In 1935 African American educator and founder of both the Niagara Movement and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, W.E.B. Du Bois proposed the question of education for African Americans. This question posed was, do African Americans need separate schools from White people? Du Bois answers this question with a resounding yes and deems it necessary for African Americans to have separate schools taught by African Americans in order to have a proper education. With looking over Du Bois arguments for this I agree with him and do believe that separate institutions for African Americans by African Americans are necessary. There are many reasons on to why African Americans are better off in schools run by African Americans. …show more content…
The most important downside would be the funding. If the state decides to create separate schools for African Americans then these schools will be neglected by the state. As seen throughout the southern United States during the Jim Crow era, all African American schools set up by the state governments have been drastically underfunded as compared to their White counterparts. These all African American schools were overcrowded, had no transportation for the students, had outdated textbooks and were not kept up at all. With integration into White schools where they have the most up to date textbooks and the newest facilities would ensure that there would be no problem as far as funding. Another upside would be that employers would more likely want to hire someone from a predominantly White school over a predominantly African American school. This issue can also bring about a detrimental mindset that African Americans will have towards all African American schools. Du Bois touches on this subject by saying, “As long as the Negro student wishes to graduate from Columbia, not because Columbia is an institution of learning, but because it is attended by White students; as long as a negro student is ashamed to attend Fisk or Howard because these institutions are largely run by Black folk…” (Du Bois, 331). Du Bois is saying that due to this mind set of seeing …show more content…
African Americans are seen as not wanted in White schools. African Americans children face many acts of overt and covert racism while attending predominantly White schools. They are seen as the token in every group they could join while in school. If they excel in these groups the excuse will be based off stereotypes such as “he’s/she’s only good at sports because he’s/she’s Black” or “he/she only got into the school because of affirmative action”. With constantly being harassed and told that they should not be there would have the African American student feeling as if they are inferior to their White counterparts. Another reason for African Americans to not attend predominantly White institutions is that they will not be properly represented in the education curriculum. Du Bois gives his background on this subject by stating, “…I came to Atlanta University to teach history in 1897, without the slightest idea from my Harvard tuition, that Negroes ever had any history!” (Du Bois, 335). Du Bois explains how when he went through his entire tenure at Harvard University, a predominantly White school that is considered the best in the United States, that he never once learned anything about the history of African people in the United States or anywhere else in the world. Education curriculums such as this will do a lot of harm to the self-esteem and learning of the African American
Alridge, Derrick P. The Educational Thought of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Intellectual History. New York: Teachers College, 2008. Print.
While growing up in the midst of a restrictive world, education becomes the rubicon between a guileless soul and adulthood. In the excerpt from W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois provides a roadmap for African Americans to discover and understand themselves through the pursuit of knowledge, self-awareness, and authenticity. The excerpt is a significant part of the essay because it also speaks for the modern day pursuit of knowledge, self-awareness, and authenticity, an indispensable path into finding one’s self.
What is the point of educating the African Americans if all they will be is paid slaves anyhow?, “Lo! we are diseased and dying, cried the dark hosts; we cannot write, our voting is vain; what need of education, since we must always cook and serve?” (par. 11). Du Bois doesn’t understand the issue with African Americans living among, equal to, and determined with the Whites, “Will America be poorer if she replace her brutal dyspeptic blundering with light-hearted but determined Negro humility? or her coarse and cruel wit with loving jovial good-humor? or her vulgar music with the soul of the Sorrow Songs” (par. 12). Du Bois and the African American population are determined to change the mindset of the Whites and America as a whole to be more accepting of African Americans and ultimately
The historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are fledgling to compete with Predominately White Institutions (PWIs). HBCU were established to serve the educational needs of black Americans. Before HBCU college was create blacks were generally was denied admission to traditionally all white institutions. Since black Americans was prohibited from whites schools HBCUs became the principle means for providing postsecondary education. There are several reasons why all blacks’ schools does not compete with predominately white schools. HBCU’s most of the time do not keep their accreditation, their tests scores are very low, and do not get as much funding
However, because of the dominant, male white culture, this very learned man and his ideas have been neglected. Even to this day, people know of him as an individual who studied marginalized black societies and an activist fighting for justice on behalf of these minorities. However, society fails to recognize the enormous contributions he made to the practices of sociology. Furthermore, in the rare times Du Bois is mentioned as a sociologist, he is mentioned as a “black sociologist” rather than just simply a sociologist (Green 528). By putting a race description in Du Bois’s title, one is simply saying that he was different from all the rest of the sociologists at the time because of his skin color. The research Du Bois and other black sociologists did focused on racial discrimination, inequality and black lives. However, their work was mostly ignored because it was the study of blacks studying black lives, which was unpopular at the time. Although Du Bois was a well educated man and an impressive sociologist, a significant amount of his work was discredited because he was a black man studying the lives of marginalized black people and the dominant culture did not want to pay heed to his field work in the early
Even though the Brown v. Board of Education was 62 years ago, African Americans are still fighting to have an equal education opportunity. “But many schools are as segregated today as they were before the ruling, and black children throughout the United States are performing at the bottom of the American educational system” (Jackson 1). Nevertheless, it took decades of hard work and struggle by numerous African Americans for a better education system. Education is the key to success, it gives people the knowledge that they need to strive and become more intelligent thinkers, which leads to more opportunities for them in the job industry. Ever since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination of any kind, African Americans have every right to have this equal educational opportunity like everyone else. But yet, they were stopped in their tracks by disapproving Americans, who confined the succession of African Americans in the education system. Now that we are in the 21st century, there’s still negligence on black’s education. The black community do not have equal education opportunities because of the lack of funding, poverty experienced by the children in the neighborhoods and society’s views of the black community.
The exchange of views whether a student should attend an HBCU or a PWI has been a topic of discussion for some time now. Whether you attend an HBCU or a PWI you go for one purpose and that purpose is to get your education. So who says because someone goes to a predominantly black school they will not get the same education a person gets that goes to a predominantly white school ? Or vice versa. Many people have some sort of idea that by attending a Predominantly White Institution(PWI) one will receive a higher level of education but that is not truly always the case. Most individuals are under the impression that simply because of your skin color you have to attend that type of school. That is the problem with this case just people see it as one should attend the college with individuals who are like you but not keeping one 's education in mind.
Through out history education has been a topic of many concerns. Historically Black Colleges and Universities were established to try and provide freed slaves education they were not able to obtain. For African Americans in the 20th century attending school was a burden. The children had to withstand long walks to get to their designated schools, being denied classes that the white students had in their schools, outdated books and hand me down classroom materials. African Americans all across the United States fought for their kids rights to get a good education, education provided to white only schools. There was a period of time schools were able to legally deny a student acceptance into their institutions based solely on the color of their skin. Many African Americans tried and majority of them got denied. Students at all levels were being denied, from Pre-K all the way up to college. After many attempts to integrate schools parents of the children being denied education just like the white kids, they realized it would be easier to just build their own schools.
As cliché as it sounds, it is true that many African American students come from very harsh and poverty stricken environments. They tend to go to under resourced schools as well that do not provide the proper knowledge for them to further their education. And even worse, these schools tend to be segregated since they are usually in the harsher parts of a neighborhood. Sadly, it’s the segregated schools are one of the main reasons why black students decide not to go on to pursue a higher education. According to "The Way Out of the Black Poverty Cycle", a black student that attends an integrated suburban school is six times more likely to graduate compared to a segregated under resourced school. An African Americans family structure and the opinions of family members affects if their decision to further their education as well. Many African American children grow up un...
Clearly, HBCUs provide several benefits to African-American students. Not only have they helped to combat the cycle of discrimination that minority students experienced before the civil rights initiatives of the 1960s, but they strive to provide a warm, supportive and inclusive academic environment that addresses African-American college students as a whole person. Additionally, HBCUs are increasing their efforts to ensure that higher education is accessible, affordable and achievable for individuals with unique socioeconomic challenges. Despite obstacles, historically Black institutions will continue to play a vital and significant role in the fabric of higher education.
In order to solve this problem, Du Bois advocates the importance of education, through which to empower African Americans and therefore promote their social status. Different from Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of industrial education, Du Bois has came up with the idea of talented tenth, with which he believes that if a small amounts of African American receive the best education and become the leader of their race, they can improve the entire race. He also criticizes Washington’s “old attitude of adjustment and submission” being too weak, and African American should call for, instead of giving up as Washington suggests, political power, insistence of civil rights and higher education of negro youth. Why'd he point out these three things specifically? He further explains, “the disfranchisement of the negro”, “the legal creation of a distinct status of civil inferiority for the negro”(Du Bois 44-45), and “the steady withdrawal of aid from institutions for the higher training of negro” have occurred in part due to Washington’s propaganda.
As a result of HBCU’s being predominantly black, many people refer to HBCU’s as a waste of time. Many people say that they do not prepare you for the real world. They argue that HBCU’s are not preparing you to face what life will throw at you. For Example, if you were the minority or if you were facing something you’ve never experienced. I can completely understand why they would believe that. The majority of students are African American but HBCU’s are very open to accepting anyone no matter what their race or ethnicity. Every student that attends a HBCU leaves with confidence, knowledge, and power to overcom...
Brown v. Board of the Education in 1954 was a landmark decision in the education arena. The decision maintained that schools that separated students by the color of their skin could no longer be maintained. The court saw this as necessary, since in their mind schools for black students would always be inferior. This inferiority would not be caused by lack of resources, although that usually was a contributing factor to the poor quality of the school, physically and performance-wise. As the Supreme Court saw it, s...
Du Bois was a scholar activist who proposed lots of solutions for the issue of racism and discrimination. Du Bois was sort of an opposition to Washington’s ideology, as he strongly believes that it can only help to disseminate white’s oppression towards blacks. We can see his dissatisfaction based on his writing with a title On Booker T. Washington and Others. He wrote that Washington’s philosophy was really not a good idea because the white extremists from the south will perceived this idea as blacks’ complete surrender for the request of civil rights and political equality. Du Bois had a different view on this issue if compared to Washington because of their different early lifestyles. Unlike Washington, Du Bois was born free in the North and he did not receive any harsh experienced as a slave himself and was also grew up in a predominantly white area. In his writings, it is obvious that he thought that the most important thing that the black should gain was to have the equality with whites. Regarding the issue of the voting rights, Du Bois strongly believed that it is important for black people to agitate to get the right to vote. He also believed that the disfranchisement of poor men could mean the catastrophe of South’s democracy (Painter 157). In his writing with a title Of Our Spiritual Strivings, he wrote that it was significant for blacks to exercise the right to vote because there were whites that wanted to put them back in their inferior position—and it was
Imagine this; the year is 1836. You are a 17-year-old student interested in learning more about the world around you; however, such an opportunity won’t come your way because you are black. Due to this fact you have no hope of furthering your education past the reading, writing, and arithmetic their slave masters taught your parents. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. The minds of many African American’s go to waste due to individual ignorance of their people and thus of themselves. Historically Black Colleges and Universities were put into effect to educate the black mind and eliminate the ignorance. The discussion of whether Historically Black Colleges and Universities are still necessary in the 21st century has taken place in recent years. Within the discussion many debate that due to the fact that the world is no longer like it was in the 1800’s, the time period in which Historically Black Colleges and Universities were created, the purpose of them no longer exists. However, the cultural significance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities seems to be overlooked by those who argue their importance and relevance in a time where blacks have the option of attending predominantly white institutions (PWIs). The purpose and grounds on which Historically Black Colleges and Universities were developed are still being served. The need to increase efforts to not only rouse, but support Historically Black Colleges and Universities is necessary now more than ever in order to preserve our past, fulfill the purpose of our present, and ensure our future.