HBCUs

Ben Vinson III, Historian of the African Diaspora in Latin America in as Howard U. President

Vinson, who attended high school in Washington D.C. and was a dean at the George Washington University, returns to the District with goals of vaulting the university into the top ranks of research institutions. 

Atlanta's HBCU Students Call on Administrators to Oppose "Cop City"

Students say that the proposed training facility in south Atlanta will prepare more police to engage in paramilitary suppression of protest and denounced statements by administrators pledging support for "Cop City." 

The 1968 Tuskegee Student Uprising and the Moral Force of the Black University

by Brian Jones

"In a moment when Black studies and Black history are widely under attack, it can be useful to remember that Black student activists have historically been at the center of fights to democratize higher education and expand the curriculum."

The Delicate Balancing Act of Black College Presidents in the Civil Rights Era

by Eddie R. Cole

Although Black college presidents were often reluctant to publicly endorse sit-ins for fear of antagonizing segregationist state officials, they often were able to increase opportunity for individual students by lobbying for increases to public scholarship funds that sent Black students out of state to pursue degrees.

Ralph Lauren's HBCU Tribute Line is Part of a Long History of Fighting for Recognition through Fashion

by Einav Rabinovitch-Fox

The designer's new collaboration with Morehouse and Spelman Colleges is more than a marketing ploy; it reflects the long history of Black college students (and Jewish tailors and designers) working to make the fashionable representation of the American ideal more inclusive.

AHA Statement on Bomb Threats to HBCUs

"The AHA condemns this latest in a centuries-old series of assaults on Black Americans and on the educational institutions that are integral to a diverse, free, informed, and open society."

Howard University Gets $2M Grant to Digitize Archive of Black Newspapers

The project will create the largest and most accessible archive of historical Black newspaper content in the world. 

What White Colleges Owe Black Colleges

by Adam Harris

"Private money alone won’t save Black colleges, but, perhaps, money from predominantly white institutions can — and it might be those colleges’ responsibility to provide that aid."

Adam Harris on Historic Racial Inequalities in Colleges and Universities`

The Chronicle of Higher Ed's Katie Mangan interviews Adam Harris about his new book on the structural inequalities of American higher ed, where there's an inverse relationship between resources and the proportion of Black students an institution serves.

MacKenzie Scott's HBCU Donations Contrast with the History of Funding for Black Education

by Tyrone McKinley Freeman

The philanthropist's contributions are noteworthy not just for their scope, but for her willingness to allow universities to follow their own judgment in how to spend the funds, something white donors have historically been unwilling to do. 

Howard University's Decision To Cut Classics Department Prompts An Outcry

Anika Prather of Howard's Classics Department shares her view of the decision to close the department. 

Visions against Politics

by Eileen Boris and Annelise Orleck

Historians Eileen Boris and Annelise Orleck are the guest editors of the spring edition of the AAUP's magazine focusing on the need for a New Deal for Higher Education. This is their introductory essay. 

Students and Faculty Fight to Save Classics Department at Howard University

The decision is seen by many Howard students as a blow to the university's academic standing, but it also comes at a time when the significance of racism in classical studies is a hot academic debate. 

Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges

The work of European Jewish academics at Historically Black Colleges in the United States is an underrecognized part of both Black and Jewish American history; many prominent African Americans were students of refugee professors. 

Historically Black Colleges and Universities are Remaking American Politics

by Crystal R. Sanders

The 2020 presidential election has debunked the myth that historically Black colleges do not prepare students to work in white-dominated institutions, and demonstrated that HBCUs have prepared their alumni to change the world one precinct, one county and one state at a time.

Two Visions of Higher Education Illuminate the Chasm between Harris and Pence

by Marybeth Gasman and Adam Laats

The Vice Presidential candidates' university affiliations--Harris's attendance at Howard and membership in a prominent Black sorority, and Pence's political affinity for Liberty University--show that both HBCUs and Evangelical colleges are important and politically significant parts of the American higher education system.

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Education Plan Will Help Fund HBCUs

by Maria Perez

Warren’s education plan would cancel 95 percent of some student loan debt for the nearly 45 million Americans with debt and eliminate student loan debt for 75 percent of people. 

Taronda Spencer, 54: Spelman College archivist, historian

As the archivist at Spelman College, Taronda Spencer was responsible for preserving the past. At the same time, she had a tremendous impact on the future of the college and its students.A 1980 graduate of Spelman, Spencer became the institution’s archivist in 1998 and the college’s historian in 2000. In those roles she routinely helped researchers, and anyone else who may have been looking, find information among the collections of papers and memorabilia that belong to the school.“Taronda’s job as the college archivist was unique,” said Beverly Guy-Sheftall, professor of women’s studies and founding director of the Spelman College Women’s Research and Resource Center. “We were looking for someone who had the qualifications of a college archivist, but who would also work within the Women’s Center unit, because we were also interested in fostering research on African-American women.”...On May 17, two days before graduation, Taronda Elise Spencer, of Atlanta, fell ill while at a Spelman function that evening. She died later that night after suffering a massive heart attack. She was 54....