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John Biggers |
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From the mid-nineteenth century onward the historically
black colleges and universities - collectively known as
HBCUs - were the primary educational institutions that afforded
African Americans a higher education. Graduates include
many of our nation's most notable black leaders, educators,
writers and artists. Looking Forward,
Reaching Back: Black Colleges In America will
explore the compelling stories behind the establishment
of many of these institutions, from the ante bellum founding
of the first black college in the nineteenth century (two
that still exist today are Lincoln College in Pennsylvania,
founded in 1854 and Wilberforce University in Ohio, founded
in 1856), through the reconstruction and post-reconstruction
era.
The series will delve deep into contemporary issues facing
HBCU's while establishing a historical context for understanding
the role that Black Colleges play in America today. This
unique and important history will give a general audience
a new and incisive perspective on the complicated questions
of race, equality, social and economic justice that still
offer challenges to our society.
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Howard University, early 1900's
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Drawing upon the rich archival resources that Pacific Street
has uncovered at many of these institutions, and utilizing
the stories of the many graduates and students of these
colleges, the series will paint a compelling portrait of
the historical legacy left by the HBCU network. Today these
colleges stand at a crossroads which will determine their
place, and their role, in the development of 21st century
American higher education. By examining these contemporary
stories, the series will be able to highlight how the past
development of Black education has had implications for
HBCU's today, and how recent developments, including court
decisions, will ultimately impact upon their survival in
the 21st century. Looking Forward,
Reaching Back: Black Colleges In America will
also afford the audience a look through a historical window,
viewing the dramatic and sometimes tragic struggle to carry
on the process of education amid prejudice, racism and hostility.
These struggles were perhaps best articulated by a quote
from the late Benjamin E. Mays, former president of Morehouse
College in Atlanta. "The white colleges are designed
primarily to meet the needs of white America; their curricula
are so designed. The Black colleges have double role. They
must be as much concerned with Shakespeare, Tennyson and
Marlowe as the white colleges. But the Negro institutions
must give equal emphasis to the writings of Paul Dunbar,
Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes."
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