*The irony of Black students experiencing the joy of receiving higher education among other Black folk is linked to the inextricable link of these communities to the Reconstruction era and enslavement. Very few White colleges were willing to accept students who were Black after the Civil war had ended. The only way these students could receive an education was by having their own institutions set up.
This is why many students from the Black community have pivoted to the historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). They offer safety and comfort to Black students. Enrollment in these universities and colleges was on the rise in 2016 and 2017 and today the brightest and best are seen graduating out of Spelman and Morehouse as exemplars of the community. These students could have gotten into universities where most could only dream of going but they chose HBCUs.
This is not an accident. These students and their families saw rising concerns of dehumanization and devaluation in other colleges and universities. This is also exactly why these institutions became politically awake and the long traditions of activism in their communities are emphasized here.
Morehouse was first founded in Georgia with another name in ‘67– the Augusta Theological Institute. It was one of the many black colleges that had been established that year and it was a sign of the nation healing and reinventing itself towards a multiracial democracy.
The current campus now sits where General William T. Sherman, along with his soldiers, had battled the Confederate forces for the Atlanta siege in ’64. One of the esteemed students that came out of this school was Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. himself! There is no wonder that this college has the highest graduation rate among all historically black colleges and sits at the top of the liberal arts school of the country.
Now students are seen graduating with a renewed sense of political engagement. They are trying to define their engagement to the rest of the world by being at the forefronts. They advocate social change across the lines of sexuality, gender, class and of course – race. Now these colleges are reaffirming that they belong to something larger than just education. They are reaffirming a sense of community. They are becoming a place where people are guided for greatness so they can become worthy for the world to celebrate. This is a true renaissance in modern times.
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