For those who would question the continued need for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in a "post–civil rights era," Williams (Eyes on the Prize
), a senior correspondent for NPR, and Ashley, president of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, offer this celebration of those institutions. Beginning with a look at newly freed African-Americans' yearnings for education and the Freedman's Bureau's early attempts to gauge the need (and support) for black schools, the authors move forward to profile the 100-plus HBCUs operating today. They highlight the many HBCU students who rose to prominence, from the Harlem Renaissance's brilliant Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston to the present day's media superstars Oprah Winfrey and Ed Bradley, filmmaker Spike Lee and political leaders David Dinkins and Vernon Jordan. They argue that HBCUs "were often hubs for African American communities, with black-owned businesses springing up to serve the students... [and staff] making their homes around the schools" and suggest that "HBCUs are the heart of black political thinking, art, and culture." Filled with history and anecdote, this volume offers a walk through the past and a peek at the future of America through the gift of HBCUs and their graduates. Photos. (Nov.)
FYI:
Royalties from the sale of this volume will go to the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.
