What makes historically Black Universities and colleges important?
That was the heart of a discussion among students from N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University, Bennett College and Winston-Salem State University at a Feb. 24 symposium in A&T’s Deese Ballroom. The event was sponsored by the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, N.C. A&T C.H.I.L.D. Up student club and Amazon.
The symposium, titled “The Importance of HBCUs and Education: A Social Justice Forum,” included a panel featuring students from each educational institution discussing why HBCUs are important and the issue of educational freedom.
Winston Wardlaw, a senior studying nutritional science at A&T, said the topic struck a chord as he was reading the book “The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of a Slave.”
Wardlaw said the text referred to the great importance of “keeping the body, but taking the mind” and ensuring that slaves remain uneducated because they otherwise “would understand how to navigate society better, and they would understand how to uplift their life better.
“(HBCUs) offer a golden opportunity for African Americans and underrepresented individuals to uplift their lives” Wardlaw said. “They offer the opportunity for us to keep our minds — not let it be taken or moved in the direction that it doesn't need to be.”
Wardlaw also pointed to data showing that, on average, the cost of attending an HBCU is nearly 30 percent less than that of non-HBCUs. “HBCUs are serving as a force of opportunity to ensure we all have access to higher education,” he said.
Beayonia Washington, a senior studying journalism and English at Bennett College, pointed to the importance of HBCUs in bringing people of color together in the struggle for equality.
“I want to also connect this to the more recent news of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and how this political climate is creating a separation within our communities because of fear,” Washington said. “An HBCU is the perfect place to start coming together —it's always been the place to come together and talk about political issues such as this.
“We need new ideas now, and it's important for you to be able to speak up comfortably and then have that support system for you to be able to confidently speak those ideas and … be the solution that's needed for current times,” she said.
Olivia Cody, a sophomore studying teaching at Winston-Salem State University, noted the importance of ties that form as a result of being part of an HBCU, with both fellow students and alumni. “Attending an HBCU … was always exceptionally valuable,” she said. “I really appreciate being seen for myself and not just my color, but still be able to celebrate my color in a way that felt right for me.”
Students attending the forum also broke into groups to discuss why Black educators are important, preserving black history in educational settings, and tackling the school to prison pipeline that results from some school disciplinary measures.
Valerie J. McMilllan, Ph.D., an A&T associate professor of family and consumer sciences who helped organize the event, pointed out how young children are being impacted by this.
Of the 18 percent of North Carolina children in pre-school environments, McMillan said about 32 percent are “being suspended, expelled or excluded from early childhood settings.
“North Carolina has the highest percentage of putting young children, 3 and 4 years old, out of school,” McMillan said. “That's a serious problem.”
