Blacks in Higher Education
Orlando L. Taylor
Vice Provost for Research
Graduate Dean
Howard University
Why Care About the Topic?
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Personal Competitiveness
Social Justice/The Right Thing to Do
It’s the Law
National Workforce and Competitiveness
Requirements
The Education of Blacks in Higher
Education Has Always Been an “Issue”
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First Black College Graduate (B.A.): Alexander Lucius
Twilight, 1823, Middlebury College.
First Black Female College Graduate: Mary Jane
Patterson, 1862, Oberlin College.
First Black Ph.D. Recipient: Edward A. Bouchet, 1876,
Yale.
First Black Female PhDs : 1921, Georgiana Simpson,
Chicago; Sadie Alexander, Pennsylvania; Eva Beatrice
Dykes, Radcliffe.
First Black Rhodes Scholar: Alain L. Locke, 1907.
First Black College President: Daniel A. Payne, 1856,
Wilberforce University, Ohio
First Research University President: Clifton Wharton,
Michigan State, 1976
First Female Research University President: Ruth
Simmons, Brown, 2001.
Some Historical Milestones
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1837 :Institute for Colored Youth founded; later became Cheyney University.
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1854 : Ashmun Institute founded for Black men; later (1866) renamed Lincoln University (PA).
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1856 :Wilberforce University founded by AME Church, the first college founded by African
Americans.
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1867 : Howard University's established. First Black law School, 1869.
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1876 : Meharry Medical College, the first Black medical school in the U.S.
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1881: Spelman College, the first college for Black women in the U.S.
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1881:Booker T. Washington founds the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama.
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1944: Frederick Douglass Patterson establishes the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).
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1954: The Supreme Court rules school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of
Education
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2003: The Supreme Court rules that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges
for admission because of the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body.
Brown v. Board Viewed Through The
Lens of Higher Education
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The Ruling Was Directed At K-12 Education.
However, Brown Was Built Upon Several Prior
Higher Education Rulings.
Segregation in Higher Education Was the de
jure Norm in the Southern States in 1954.
And, Northern Higher Education Was Often
Characterized by Discrimination and Quotas in
1954.
The Significance of Brown
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Based on Rulings Involving graduate and
professional schools.
Gaines v. Canada, 1938, U. of Missouri Law
School: States must provide equal education
within its borders.
Sweatt v. Painter, 1950, U. of Texas Law and
Graduate Schools—(Separate Black Law School
was clearly unequal).
McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 1950, U.
of Oklahoma Graduate School—Segregation
Within the University Is Unacceptable. Equality
Means MORE Than Equal Physical Facilities.
More Significance of Brown for the
Higher Education Community
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Many Plaintiff's Lawyers from the Academic
Community (Mainly Howard Faculty, e.g.,
Charles Hamilton Houston and HowardTrained Lawyers, e. g, Thurgood Marshall).
Social Science Research Formed Legal
Arguments on Behalf of Plaintiffs: The Power
of Interdisciplinarity!
Significant Advocacy By the Journal of Negro
Education.
Foundation for Desegregation of Southern
Higher Education
Charles Hamilton Houston,
Architect of the Brown Strategy
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1929—First Black Dean of Howard Law School
and NAACP Special Counsel
Developed NAACP Legal Strategy Involving
Systematic Attacks on Inequality of Teachers’
Salaries, School Transportation, and
Graduate Programs
1931—First ABA Accreditation of Howard Law
“Any lawyer that is not a social engineer is a
parasite on society”
Social Science Citations in Brown
(Footnote 11)
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K. B. Clark, Effect of Prejudice and Discrimination on
Personality Development (Midcentury White House
Conference on Children and Youth, 1950).
Witmer and Kotinsky, Personality in the Making (1952).
Deutscher and Chein, The Psychological Effects of Enforced
Segregation: A Survey of Social Science Opinion, 26
J.Psychol. 259 (1948).
Chein, What are the Psychological Effects of Segregation
Under Conditions of Equal Facilities?, Int. J. Opinion and
Attitude Res. 229 (1949).
Brameld, Educational Costs, in Discrimination and National
Welfare (MacIver, ed., 1949), 44—48.
Frazier, The Negro in the United States (1949), 674--681.
Myrdal, An American Dilemma (1944).
Brown and the Journal of
Negro Education
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Editor, Charles H. Thompson 1932—63. Published
Over 100 Articles and editorials on the ill effects of
school segregation and on achievements of Blacks in
education
Journal published some of the groundbreaking
research studies used in Brown & Other Cases
Published Howard Hale Long's 1935 article "Some
Psychogenic Hazards of Segregated Education of
Negroes," that documented the negative influence of
segregation on personality development that later
rocked behavioral science and the national social
order.
Following Brown, Desegregation At
Public Southern Universities Began
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Major Integration in Southern and Border State Public
Institutions Resulted from Subsequent Court Orders.
1948—Silas Hunt, University of Arkansas--Before
Brown, But Segregated Within Institution
1956—Arthurine Lucy, University of Alabama
1961—University of Georgia, Charlene Hunter and
Hamilton Holmes
1962—University of Mississippi, James Meridith
Lessons from Brown
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It Is Undesirable To Disconnect Higher
Education from K-12 Education.
Inclusion/Diversity Is Good for ALL Students.
Social Science Research Can Impact Legal and
Legislative Decisions, e.g., Brown and Grutter.
Inclusion Must Involve More Than Enrollment.
The Struggle for Inclusion/Diversity MUST
Extend to Graduate Education.
The Status of African Americans in
Higher Education Today
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African Americans are about 12% of the population
and about 12% of all students enrolled in college; and
almost 9 % of baccalaureates.
Yet, Equity has NOT been achieved!!!!!
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70% of all AA students are Female; Black males vanishing!
HBCUs still produce a disproportionate # of graduates.
Relative proportions diminish as degree levels increase.
About 1/2 are in community colleges and 15% of
undergrads are at HBCUs, and graduate almost 24%.
African Americans are almost 8% of graduate
enrollment; but about 60% Female.
Receive only 6 % of master’s degrees and 4% of
Ph.D.s. NOT exclusively a pipeline problem!
Most African American Graduate
Students Are at Southern Universities
Diversity Within the American
Professoriate is Embarrassingly Low
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About 600,000 full-time across 4,000 institutions.
Faculty members are stewards of the disciplines,
creators of new knowledge and prepare future leaders
and professionals.
But only about 40% are Female (Mainly in Social
Sciences, Humanities and Education;20% Elsewhere).
Only 5% are African American (Half in HBCUs).
About 2.5% are Hispanic.
Clearly, Faculty Diversity Has Not Been Accomplished!
Continuing the Struggle…
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Remain VIGILANT—and INFORMED of the FACTS!
Seek new ways to achieving diversity in the face of
new legal and legislative challenges.
Close the revolving door by increasing attention to
attrition and retention issues.
Increase faculty diversity, PhD production and
pre-faculty preparation.
Strengthen linkages with the K-12 segment and
community colleges.
Beyond Numbers: “The Battle for the Mind” through
the inclusion of African American perspectives
throughout the curriculum and research priorities.