Black on Black by Daniel Black

Author:Daniel Black
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Published: 2022-11-17T15:00:18+00:00

The Beauty and Struggles of HBCUs

The 2017 movie Hidden Figures exposed to the world what black college graduates already know—that HBCUs graduate some of the most brilliant people on the planet. I sat in the theater smiling as the story of Katherine Johnson unfolded. Finally, the truth of black schools was being revealed. I wasn’t so much awed by Johnson’s abilities—black schools have been producing extraordinary scholars since their inception—but rather by the teachers she must’ve had. And not just her, but all the black women, the “computers,” working in the basement at NASA in the ’60s, doing complicated mathematics by hand. And all of them, no doubt, proud alumni of historically black schools.

As a graduate of and current professor at Clark Atlanta University, I know firsthand the miracle of black college teaching. So does Jelani Favors, whose Shelter in a Time of Storm chronicles the tremendous tradition of activism and academic excellence within the nation’s HBCUs. Even with their foibles and financial woes, these schools have resurrected the dead in many instances and made brick without straw. They have assumed the intelligence of black youth when America deemed them uneducable. They have invested in a collective black future that no one else cared to dream. Black college professors and administrators are clear that, each August, we inherit the rejected, the maltreated, the brilliant though self-doubting, and, often, the self-loathing. We accept them nonetheless, even, sometimes, against the justification of high school transcripts and marginal SAT/ACT scores. Everyone knows the deal concerning black kids and public education. Black colleges do everything possible to reverse this effect. Faculty know that sagging pants does NOT denote stupidity. Or that a long, flowing weave does not automatically announce self-hatred. Or that smoking weed does not equate to a poor GPA. These are modern stereotypes of black youth. We get this. And because of this, we welcome kids—beautiful, brilliant, magnificent kids—who otherwise might never know the transformative power of higher education. However, this often means that black schools sign an impossible contract. We promise to do what the world cannot imagine—plant, weed, and harvest a quality college education in (sometimes) poorly prepared black kids. This is a gargantuan task, to be sure. Yet black colleges know that a struggling academic record is not indicative of one’s academic abilities.

The real work, however, is convincing black kids of their own intellectual prowess. Many believe what teachers and parents have told them—that they are unintelligent, trade school material, and, ultimately, unnecessary. I know this because countless students over the years have objected when I celebrated their superior minds. They’ve said things like, “You just tryin’ to blow up my head, Dr. Black!” or “Please don’t play with me. That’s not funny.” Or “I ain’t never made good grades.” When I’ve asked, “What does that have to do with your true genius?” many respond, with a look of surprise: “How else would you know if I’m smart?” They’ve believed, their whole lives, that their grades and test scores announce their intellectual parameters.

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