Is Black History Better Taught At Harvard?

July 20th, 2011 - By TheEditor

By J. Smith

One of my favorite African-American Studies professors, who held a doctorate in Africana Studies, used to ask the same question: Why do so many of the Ph.D.’s in the field take their degrees and teach at white institutions instead of helping to strengthen the African American studies programs at historically black colleges and universities? For example, The National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for College Teachers is currently being held at Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute. The aim of the program is to bring two dozen college professors from around the country to Cambridge for intensive three-week training on ways for them to integrate more black history into their classrooms and research projects, The Wall Street Journal reports. That’s lovely, but wouldn’t it be great if the conference were held at Spelman or Tuskegee? Context can be important when examining history.

“The program was founded in the mid-1990s by [Patricia] Sllivan, DuBois institute director Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and University of California-Berkeley history professor Waldo Martin. They wanted a way to introduce college teachers from different disciplines to new scholarship on black civil rights, from Emancipation to the 1960s. Teachers are urged to use the scholarship to develop new curriculum and programs for their classrooms,” the Journal reports.

Surely the initiative and others like it at majority white schools are excellent causes that do exceedingly more good than harm in almost any instance. However, that slight, tiny bit of harm remains. High-brow scholarship and research about Africana is often conducted at white institutions. Black universities and the students there can benefit as well, if not more. We are often just as ignorant about our history as any other group of people would be.

I was often confronted with the same argument against taking classes related to African-American history: “but you already go to an HBCU, why do you need to take classes on it?” But culture and history are not always bedfellows, and making that easy and often false assumption leads to a community of people who have no idea what blacks were up to between Emancipation and the Civil Rights Movement, or what Plessy v. Ferguson was about.

There’s nothing wrong with the proliferation of black studies, just as long as it’s spreading evenly to white and black schools.

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  • Chris

    As a master's student in African American studies discipline it should not go unnoticed that a lot of HBCU's do not have a major or higher degree in African American studies. Reason why a lot of Africana scholars go to PWI is because they have the programs and support. Perhaps the students and those who take issue with Harvard hosting this seminar should organize and get more African American studies degrees and programs at HBCUs.

  • Dr.R.JacksonDOD

    I think it is more important to hold the conference at Harvard,because what happens at Harvard gets more attention than at Spielman,or any of the other black institutions,and further more;Harvard is more respeced by both,black and white American Academics,and even on the world stage,if you say Harvard in the most remote parts of the world it is recognized more so than Spielman or any of the socalled black institutions.It is important that people of this world learn where socalled AfricanAmericans fit into American and world history. Thank You, Dr.Robert Jackson DOD

    • Tom

      So what about most so called African Americans who are not allotted the opportunity to go to Harvard yet alone around the whole world. Should they be deprived about learning their OWN history, which already is a smoke screen to most who think that Hip Hop and other blacksploitation avenues are to be the crux of their education. So let me get this correct, people from around the world are to learn about OUR way of fitting into this society when we have NO idea of how to fit into this society even till this day?

    • Nala H.

      Let's not refer to the black institutions as "socalled African Americaninstitutions." They're given the name Historically Black Colleges (HBCU's) for a reason. And Spielman is spelled S- P- E- L- M- A- N. Had you done your research before posting this comment, and seen the correct spelling of the school, you would know that the college does offer an African American studies program. (The African Diaspora and the World). Could the program make room for improvement and should the college introduce more classes involving African American history that actually happened in America- of course! But that does not mean that the seminars should not be held at such HBCU's because of the lack of classes that are available. How much do really expect from small liberal arts colleges- regardless of if it is an HBCU or not.