Over the last few weeks, I have had the pleasure of visiting several historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). I conducted research for a book on the Black Campus Movement, the late 1960s/early 1970s Black student struggle to diversify and make higher education relevant.
I gathered a wealth of materials for my study and relished my first visit to these historic Black colleges. Even though I only spent a few hours at many of these campuses, I wanted to share some of the highlights of my experiences.
I first visited Winston Salem State University in North Carolina and was struck by the beauty of its red brick buildings and the centralized sculpture with its moving quotes. I went over to North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro and had the pleasure of walking into its impressive library. Its archive room was fascinating, donned with pictures and paraphernalia from its presidents and the four freshmen who launched the sit-in movement in February 1960. It appears the strip of cities in central North Carolina between Winston-Salem and Raleigh may have been the foremost site of Black power campus activism in the South, with Howard Fuller, a local Black Power organizer and founder of Malcolm X Liberation University, as one of the students’ chief ideological icons.
Next, I traveled to Paine College in Augusta, Ga. I spoke at length to the college’s historian, Dr. Mallory K. Millender, who shared with me the relatively unknown history of this small HBCU. Apparently, the Methodist institution had an interracial charter, one of the few (and possibly only) in the South. For decades while Jim Crow flapped its wings separating the races in higher education, it had some non-Black students.
Eventually, I headed west to Alabama A&M University where the archivist is the hospitable Ms. Carla Clift. Unfortunately, I did not get to meet her, but she placed my research in the hands of her assistant, a master’s student in psychology. I traveled to Montgomery and visited Alabama State University with its on-campus dome for a sports complex and its slew of construction projects underway. There was so much construction going on it seemed like they were building a new campus. I was impressed. Go ahead, Alabama State.
The following day, I headed over to Tuskegee University. As soon as I saw the campus, I felt I was moving on hallowed educational grounds. The brick buildings, many of which I knew were built by the students themselves with Booker T. Washington overlooking, were a sight to see. Washington’s house and his centralized statue were remarkable as well, as was Tuskegee’s professional staff of archivists, who have a rich history to preserve.
The next stop was Itta Bena, Miss., just outside of Greenwood, Miss., where historians report that Stokely Carmichael mainstreamed the term “Black Power” on the Meredith March Against Fear in June 1966. In Itta Bena, I located Mississippi Valley State University where I received more information on the 900 boycotting students who were arrested in the spring of 1970 — supposedly the largest mass student arrest in American history.
