Educating Our Own: The Historical Legacy of HBCUs and Their Relevance for Educating a New Generation of Leaders

Urban Rev (2012) 44:311331

DOI 10.1007/s11256-012-0202-9

Travis J. Albritton

Published online: 7 March 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Abstract Providing a brief history of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)including how and why they were founded, funding sources and needs over time, and an examination of mission statementsthe author considers the relevance of HBCUs in the current twenty-rst century context. He makes an argument that the educational opportunities HBCUs offer continue to be strongly needed in the contemporary U.S. economic and sociopolitical climate. Finally, he offers HBCU faculty and administrators some suggestions for consideration as they face signicant challenges ahead.

Keywords HBCU Black history Higher education Racial uplift

In a recent edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Marybeth Gasman (2009) wrote an article entitled Minority-Serving Colleges Deserve More Respect, where she asserts that minority-serving institutions (MSIs) continue to go above and beyond the call of duty as they educate African American, Latino, and Native American students. Additionally, Gasman argues, Minority-serving institutions empower, support and challenge their students to fully participate in American society, in many cases making up for the deciencies in primary and secondary schools (p. 3). Gasmans argument reects the acclaimed, educational legacy of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Dened by the Higher Education Act of 1965 as institutions of higher learning established before 1964, whose principal mission was then, as is now the [higher] education of Black

T. J. Albritton (&)

Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations Department,The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro NC, USA e-mail: [email protected]

Educating Our Own: The Historical Legacy of HBCUs and Their Relevance for Educating a New Generation of Leaders

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Americans, HBCUs have a long and storied history of preparing young Black men and women to enter the professional workforce.1

The HBCU history is deeply rooted in the Black communitys commitment to racial uplift and community empowerment. This commitment has been particularly meaningful given the sociopolitical policies and practices that deemed Black men and women incapable of succeeding as learners because of the unfounded belief that their race made them inferior and unable to appreciate the benets of post-secondary education.

Though this paper is not a historical analysis, it does draw upon the existing body of HBCU...