This article examines the relationship between gender and leadership in southern public Black colleges from the late nineteenth through the early twentieth century. Public colleges offer a unique view of this relationship because, in an era of disfranchisement, the political stakes of leadership were more obvious than in private schools. I argue…

The recent surge of anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer, intersex, and asexual+ (LGBTQIA+) state legislative bills throughout the United States prompt one to consider the multiple ways Black LGBTQIA + students in historically Black college and university (HBCU) settings will encounter challenges within and outside healthcare settings. Thus,…

This essay describes Open Admissions in the South during postsecondary desegregation, providing a comparative analysis of policies and debates in Tennessee, Louisiana, and Georgia. Statewide Open Admissions policies emerged in the 1960s as part of superficial efforts to comply with desegregation but were ineffective; consequently, they were…

This paper examines the emergence of black progressive organizations and their relationship to public black colleges. Amid violent disfranchisement in the early 1900s, black education activists collaborated with other educators to host conferences, develop programs, and mobilize delegations on broader issues of concern to black Americans,…

This study explores the common barriers and shared visions for creating access to archival collections held by libraries at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). One of few reports that document the needs of HBCU libraries as they relate to archives and special collections. It is based on a series of online focus groups that author…

The summer of 1961 was the summer of the Freedom Rides. Interracial groups led by college students drew global attention as they traveled on intercity buses in the teeth of white-supremacist violence. Today, powerful youth-led social movements--Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the campaigns against gun violence and climate change, and anti-abortion and…

Black students were major contributors in the fight for equality and civil rights. By the mid-1930s black college students were members of the "National Student League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth and College division. These black colleges were places primed for a youth movement to develop.…

Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi are the three Black women and founders of #BlackLivesMatter (BLM). Despite being founded by Black women, public discourses about BLM often foreground Black men's lives, and deaths, at the hand of the state. When attention is given to the violence against Black women, they are either blamed for their…

Few realize that, historically, the women elected to serve as "Queens" of Howard University, were often reflections of political, social, and cultural issues of the time. This parade of beauty, intellect, and charm, was an unofficial barometer of where the University as well as the country stood on matters that pertained to cultural…

This article explores the complex contexts and relationships that enabled student civil rights advocates to emerge at Howard University in the 1930s and 1940s. Such histories are valuable given their realistic portrayal of the daily challenges, interpersonal collisions, collaborations, and organizational positioning that made some human rights…

This study examines leadership efforts that supported the civil rights movements that came from administrators and professors, students and staff at Tougaloo College between 1960 and 1964. A review of literature reveals that little has been written about the college's role in the Civil Rights Movement during this time. Thus, one goal of this study…

The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recession have disrupted the health and economic wellbeing of postsecondary students, families, and the nation's colleges and universities. A college degree can lead to good jobs with benefits--now and during the economic recovery--for students with low incomes, particularly students of color, opportunity…

In "Accountability and Opportunity in Higher Education," leading scholars address the unforeseen impact of accountability standards on students of color and the institutions that disproportionately serve them. The book describes how federal policies can worsen existing racial inequalities in higher education and offers alternative…

Eighteen years after the Supreme Court rendered its decision in Fordice, many states have complied somewhat or not at all to its mandates. This has been particularly evident in Maryland, where the presidents of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are pressuring the state to fulfill its commitment with the Office of Civil Rights…

The 2013 Black History Month Programs at the U.S. Department of Education highlighted and celebrated emancipation, Civil Rights, the histories of key Black organizations and the contributions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities through a series of programs offered both in Barnard Auditorium at headquarters on Maryland Avenue, S.W,…