#hbcus

“The Intellectual and Institutional Development of Africana Studies” specifically discusses the progression of Africana studies in higher education originating from the communities. The author, Harris Jr (2001), documents the evolution of African studies within four stages of development. These stages span from the 1890s to present day, beginning from documentation to Scientific racism to Black campus movement to refinement.Africana studies began through the documentation of the history and culture of African-Americans to preserve their history, most especially within the academic spaces.

 This led to the next stage that focused on defending and re-categorizing black history as its truthful nature, whereas white scholars would try to degrade the recorded history. After, there sparked activism within college campuses after the assassination of Martin Luther King, initiating the creation of the Africana studies department to begin educating students on the history that was demonized and invalidated due to its revelation of behaviors that wanted to be erased. Presently, Africana studies contain more than just the history of Black American history; including Africology which consists of the global African diaspora and afrocentricity.

MacKenzie Scott has added two extra establishments to her rising record of HBCU beneficiaries, delivering transformative multi-million-dollar items to Prairie View A&M University and Norfolk State University. The donations—$63 million to Prairie View A&M and $50 million to Norfolk State—lengthen Scott’s sample of unrestricted giving to traditionally Black faculties and universities, additional…

Joseph Gedeon at The Guardian:

Black students across the US were targeted this week by coordinated racist death threats, forcing at least seven historically Black colleges into emergency lockdowns just a day after the far-right activist Charlie Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University. At New York University, Black students reportedly received a threatening manifesto specifically targeting them, according to an email seen by the Guardian from the university’s Black Student Union. The manifesto was said to contain “extremely graphic threats of gun violence” and stated the author was “coming for only n******”, citing the number of Black students as taking away from a “safe space” for white people. In the email, the NYU Black Student Union criticized university officials for their “lack of transparency”, saying administrators waited more than six hours before informing students that the manifesto specifically targeted Black students. NYU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At least seven historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) went on lockdown on Thursday, including Alabama State University, Virginia State University, Hampton University in Virginia, Spelman College, Southern University and A&M College, Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Bethune-Cookman University.

[...] Most of the affected universities have since lifted their lockdowns but maintained enhanced security measures and canceled classes through the weekend as federal and local law enforcement agencies continue their investigations. The threats came amid a federal manhunt for the shooter who killed Kirk during a campus event on Wednesday at Utah Valley University in Utah, though the suspected shooter is now in custody.