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FREEDOMWAYS     FIRST QUARTER 1973

first Black college was established, Blacks made up at least a quarter and frequently about a half of the population in Southern towns.⁵  Not until the first World War, however, did mass migration by Blacks to the Northern city occur.  Then urban manufacturing centers beckoned to Blacks to work in segregated plants.  Now Washington, D.C., is 63 percent Black, Newark 55 percent, Baltimore 41 percent, St. Louis 37 percent, and Philadelphia and Chicago 30 percent as whites keep evading democracy and city problems accelerate.

No, the role of the Black college has not changed.  In the last part of the 19th century labor unions discriminated because white workers claimed Blacks were guilty of strike-breaking.  In the last part of the 20th century white home owners and realtors discriminate behind the excuse that Blacks lower property value.  In the 1870's and throughout, whites lynched Black men behind the alleged lies of rape, and in the 1970's whites kill the educational dreams of Black youth behind the cry to "save the neighborhood schools."

Black colleges have had to face these facts to try and deal with them for many years.  Booker T. Washington's hands were tied in the sense that if he said what whites wanted to hear, Tuskegee Institute received large sums of money.  Washington proved to have outstanding expertise in this art.  The black state college president today who says what his usually white Board of Trustees and State legislators want to hear may get sizable chunks of money for his institution.  He may also get other kinds of money, such as federal and foundation grants, if his contacts are right.  All of these things have strings attached, however, and students do not always reap meaningful benefits because of certain guidelines and stipulations which have to be met.

are Black colleges on their way out?

Possibly, Black colleges in the 1970's are more like they were one hundred years ago than they have been at any time in between.  The similarity is that they are Black in student make-up only.  Black colleges are an excellent example of how integration works in public schools, a trend which may suggest that Black colleges are on their way out.  It is an ironic fact of life that in an effort to up-grade their faculty, Black colleges have had to rely much too heavily on white Ph.D.'s.  So much so that most of their faculties now range from one-third to two-thirds white.  For whatever it's worth, it was Woodson's considered opinion that "Many whites came into Black institutions merely to earn a living."⁶  Additionally, on the Black college, pressure

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-21 08:53:19