5 myths about historically
black colleges & universities
When Education Secretary Betsy DeVos cast historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as “pioneers” in “school choice” this past week, her critics scoffed at the notion that black students could choose to matriculate wherever they wished during the days of segregation. In a series of tweets, DeVos attempted to adjust her statement, focusing instead on the schools’ birth from necessity. But the episode revealed just how many misconceptions persist about the nation’s more than 100 HBCUs. MYTH NO. 1 Black colleges were founded by black people. According to DeVos, HBCU founders “saw that the system wasn’t working, that there was an absence of opportunity, so they took it upon themselves to provide the solution.” Presumably, “they” means African Americans.
MYTH NO. 2 It’s racist to have black colleges.
In a 2012 story about public HBCUs in Maryland, World Net Daily’s Les Kinsolving asked, “Why is any Maryland college identifying itself as ‘historically black’ not an example of racism?” Last year, African American talk show host Wendy Williams eventually apologized after saying, “I would be really offended if there was a school that was known as a historically white college.” In 2008, Georgia state Sen. Seth Harp proposed merging two historically black colleges with two mostly white state schools, purportedly in the name of closing “the chapter of segregated schools.” (In 2015, one merger was approved.)
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