When Charles S. Johnson was president of Fisk University, he used the university's art collection as a tool for the advancement of the university and as a major part of an environment that nurtured intellectuals and leaders in the African American community. This historical study used interviews and secondary sources to focus on the value of art…

In 1967, the "Harvard Educational Review" published an article entitled "The American Negro College" by Christopher Jencks and David Riesman. The article dealt a stinging blow to Black colleges--labeling them "academic disaster areas." Using a historical methodology, I show the strategic ways in which Black college leaders and the United Negro…

This study explored the appeals made in fund raising for Fisk University to both blacks and whites by the fundraising firm Marts and Lundy, Inc. In 1946, Charles S. Johnson, a noted scholar, became the first black president of Fisk. With the deadline of a major matching endowment challenge approaching, Johnson thought that the assistance of an…

Given that Black colleges do not fare as well in the rankings as predominantly White ones, the authors of this article sought to learn more about the MBA (master's of business administration) and post-MBA experiences of graduates of Black college MBA programs. The authors examined the factors defining success as perceived by MBA program…

Fisk University, under the administration of Charles Johnson, developed a Basic College program that might serve as a model for future efforts to advance student learning and encourage leadership and scholarship among African Americans. In the early 1950s, Johnson, then president of Fisk, created an environment that gave young blacks the benefits…

In spite of the euphoria of the "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" decision outlawing segregation, Black leaders and presidents of the member colleges of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) understood that this critical point in history brought both opportunities and challenges to Black higher education. The "Brown" decision…

In this article, the authors use visual communications as a way to illuminate race relations and higher education from 1944 to 1960. They analyze photographs, and also draw on the history of graphic design to discuss the style of the publications in which they are placed. The pieces that they analyze are historical-drawn from the papers of the…