Historically black colleges, still relevant and still needed!
dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community. Most were founded to provided educational opportunities denied to black Americans during the Jim Crow era.
There are 105 HBCUs in the United States today. They range from public to private, two-year to four-year institutions, medical schools to community colleges. All are or were in the former slave states and territories of the U.S. except for Central State University (Ohio), Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, Lewis College of Business (Detroit, Michigan), Lincoln University (Pennsylvania), Wilberforce University (Ohio), and the now defunct Western University (Kansas). Some closed during the 20th century due to competition, the Great Depression and financial difficulties after operating for decades.
Of the 105 HBCU institutions in America today, 27 offer doctoral programs and 52 provide graduate degree programs at the Master's level. At the undergraduate level, 83 of the HBCUs offer a Bachelor's degree program and 38 of these schools offer associate degrees.
With its 15 HBCUs, Alabama has more schools of this kind than any other state. North Carolina has more four-year public universities than any of the other states with five. Some of the more notable colleges on the list are Louisiana's four-year private school Xavier University, Virginia State University, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a division of Arkansas' best known university, Georgia's Morris Brown University and Howard University in Washington, D.C.
The portion of Bachelor degrees awarded to black students by HBCUs has steadily dropped from 35% in 1976 to 21.5% in 2001. From 1976 to 2001, total HBCU enrollment grew from 180,059 to 222,453, with most of this increase being attributable to the growth of female black enrollment from 88,379 to 117,766.
HBCU still play an out sized roll in the Black community. Today despite only about eighteen percent of black college students being enrolled at HBCUs, they award 23 percent of the bachelor’s degrees earned by African-Americans. HBCU produce a staggering, 35 percent of black lawyers, 50 percent of black engineers and 65 percent of black physicians.
Even more importantly than the raw numbers of black doctors, HBCU's produce doctors with a higher sense of a social mission. HBCUs Best in Training Doctors Serving the Poor:
African-American educators are basking in the findings of an unprecedented study that confirms what many have long believed: Historically black medical schools lead the nation in producing the highest percentage of physicians practicing in underserved communities.
Morehouse, Meharry and Howard Medical Schools ranked first, second and third in a study of 141 training institutions conducted from 1999 to 2001 by a group of George Washington University researchers led by Fitzhugh Mullan, M.D.
Published in the current issue of Annals of Internal Medicine and released late Monday, the study rated the schools in "social mission" categories - the percentages of graduates entering primary care practice, working in areas with shortages in health care providers and serving underrepresented minorities.
Harvard, widely regarded as the nation's most prestigious medical school, was 67th; John Hopkins was 122nd, and the University of Pennsylvania was 29th. Vanderbilt, a top-tier southern school, ranked next to last. No highly ranked school was included in the top 10.
Applauding the study as "a great effort," George Rust, M.D, director of the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse, told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday that it "refocuses our attention on training the physicians the country needs who also represent America's diversity."
Given the nation's acute shortage of physicians, Rust said, "its really important that we train students to serve communities where they're most needed, provide doctors who represent America's diversity and equip them in the specialties that are most needed as well."
That is why much overlooked White House initiatives like when last year President Obama moves to bolster HBCUs are so important.
President Obama signed an executive order Friday strengthening the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, a document first signed by President Carter 30 years ago to "overcome the effects of discriminatory treatment" and expand capacity at the institutions.
Obama's budget for fiscal year 2011 proposes $98 million in new money for HBCUs: an increase of $13 million, or 5 percent, in the Strengthening HBCUs program, part of the federal Title III program tailored to build the self-sufficiency of HBCUs, and support for $85 million in HBCU funding in the pending student aid bill.
With their relatively smaller endowments, the combination of a poor economy and (until recently) poor financial markets have placed many HBCU in serious financial jeopardy. Economy Hits Hard on Black Campuses.
“At some institutions, you might be going from eating brie to cheddar, while at H.B.C.U.’s, you might not have any cheese left,” said Marybeth Gasman, an expert on historically black colleges and universities, often shortened to H.B.C.U.’s, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Institutions that produce not only a staggering, 35 percent of black lawyers, 50 percent of black engineers and 65 percent of black physicians, but also those with a greater sense of social justice, can't be allowed to fail. Even as many people feel America is moving to a so called "post racial America", the mission of serving the poor, who are disproportionately people of color can't be overlooked or forgotten. HBCU fulfill a mission in America that many "elite" Universities in America have neglected or outright abandoned.
With TeaBirchers now in control of many state houses vowing to trim budgets including state financial aid, and with joblessness and outright economic depression rampant in so much of the black community. Defending and expanding the mission and opportunities that HBCUs represent is a mission that all good progressive can rally around at the local level. In what could be an opening salvo Mississippi our "good friend" Haley Barbour not too long ago proposed "combining and contracting" the states three historically black public universities (Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour proposes consolidation of Black Colleges, faces opposition), this battle must be fought at the local level.
With their unique combination of education, history, and social mission historically black colleges and universities play a vital roll in the American fabric. If education is the key to the future HBCU are one of this nations most cherished ones. Take time to learn about HBCUs, rally around them at the state level, and help to protect this historic and much needed piece of Americana.
Image courtesy of JekyllnHyde
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News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Carole Simpson, the first black woman hired by NBC's D.C. bureau, talks about the years of racism and sexism on network television. The Root: Veteran News Anchor Carole Simpson Talks About Her Career.
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Carole Simpson, a veteran TV reporter, released her memoirs, NewsLady, in November. Simpson has over 40 years of experience and has hosted NBC Nightly News and ABC's World News Tonight. While she was a rookie reporter in Chicago, she interviewed Martin Luther King Jr. while he was challenging then-Mayor Richard J. Daley on segregated housing.
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The best feel good story a young 2011. Black America Web: Homeless Man's Golden Voice Prompts Job Offers.
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Ted Williams, whose deep, velvety radio voice and touching story prompted an outpouring of sympathy and job offers from across the country, has become an overnight sensation.
He's America's hottest — and most improbable — star.
On Thursday, Williams, who was living in a tent near a highway in Columbus, Ohio, just days ago, was in New York for an emotional reunion with his 90-year-old mother, media appearances, and to do some commercial voiceover work. On NBC's "Today" show, he described his previous 48 hours as "outrageous."
"There's no way in the world that I could have ever imagined that I would be — I mean, just have all of this just all of a sudden come into this portion of my life," he said during a live interview in the program's studio.
Left homeless after his life and radio career were ruined by drugs and alcohol, Williams has been offered a job by the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, and the 53-year-old is being pursued by NFL Films and others for possible work. Williams and his compelling tale became an online sensation after The Columbus Dispatch posted a clip of him demonstrating his voiceover skills while begging by the side of the road.
Now, he's in demand.
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UN peacekeepers in Ivory Coast are sending a request to the Security Council for 1,000 to 2,000 more troops amid the continuing political crisis. BBC: Ivory Coast: UN plans more peacekeepers
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UN peacekeeping chief in Ivory Coast Alain Le Roy said he hoped the troops would be available in a few weeks.
UN peacekeepers have been protecting a hotel in Abidjan that is sheltering Alassane Ouattara, the man recognised internationally as the new president.nIncumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to cede power.
Mr Le Roy said the request for more troops would be made in the next few days. He said they were needed because of the current force's additional duty of protecting the hotel.
Mr Le Roy also said the UN was facing more hostility because of what he called false reports on the Gbagbo-controlled media.
An estimated 10,000 UN troops are already in the country.
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South Sudan's information minister has welcomed reassurances by the Sudanese president that he will respect Sunday's referendum on southern independence. BBC: South Sudan welcomes Bashir reassuring words.
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Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin told the BBC he was pleased President Omar al-Bashir had accepted the referendum.
He said the vote will allow the people of South Sudan to decide their own future for the first time since 1898.
On his final visit to the south before the referendum, Mr Bashir said that he would be sad to see Sudan split in two.
But he added he would be happy if that brought "real peace" to both sides.
Analysts said President Bashir's remarks reflect a growing realisation by the Sudanese government that it cannot prevent the week-long referendum.
The vote is part of a 2005 deal that ended a two-decades-long war.
"We are pleased at the end of the day, despite difficulties and challenges, President Bashir had to realise that this agreement is not just between the Sudanese alone but it involves the whole international community," said Dr Benjamin.
"The biggest challenge was whether we would finish the registration of voters, a thing which we have successfully done now. We have registered something like 3,900,000."
He added: "The people of South Sudan, for the first time since 1898, are going to determine their own future.
"In fact, it will be the last-born state on this continent of Africa. For one to be a part of that, it is a great historical event in one's life."
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Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP president. Black America Web: An Urgent Movement for Justice
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During the past two weeks, in response to successful grassroots campaigns, two governors have released black Americans who had been railroaded by our nation’s criminal justice system.
Together, these cases speak to the urgent need for the work the NAACP and our allies are doing to encourage more governors to use their clemency authority as our nation’s founding fathers intended by freeing more deserving people more frequently.
The most recent victory is that of Jamie and Gladys Scott, two Mississippi sisters who have been imprisoned for 16 years on double-life sentences. They were each condemned to this extraordinary sentence as teenagers for a first-time offense in which $11 was stolen, and no one was hurt. The Scott sisters were convicted of luring two men to be robbed by three teenage boys. The boys each received eight years and served less than three. Moreover, there are compelling reasons to believe the sisters are innocent.
Their case has become increasingly tragic and urgent over the years. While in prison, Jamie has lost use of both her kidneys.
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[] The Mess at Medgar Evers College by kevinpowell
[] He was the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King by Adept2u
[] An admission of racism and a thought about homophobia (a New Year's Day Repost) by juliewolf
[] Fascinating 1860 Map of the U.S. Slave Population by Magnifico
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Michael Jackson - The Way You Make Me Feel
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