I recently had an opportunity to reflect upon our recent UNCF UNITE summit theme, “Delivering on the Promise of Black Higher Education,” and about what it means to me.
I think about my higher education experience. I attended a predominately White institution, and I wasn’t prepared. I wasn’t prepared to be there both mentally and academically, and I struggled. I struggled with finding my place and struggled with succeeding in my courses. When I finally “got it together,” I was accused of being the “teacher’s pet” and “doing too much.” There was no winning.
In my doctoral studies, I enrolled in a course that changed my life: “The Praxis of Black Education” taught by the preeminent scholar in Black Education, Dr. Joyce E. King. 
Dr. Valora Richardson
It was the first time I had ever taken a college course where the instructor was a Black woman, and all the students were Black women. In the course, we discussed the issues facing Black education and talked about how we were positioned to make a positive impact and to make sure that we were educated with the “right mind” as Carter G. Woodson and W.E.B. Du Bois observed, that would benefit the Black community.
The nurturing and guidance that I received in that course developed bonds that still continue to this day. The content of the course was incredible, but there we also established a village of support, empowerment and love. That, to me, is the promise of Black higher education—an historic tradition of academic and cultural excellence.
The trajectory of my education and occupation changed because of that one class. I set my aspirations based on a new-found commitment to use my knowledge and experience to have a lasting impact on my community and to find a place that would embrace my desire to do so. And I have found that place.
As the leader of Digital Solutions at the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building (ICB) charged with launching HBCUv, I now have the extraordinary opportunity to help ensure the success of future generations of Black students by implementing innovations, solutions and experiences that provide them with early access to educational epiphanies that confirm their racial identity and life vocation.
