Episode #5: Is There A Need For HBCUs?
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have advantages such as fostering a sense of community and pride, providing a supportive environment, and offering diverse faculty and notable alumni. However, HBCUs may also face challenges such as limited resources, stigma, potential limitations in academic programs, and persistent inequalities. Recognizing the strengths and limitations of HBCUs is crucial in promoting access and success for Black students in higher education while addressing the challenges to ensure equitable opportunities for all students, regardless of their race or background.
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In this episode, Shelley replays an interview with Carol Watkins and Leslie Prawl from October of 1991. He covers the pros and cons of HBCUs and shares insights and opinions on their value.
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Dive Deeper
Travis Albritton
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 statements--the author considers the relevance of HBCUs in the current twenty-first 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 significant challenges ahead...
Arthur Clement & Arthur Lidsky
The danger of history slipping away: The heritage campus and HBCUs
The heritage of the United States is now recognized as including a diverse group of ethnic and racial minorities who have left "a rich and varied legacy of accomplishments and historic places that cannot be ignored" (Savage 1994, p. 67). Because of the NHPA, many structures and historic districts on HBCU campuses were recognized as significant and placed on the National Register of Historic Places...
Diverse Issues In Higher Education
Fast Company
Rich in Black history but long underfunded, these HBCU campuses will finally be preserved
A new pilot grant program is designed to help Historically Black Colleges and Universities preserve significant buildings and sites on their campuses—an initiative that is long overdue...
Nancy G. Christie & Sarah M. Dinham
Institutional and External Influences on Social Integration in the Freshman Year
National Endowment For The Humanities
Preserving the Legacies of the Nation’s HBCUs
Across 21 states and jurisdictions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) educate thousands of students each year and preserve the stories of the generations that came before them. For nearly 200 years, HBCUs have championed education equality and cultivated influential scholars, artists, scientists, and activists, serving as landmarks in their communities and centers of national historic and cultural significance. In 2020, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) partnered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to strengthen the infrastructural capacity of these important institutions, launching the HBCU Cultural Heritage Stewardship Initiative to protect their enduring legacies and ensure their ability to educate generations to come...
Judy Rashid
Unearthing Promise and Potential: Our Nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (review)
Unearthing Promise and Potential: Our Nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities is an ambitious attempt to examine the historical inception of HBCUs in the United States, their present role in higher education, and their potential future. These institutions-very diverse despite being grouped under the homogenous HBCU definition and label-have remained a vital part of the American higher education landscape for more than 125 years. As Marybeth Gasman, Valerie Lundy-Wagner, Tafaya Ransom, and Nelson Bowman III set forth, these institutions indeed offer great promise and potential for the continued and higher education of the nation...