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I grew up in a multiculti Dallas suburb, but followed my favorite TV parents to a different world.
I was the black girl at the lunch table full of Asian and white girls. The “uppity” one, some black folks said, “too good” to sit with the few other black students in the cafeteria. The only black girl in an Advanced Placement class. The quiet band nerd, one of a few marching black dots on a football field of 300+ horn-tooting musicians.
It was partly these experiences that made me want to go to an HBCU. I wanted to escape what seemed like a never-ending saga of explaining—and trying to understand—myself in relation to others, whether black, white, Asian, or Latino. But there was something else at work. Maybe my desire for the HBCU experience stemmed from listening to my favorite TV parents, two professional black folks, wax on about “Hiiillmaann,” their historically black alma mater. Maybe it came from watching Denise Huxtable explore the different world that constituted her college—her black college. Or perhaps it was the result of me imagining myself among a sea of college students cheering on DMX at Howard’s homecoming on a 2001 MTV special. (Hey, DMX was at his peak.) Whatever the case, somewhere in between my school daze and my pop-culture addiction, I felt like I needed to belong somewhere other than in my Baptist church and at family reunions.
During my junior year of high school, I faked a desire to go to University of Texas at Austin. Trying to “fit in” by any means necessary, Texas was my safe school. “Safe” not only because I could get in but “safe” because it didn’t have the exclusionary tag of an HBCU, something I thought my multiculti group of friends wouldn’t understand. Explaining why I wanted to go to a black school, so far away from home, so unlike anything I had ever done in my whole life, seemed like the most daunting task of all. My friends didn’t understand why I—their friend who just happened to be black—would want to go there. Just like they didn’t understand the perm in my hair, how it made my hair straight and not curly, and why I didn’t wash it every day like they did. Assimilation at its finest.
My mother’s and my grandmother’s experiences, of course, were quite different. When my grandmother applied to Prairie View A&M University in the ‘50s, segregation in America’s schools limited her collegiate options. My mother, who grew up in Hamilton Park, an upwardly mobile, all-black neighborhood in North Dallas, attended her neighborhood’s elementary/middle school and then was bused to a new high school, which I would, in turn, graduate from 30 years after she did. When my mother applied to East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University at Commerce) in the early ‘70s, it hadn’t been too long that the predominantly white institution would even look at her application. She went there because it was just far enough from home, it was affordable, and because her mother wouldn’t let her “go down to Houston and go buckwild.”
And I thought my mom would say the same. Surprisingly enough, she encouraged me, thinking it was the lesser of two other evils: Northwestern’s $40,000-a-year price tag and “red-necked Texas A&M University.” So in 2003, I applied to an HBCU because I wanted to, not because I had to, like my grandmother. I applied because I needed that experience, needed to be surrounded by black people who are just as driven and smart as I was. And I had friends who felt the same: students who were National Merit Scholars, got 1500+ on the SATs, students who got into Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Berkeley. But for us, the other side of our brain—the side that knew there was more to black history than our white teachers had told us—had us questioning the world around us.
I was also finally realizing that my priorities were different, that what I needed to learn—outside of the history lessons, life lessons, and moral lessons that my parents had already taught me—couldn’t be learned at another mostly white institution. And although the debate over the relevancy of HBCUs seems to be ever present, post-desegregation, post-rise of the black middle class, post-Obama, the HBCU experience is irreplaceable. From the band director who offered me a scholarship to play in the concert band, to the campus tour guide who showed us the entire campus in 10-degree weather, to the career development adviser who said “I looked like a Howard student” before I even signed my name on the application, I found a bond of fellowship in the HBCU community. They even convinced my mom, too, who—although until recently she didn’t admit it—was skeptical of “her baby” going halfway across the country. But she felt welcomed, too, by the same love she had received from her black neighborhood growing up.
Of course, it’s not all roses, but alumni will be the first to tell you that: the sometimes subpar facilities, the dearth of on-campus housing, the lack of advanced technology, the headaches dealing with college administration … the losing football teams. But that’s all outweighed by the camaraderie, the care from teachers who’re truly invested in your success, the sense of belonging among so many different types of black folks.
My “different world,” one that I would’ve never experienced or appreciated among a sea of other students at the University of Texas, or as just another black dot at the Northwesterns, the Berkeleys, the Yales of the world, would forever shape my desires, demands, and expectations out of life. Going along to get along just wasn’t enough. And I’m so glad that I found safety in that.
Erin Evans is a writer and copy editor for The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
Comments
Az a former "band geek", We FULLY undastand Yer dilemma n' decision 2 attend a HBCU, even tho' We attend'd n' graduated from what IZ consider'd 2 be THEE Harvard/Yale a' Midwestern (read: white) public universiteez.
We have @ timez wish'd We had traded dat experience in 4 attendance @ a HBCU...4 MANY a' da same reasonz U've listed in Yer piece...n' many othaz, but most a' ALL b'cuz...
assimulation = Black death
...n' WHO WANTZ DAT?!
NO ONE TRULY Black...
Now...'bout dat HAIR Thang:
HTTP://theblackwhole.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/xxx-tra-special-afro-centr...
= )
--TBW
P.S. U can follow Da FLOW WHEREever U Go @ Our New Twitter account @ HTTP://twitter.com/theblackwhole69
P.P.S. We TOTALLY DUG Yer 'Showtime Band @ Taste of Howard 09' on youtube. Thank U 4 DAT, 2! = )
HBCU HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE
NOT
HBOCU
I find it astonishing how many people do not understand this.
Probably 95% of colleges in the US are "White Collegees" in that they are predominately white and if you walk around their campuses you will see mostly white faces. For centuries, blacks were not welcome and where legally excluded from these ALL WHITE COLLEGES. That is until desegregation made it illegal. It is still illegal today for any school HBCU or not to exclude or not admit anyone based on race. Students of all nationalities are welcome to attend HBCU's they just for the most part choose not to.
Blacks were not allowed in the White Colleges, so they, out of necessity, had to create their own, this is how HBCU's came about. Otherwise blacks would not have had an opportunity to get an education at all. They had to make their own colleges. Again, they were not allowed at American or White Colleges.
There are still large imbalances in so many other arenas, which is why they have to have Miss Black America Beauty pageants, Ebony and Essence magazine, etc. Because obviously, if we do not celebrate ourselves, we will not be celebrated at all.
News flash, America is white, all other races have had to adapt and conform to White America. Not the other way around.
Do me a favor . When you have a chance, turn on the television and flip through the channels. How many black faces do you see? How many white faces do you see? How many programs with a mostly white cast do you see? How many programs with a mostly black cast do you see? You will find a huge imbalance. I can probably count the number of channels where you will find a mostly black cast. 5 max. And there are how many channels on Cable TV? When's the last time you saw a preview for a new TV Show where the cast was primarily black?
When you go to the magazine stand in any grocery store. Count the number magazine covers with black faces and compare that to the number with white faces on them. Again you will find that all things are already white. Whites don't need to make an all white school, most American schools are already 95% white. They don't need White Owned businesses, or White Entertainment Television, or Ivory magazine, the magazines, the TV stations, the schools, corporations, Miss America Pageants, etc. are all ready white, and they've been that way for years, and probably will continue this way for years to come.
it is illegal for any instition HBCU or not to exclude or not admit anyone based on race. Blacks have had to create their own schools, there own TV shows, magazines etc., because otherwise, leave it up to the networks, editors, corporate CEO's and all other white people who happen to control America, persons of other nationalities would never know that the world is not all white, but that other cultures and nationalities do exists. There is not a deliberate exclusion by whites, but other nationalities are non-the-less excluded.
Historically Black College is merely and announcement that hey, "here's a college where as a black person, you are welcome ". They're not, nor have they ever been called Black Only colleges, you've never seen the word ONLY on the end of anything black. They are HBCU's, NOT HBOCU's. When we announce our magazines, TV networks, etc as being black, all we're doing is announcing that in contrast to all other TV networks, magazines, etc. this item is for black people, but that's not an exclusion, it's actually an inclusion. We are obviously not welcome in most other places, so when we do get something, someplace where we are welcome, it has to be announced, otherwise, no one would be aware of it.
I imagine that if any of you were really interested in attending an HBCU, you would find that you were welcome with open arms. The only place I've ever seen the word ONLY after, in regards to race in America, is after the word WHITE. Remember that? 1930's - 1950's. I think a lot of people who complain about "Black" announcements are not so much upset about being excluded, because no white person can ever say they've been excluded from anything, I believe it has more to do with, the maintainence of control. Whites control America and it is okay for whites to exclude blacks and other nationalities, They have for years, but the minute they even feel excluded from anything, and I emphasize the word "feel" because again, no white person can ever say they've ever been made to feel unwelcome in any town, group etc., the minute a white person even feels like their being excluded, it's a big problem.
This is the horrible. I know there are black colleges and I think it should be illegal. Why can there be black colleges when a white college would be racist! BET is my favorite!!! Black Entertainment??? What if there was a White Entertainment channel? I don't even think about crap like this until someone writes an article about it. Talk about equal right!!!! I don't think so, white people can't do half the crap that black people can do.
Mm, it's interesting that there is still some form of animosity when it comes to races. I would love to say that I am blind to color but that would be a lie. However, the area I live in is roughly fifty/fifty. I see just as many black faces as I do white faces. My middle school used to be a black high school back during segregation. Hell, at my other middle school, I was the minority--although the majority in that school was actually Philipino.
I just dislike certain aspects of a specificblack subculture that truly annoys me to end. That and I can never spell their names right >< Turns out, neither can they (I've had several instances where I have to put in names and when I ask how to spell a certain child's name, I have been told to wait while the person asks the child or the child's parent.) Other than that...I'm pretty neutral.
And I hope everyone else can be pretty neutral, too.
I am white and I graduated from an HBCU and had a very positive exeperience. I will never regret attending an HBCU either. I never felt like I didn't fit in; everyone was always so friendly and it really was like a big family with professors who really cared. (I once had a professor give me a ride to the airport when I couldn't find anyone else!!) Try getting that type of attention at a big, mostly white state school. There were plenty of other white students at my HBCU as well. The school was probably 25% white when I was attending and is around 30-40% white now. They are really trying to get a diverse body of students.
These schools are only historically black they are NOT "black only". Since they aren't barring white students from attending what is the problem with someone wanting to attend one? I say don't judge an HBCU until you know what they are really about.
It is upseting that these kinds of colleges exist in the year 2009, America is trying to get rid of racism and ended segregation years ago. students should beable to go to any college of their choosing and to be not accepted to a college because your not black is racism plan and simple. I have not heard of any white only colleges during this modern era, Even on television their is BET would a t.v. channel WET white entertainment television be considered racism? of coarse it would. black comedians tell white people jokes all the time its considered funny when a white comedian tells a black joke its racism, why is that?
KL680
Thank you for pointing out something that is already so very obvious to most of us. We already know America is white.
The question was I was addressing was from steve110709 :
"Why is it against the law to have a white College yet we encourage people to attend a black only college?"
and the point I was making was it is illegal for any instition HBCU or not to exclude or not admit anyone based on race. I was attempting to help this person see, that for the very reason you pointed out, blacks have had to create their own schools, there own TV shows, magazines etc., because otherwise, leave it up to the networks, editors, corporate CEO's and all other white people who happen to control America, persons of other nationalities would never know that the world is not all white, but that other cultures and nationalities do exists. There is not a deliberate exclusion by whites, but other nationalities are non-the-less excluded.
Historically Black College is merely and announcement that hey, "here's a college where as a black person, you are welcome ". They're not, nor have they ever been called Black Only colleges, you've never seen the word ONLY on the end of anything black. They are HBCU's, NOT HBOCU's. When we announce our magazines, TV networks, etc as being black, all we're doing is announcing that in contrast to all other TV networks, magazines, etc. this item is for black people, but that's not an exclusion, it's actually an inclusion. We are obviously not welcome in most other places, so when we do get something, someplace where we are welcome, it has to be announced, otherwise, no one would be aware of it.
I imagine that if steve110709 was really interested in attending an HBCU, they would find that they were welcome with open arms. The only place I've ever seen the word ONLY after, in regards to race in America, is after the word WHITE. Remember that? 1930's - 1950's. I think a lot of people who complain about "Black" announcements are not so much upset about being excluded, because no white person can ever say they've been excluded from anything, I believe it has more to do with, the maintainence of control. Whites control America and it is okay for whites to exclude blacks and other nationalities, They have for years, but the minute they even feel excluded from anything, and I emphasize the word "feel" because again, no white person can ever say they've ever been made to feel unwelcome in any town, group etc., the minute a white person even feels like their being excluded, it's a big problem.
I enjoyed the article by Erin Evans. I too specifically choose a HBCU (Howard University). I grew up in the 80s and never learned Black History. What I got out of the history that I learned was that slaves just accepted their role in life. I did not learn about the Nat Turners and Harriett Tubmans. So I was not proud of being black. I did not want to be white but I was not proud of being black. I came to Howard ashamed of who I was and I left proud to wear my skin. It did not make me racist or prejudice. It made me proud and successful. Thank you to all the HBCUs that educate us and make us proud of our skin color.
meandme6910
I agree with you that most television shows, magazines, pageants, etc.., are primarily white. BUT if you look at the demographics of the US (according to the US census bureau) you'll see that almost 80% of the population is white and only 13% is black. So statistically speaking, it makes sense that their are more white TV shows, more white faces on magazines etc..,