Bro. Askia
New Member
The Story Behind Historical Black Colleges
http://www.blackvoices.com/feature/bhm_01/ex_essay.html
Historically Black Colleges and Universities were established beginning in the late 1800s to educate and transition African Americans into the society upon the end of slavery.
Blacks, who then were primarily slaves, had been deprived of access to virtually every level of formal learning. HBCUs were born on the eve of the Civil War as ?the race problem? boiled at the core of the nation?s moral consciousness.
Prior to these schools being established, the opportunity for an African American to receive higher education was rare. This was because that in the minds of most whites, blacks were considered either subhuman or, at best, inferior in terms of intellectual and moral capacity. Few blacks were allowed the opportunity to obtain a college education in the ?free? more liberal north, and it was virtually impossible in the violently oppressive south. This changed after the Civil War.
Role Of The Church
Christian churches played a key role in the establishment of HBCUs. Incorporated in 1854, Ashmun Institute (now Lincoln University in Pennsylvania) was technically the first HBCU. It was a male college established by the Presbyterian church. Wilberforce University, an Ohio school established by the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), became Lincoln?s female counterpart in 1856. The AME church also started Morris Brown College a few years later.
Established by a Philadelphia Quaker, Cheyney University, originally known as the Institute for Colored Youth in Pennsylvania, has the earliest founding date, 1837, of the HBCUs. However, it was initially an elementary and high school and years later became a university. These schools emphasized the liberal arts: languages, humanities, sciences. Blacks were trained to be educators as well as professionals, such as doctors and lawyers serving their own people.
Freedmen?s Bureau
During Reconstruction (1865-1872) after the Civil War, the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands was established by Congress. The Freedmen?s Bureau provided aid to the estimated four million newly freed African Americans. The bureau failed the former slaves in many ways, but was instrumental in establishing more than 1,000 black schools before it was terminated in 1872. Howard University is named for Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, who headed the bureau.
read on...
http://www.blackvoices.com/feature/bhm_01/ex_essay2.html
...continued from HBCUs Explained
Land Grant Colleges
Public colleges and universities grew tremendously across the country from 1914-1918. Many of these colleges were funded by public taxes, or land grants.
The Morrill Act (1862) provided each state with 30,000 acres of federal lands to be sold and funds to be used to finance schools to teach agriculture and the mechanic arts, thus the ?A&M? in the names of many of these schools.
During Reconstruction, federal law required southern states to provide public education for all citizens. To maintain segregation, southern legislatures instituted the ?separate but equal? system. This triggered the creation of the 17 black land grant schools: University of Maryland- Eastern Shore, Alabama A&M University, The University of Arkansas-Pine Bluffs, Delaware State College, Florida A&M University, North Carolina A&T State University, Fort Valley State College, Kentucky State University, Southern University- Baton Rouge, Alcorn State university, South Carolina State University, Tennessee State University, Prairie View A&M University, Virginia State University, West Virginia State College, Lincoln University (Mo.), Langston University. Like their northern counterparts, these schools taught the liberal arts, but emphasized agricultural and industrial training.
Key African-American Educators
African-American educators played key roles in guiding the educational development of black colleges. Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois and Mary McLeod Bethune were among the most vocal.
When federal troops left the south and Reconstruction ended, violent white racist rule returned. The few professional opportunities for African Americans evaporated. Because of this, black educators such as Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute pushed for black colleges to stress practical trades, so that blacks could be prepared to take advantage of the jobs that would be available to them.
W. E. B. Du Bois, a Harvard-trained scholar, disagreed with Washington. Du Bois, who taught at Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University) accused Washington of reducing the importance of black intellectual development and charged him with capitulating to Southern racists.
Also in the south, Mary McLeod Bethune was tirelessly working to educate blacks. In 1904, against many objections, she opened the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Florida. In 1923, she merged the school with Cookman Institute, and it is now known as Bethune-Cookman College.
Though attitudes and laws have changed and black students have broader educational options as the result of desegregation, HBCUs continue in their original mission to educate black students, producing many of the community?s leaders.
The question is often asked whether HBCUs are still necessary.
HBCUs have a unique history and powerful legacy that is deeply rooted in American history. Their story is America. As long as the struggle for racial justice and equality and tolerance remains the answer to the question will be yes.
http://www.blackvoices.com/feature/bhm_01/ex_essay.html
Historically Black Colleges and Universities were established beginning in the late 1800s to educate and transition African Americans into the society upon the end of slavery.
Blacks, who then were primarily slaves, had been deprived of access to virtually every level of formal learning. HBCUs were born on the eve of the Civil War as ?the race problem? boiled at the core of the nation?s moral consciousness.
Prior to these schools being established, the opportunity for an African American to receive higher education was rare. This was because that in the minds of most whites, blacks were considered either subhuman or, at best, inferior in terms of intellectual and moral capacity. Few blacks were allowed the opportunity to obtain a college education in the ?free? more liberal north, and it was virtually impossible in the violently oppressive south. This changed after the Civil War.
Role Of The Church
Christian churches played a key role in the establishment of HBCUs. Incorporated in 1854, Ashmun Institute (now Lincoln University in Pennsylvania) was technically the first HBCU. It was a male college established by the Presbyterian church. Wilberforce University, an Ohio school established by the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), became Lincoln?s female counterpart in 1856. The AME church also started Morris Brown College a few years later.
Established by a Philadelphia Quaker, Cheyney University, originally known as the Institute for Colored Youth in Pennsylvania, has the earliest founding date, 1837, of the HBCUs. However, it was initially an elementary and high school and years later became a university. These schools emphasized the liberal arts: languages, humanities, sciences. Blacks were trained to be educators as well as professionals, such as doctors and lawyers serving their own people.
Freedmen?s Bureau
During Reconstruction (1865-1872) after the Civil War, the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands was established by Congress. The Freedmen?s Bureau provided aid to the estimated four million newly freed African Americans. The bureau failed the former slaves in many ways, but was instrumental in establishing more than 1,000 black schools before it was terminated in 1872. Howard University is named for Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, who headed the bureau.
read on...
http://www.blackvoices.com/feature/bhm_01/ex_essay2.html
...continued from HBCUs Explained
Land Grant Colleges
Public colleges and universities grew tremendously across the country from 1914-1918. Many of these colleges were funded by public taxes, or land grants.
The Morrill Act (1862) provided each state with 30,000 acres of federal lands to be sold and funds to be used to finance schools to teach agriculture and the mechanic arts, thus the ?A&M? in the names of many of these schools.
During Reconstruction, federal law required southern states to provide public education for all citizens. To maintain segregation, southern legislatures instituted the ?separate but equal? system. This triggered the creation of the 17 black land grant schools: University of Maryland- Eastern Shore, Alabama A&M University, The University of Arkansas-Pine Bluffs, Delaware State College, Florida A&M University, North Carolina A&T State University, Fort Valley State College, Kentucky State University, Southern University- Baton Rouge, Alcorn State university, South Carolina State University, Tennessee State University, Prairie View A&M University, Virginia State University, West Virginia State College, Lincoln University (Mo.), Langston University. Like their northern counterparts, these schools taught the liberal arts, but emphasized agricultural and industrial training.
Key African-American Educators
African-American educators played key roles in guiding the educational development of black colleges. Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois and Mary McLeod Bethune were among the most vocal.
When federal troops left the south and Reconstruction ended, violent white racist rule returned. The few professional opportunities for African Americans evaporated. Because of this, black educators such as Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute pushed for black colleges to stress practical trades, so that blacks could be prepared to take advantage of the jobs that would be available to them.
W. E. B. Du Bois, a Harvard-trained scholar, disagreed with Washington. Du Bois, who taught at Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University) accused Washington of reducing the importance of black intellectual development and charged him with capitulating to Southern racists.
Also in the south, Mary McLeod Bethune was tirelessly working to educate blacks. In 1904, against many objections, she opened the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Florida. In 1923, she merged the school with Cookman Institute, and it is now known as Bethune-Cookman College.
Though attitudes and laws have changed and black students have broader educational options as the result of desegregation, HBCUs continue in their original mission to educate black students, producing many of the community?s leaders.
The question is often asked whether HBCUs are still necessary.
HBCUs have a unique history and powerful legacy that is deeply rooted in American history. Their story is America. As long as the struggle for racial justice and equality and tolerance remains the answer to the question will be yes.
