As part of the 400th Anniversary commemoration of Africans being brought to the Virginia Colony in 1619, the local NC A&T State University alumni chapter will host an Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Week open forum. This event, slated for Monday, Sept. 9, at First Baptist Church, 900 College St., Clinton, at 6:30 p.m., will be a gathering of HBCU graduates and HBCU supporters, coming together to reflect on the role HBCUs and their alumni have played in the making of our great nation.
The Sampson County Chapter of the North Carolina A&T State University Alumni Association extends an invitation to Sampson County residents to participate in this open forum discussion. In a statement proclaiming a past HBCU Week, President Obama remarked, “I call upon educators, public officials, professional organizations, corporations, and all Americans to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that acknowledge the countless contributions these institutions and their alumni have made to our country.”
With 2019 being the year we celebrate the 400th anniversary of Black History in America, this is an excellent time for us to highlight the role of the HBCUs in expanding access to the higher education experience. Historically, black colleges and universities became a blessing at a time when black Americans had few options for higher education following the Civil War and Reconstruction in our nation’s history. HBCUs have afforded generations of students an opportunity to gain an education and skills necessary for the world of work. Equally as important was the fact that HBCUs “cultivated an understanding of history and knowledge of self that are necessary in life.”
Fittingly, HBCUs created “a man of education who had learned to think and aspire, to feel pride and self-respect, and above all was determined to spare nothing in his efforts to attain full American citizenship.” For WEB DuBois, the progressive civil rights activist of the early 1900s, attending the historically black university of Fisk University was an enriching experience. DuBois felt “thrilled and moved to tears” and recognized “something inherently and deeply my own.” Historically, HBCUs were needed not to keep blacks in their place, but to raise them out of the places of “being a slave to society” and to help “disseminate light and hope amongst us.”
So, what is it that we want you to take from the upcoming HBCU Week event? It is my fervent hope that the HBCU open forum will bring needed attention and a better understanding of the history and the important role HBCUs have played in making America stronger. Traditionally, HBCUs have focused on expanding access and success for students, particularly students of least advantage, while helping to move America toward economic equity. Yes, we do need to support and maintain our HBCUs, as they are indispensable to the nation’s future. We need to educate more people, not less.
So, come join us for this first-ever HBCU Week forum on Monday, Sept. 9.