1. The Black Campus
Movement:
African American
collegians’ fight for
equality in
Historically Black
Colleges and
Universities
Gissel Lopez
May 06, 2013
2. Statement of Purpose
This paper will study the history of African American students in higher
education and the issues they faced in HBCUs. This research study will
also look into the manifestations that sparked the Black Campus
Movement and its implications on HBCUs. Finally, this study will
provide implications this era has had on higher education today.
Research Question:
What were the challenges faced by African American students and
Historically Black Colleges and Universities alike that brought about the
Black Campus Movement?
4. Information for this research paper were formulated from the following sources:
• College graduation rates: where Black students do the best and where they fare poorly
compared to their White peers. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
• Cozzens, L. (June 29, 1998). Brown v. The Board of Education.
• Harris, R. P., Worthen, H. D. (March 1, 2004). Working through the challenges: struggle
and resilience within the historically Black land grant institutions. Education, 124(3)
• Lawson, J., ‘‘Statement of Purpose,’’ 17 April 1960, SNCCP-GAMK.
• National Park Service. (2013). Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.
• North Carolina History Project. (2013). Greensboro sit-in.
• Redd, K. E. (June 1, 1998). Historically Black
• Rogers, I. H. (2012). The Black campus movement: Black students and the racial
reconstitution of higher education, 1965-1972. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan
• The Martin Luther King Papers Project. (2013). Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC).
6. Historically Black colleges and Universities, as defined by federal law, are institutions
whose priority is the servicing of African Americans.
Their first beginnings were in the 1800s, around the Civil War years where African
Americans were facing uncertainty as they were no longer slaves but freed citizens
allowed to attain the same rights awarded to their White counterpart.
Institutions that opened up around this time were mostly private, nonprofit
institutions, receiving absolutely no funding from the state government. It was not
until the first of the Morrill Acts that granted land for the development of public
institutions to serve the African American population.
Out of these land grants came the creation of Historically Black Colleges and
Universities. HBCUs came across new challenges in the 1950s and the 1960s that
forever changed not just HBCUs, but higher education in the United States.
8. The Black Campus Movement
could be said to have been paved
by the landmark United States
Supreme Court Case of Brown v.
Board of Education. In 1954, a
class action suit was filed by
numerous parents in the town of
Topeka, Kansas that called for the
school district to reverse its policy
on racial segregation On May 17,
1954, the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in favor of Brown allowing
desegregation of public schools.
On September, 1954, nine African
American students tried to enroll in
Little Rock High School in
Arkansas. After much disturbance and
failed attempts to get these students
enrolled, President Eisenhower stepped
in by sending over the 101st Airborne
Division paratroopers to command the
Arkansas National Guard to surround
the school and preserve their safety .
Under the protection, these nine
students enrolled and finished out the
school year.
9. On February 1, 1960, four African
American freshmen students from
the North Carolina Agricultural and
Technical State University
meticulously planned a sit in at the
Greensboro, North Carolina
Woolworth store. Soon
after, students across the state were
sitting in on lunch counters in
various department store chains.
This ultimately forced Woolworth
and other establishments to change
their segregationist policies.
In 1961, a group of college
students, both black and
white, traveled to the Deep South
of Mississippi and Alabama to test
the federal rulings stating the
unconstitutional segregation of
interstate bus and rail
stations. The group became
known as the Freedom
Riders. As a result, interstate
travel desegregation laws were
enforced.
10. In Jackson State University, where
a group of Jackson police and state
patrolmen stormed to the school
after a daylong of disorderly and
riots and open fire to students and
dorms killing two and injuring
numerous others. This incident
was believed to have been one of
the causes of the demise of the
Black Campus Movement as the
level of activism had dramatically
dropped by the fall of 1970.
The fall of 1972, Southern University
in Louisiana saw themselves in the
mist of yet another protest, this time to
get rid of President G. Leon
Netterville After Netterville’s refusal to
resign, students marched through the
streets demanding that the state house
interfere and get him out of office. A
failed attempt found them back at the
campus where they were met by a
wave of sheriffs and state troopers.
This fateful standoff resulted in the
deaths of a couple of students.
12. As student affairs professionals, we need to be:
• Sympathetic and empathetic of this phenomenon as it would make us more
competent to service this population in a higher education setting and
throughout.
• Gain an understanding and knowledge of the different circumstances that get in
the way of a student’s education.
• Understand the societal struggles that decreases a student’s chances of success
• Ensure a smooth transition of African Americans into higher education
• Act as advocates to ensure proper treatment and representation of all minority
groups are visibly present
13. References:
Anonymous. (October 1, 2009). College graduation rates: where Black students do the best and where they fare poorly compared
to their White peers. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. Retrieved March 15, 2013 from
http://www.jbhe.com/features/65_gradrates.html
Harris, R. P., Worthen, H. D. (March 1, 2004). Working through the challenges: struggle and resilience within the historically
Black land grant institutions. Education, 124(3), 447-455. Retrieved March 15, 2013 from
http://corvette.salemstate.edu:2561/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=13378c4d-ae5c-
4b5fa4728623c9fe4f5%40sessionmgr110&hid=126
North Carolina History Project. (2013). Greensboro sit-in. Retrieved May 05, 2013 from
http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/299/entry
Redd, K. E. (June 1, 1998). Historically Black colleges and universities: making a comeback. New Directions for Higher
Education, 102, 33-43. Retrieved March 15, 2013 from
http://corvette.salemstate.edu:2561/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=13378c4d-ae5c-4b5f-a478-
28623c9fe4f5%40sessionmgr110&hid=126
Rogers, I. H. (2012). The Black campus movement: Black students and the racial reconstitution of higher education, 1965-1972.
New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan
