classroom (Renaud). As a nation, we have all this wasted potential since African Americans do not have access to a decent education where they could help our country progress with technology and

As a testament to the next discussion point of opportunities, especially within the realm of college admission, I have experienced firsthand the opportunities presented by affirmative action. As a low-income, first-generation college student, Virginia Tech had offered me a full scholarship based solely on merit and financial need. As a “minority” according to Virginia Tech, I had an

The history of the struggle for the advancement and progression of African Americans is a larger-than-life story. It reveals their endeavors for the initiation of change in political, financial, educational, and societal conditions. They did everything to shape their future and that of their country i.e. the United States of America. This struggle for the attainment of equal rights has helped them to determine the path and the pace of their improvement and development (Taylor & Mungazi, 2001, p. 1).