What are the relationships between HBCUs and Bambara’s Black University?

I was fascinated to read this piece by Bambara exploring the idea of a Black University, a piece she wrote while teaching at SEEK in the immediate aftermath of the open admissions struggle. I have been reading everything I can find on the history of HBCUs and thus have thought a lot about what it means for a college or university to be Black. Far from being obvious that HBCUs are Black institutions, students at Howard University organized a campus occupation and conference in 1968 under the auspices of a Black University—this struggle is the genesis of Black Studies at Howard in its contemporary institutional form. This made me wonder whether Bambara was thinking with the Howard students as she wrote her piece two years later—in my very brief search of the web I was unable to find any suggestion that she attended the Howard conference, yet many people who she likely knew (such as Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, and Haki Madhubuti) were in attendance. Today her archive is housed at Spelman College, where her presence pushes the institution to realize the dream of a Black university.

“A student in Music 5 (an alternative to Music I) asked his instructor why the African and Afro-American traditions were not taught since they obviously influenced American music and so much of modern music throughout the world? He was told, “We only consider serious music in this course” (14) 

Reading Bambara’s chapter, I think about how the Black University will be more inclusive of the international student, particularly students from the Caribbean. In the suggested courses, the Caribbean is included in terms of nutrition and root courses among others. I see the Caribbean in this sense being recognized for its link or contribution to African American culture which is sometimes overlooked when looking at American history. Incorporating the Caribbean in terms of what is taught is one thing but how can the Black University create a much-needed link for Caribbean immigrant and international students – a link of continuity and acceptance of their educational background?  

How do you define a Black University?

From strictly looking at the title of Bambara article, I took it to mean what is generally referred to as an HBCU (historically black college or university). My general understanding of HBCUs is that they were founded for black high school graduates to have viable options for college since many traditional, predominantly white, colleges would not admit them. I even recall hearing that in some instances, the establishment of these HBCUs was encouraged by state governments to maintain segregation and avoid any conflicts that could arise with Blacks trying to attend white institutions. HBCUs are literally rooted in blackness and, as such, that blackness can permeate through all structural aspects of the institution – including curriculum.

After reading Bambara’s work, I now better understand what she meant by a Black University. In essence, all colleges and universities should be Black Universities – spaces where not only are Black cultural studies accessible, but ubiquitous. A Black University is a space where the contributions of Blacks to world and American culture are not overlooked, but uplifted. A Black University values more than just the academic experiences and learnings of the elite who hold PhDs and advanced degrees and gives credence to the depth of wisdom and knowledge that is gained from unique lived experiences. A Black University is as intentional, in any academic discipline, at appreciating the opinions and works of Blacks in that field as institutions and departments have historically been at dismissing those same things.

Moten and Harney critiqued the University in supporting a problematic society, to serve capital and the state. The university professionalizes students, converting them from social individuals to state agents, creating a labor force that serves the market and the state. Schools are ranked based on their ability to produce useful workers to the ends required by capitalism and the state. Rather than focus on a program’s intellectual quality, metrics are based on the universities ability to convert student’s into laborer in the market after graduating. The university is also a place for the social reproduction of denial, and like prisons, the reduction and command of the social individual.

“What is, so to speak, the object of abolition? Not so much the abolition of prisons but the abolition of a society that could have prisons, that could have slavery, that could have the wage, and therefore not abolition as the elimination of anything but abolition as the founding of a new society.” p 42

Foucault allowed an understanding of fundamental institutional structures; the clinic, the prison, the school. So it is not just the institution of prison, not just schools or clinics. A general abolition of all institutions is required for a new society.

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“To be a critical academic in the university is to be against the university, and to be against the university is always to recognize it and be recognized by it. ”

The critical academic is constantly in antagonism with the university. If it’s not possible to extract the individual from the university, to subvert or rise above, what is the solution/alternative?

What are some elements necessary to build a Black university?

I think a Black university, which refers to literally a Black American university, can symbolize a new, differentiated university compared to traditional universities by its unique characteristics. In a traditional university, the students just major in their concentrations and study materials given by their departments while Black university students learn not only those but also something related to their modern societies. In this regard, a Black university should be able to provide a society with creative thoughts and solutions to numerous social problems. As Bambara said, Black university students ought to know how to navigate the world in understanding various social phenomena and political powers. Escaping from doing research only about outdated academic inheritances by past scholars, they should be able to learn studies that can reflect on their present time. In addition, a Black university should make various departments dealing with different social areas such as Black studies, Hispanic studies, Asian studies, etc. 

To this end, it is significant to have adequate mentors who are trained and equipped with the abilities to read the world insightfully so that they can lead the next generations in revolutionary ways. Also, the accumulation of resources for making such a university is very important because operating without planning and strategies likely won’t lead to getting attention from students and won’t lead to building up a Black university that we long for.

We need to share the same purpose and goals in order to build the ideal university. If this criteria is met, then we need to effectively promote the agenda to the public. I was able to see how well Bambara utilized her writing, acting and teaching skills to express her claims for the Black people to the public in her era. Arts, documentaries, and social networking services are some of the significant instruments to make our agendas announced well to the public. We need to create various communication channels to deliver our message to the people outside and get feedback from them. Paradoxically, a very effective channel among those communication channels is also a university, and I hope many Black universities described above and in the text will come out in the future.

A punitive university takes pride in turning learning opportunities into punishments for its students, faculty and staff.  Public safety is highly visible throughout the campuses’ green space.  Any deviation from normalcy is punished. Not only are very public spaces, such as the classrooms, lounges, and departmental offices policed, but so is the concept of knowledge.  Knowledge produced by local groups, street-scholars and quotidian intellectuals hold little significance within the campuses’ learning communities.  Individuals that speak truth to power or the people are automatically met with resistance.  Groups learn how to just “fit in” without instruction on how to analyze, critique, or change the system.  

Newly emerging ethnic and LGTBQ+ studies are automatically placed within more traditional anthropology or sociology departments.  Individuals rarely ever question this placement; in fact it seems completely logical due an unquestioned hierarchy amongst the academic fields. Whenever questioned, a litany of  labor and budget restraints are spit fired, like a machine gun by divisional deans & department chairs to reinforce austerity norms.  These newly forming academic programs aren’t able to remain connected to their communities of origin while developing into well regarding fields.  Finally, they’ve grown so far apart that the people can no longer access nor understand the jargon found in its academic journals.

Next class (April 6) we’ll dive more deeply into Black Study and the University. The readings for that class are below. Please write your own prompt this time and then be ready to discuss your self-guided response with the class.

Need help? One idea: You may want to write a prompt that will help you connect these readings to your emerging final project (i.e., use this response as a form of pre-writing for that project).

Week 9, Apr 6 Black Study and the University

• Toni Cade Bambara, Realizing the Dream of a Black University (Intro)
• Fred Moten and Stephan Harney, The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study (ch2)
• Ruth Wilson Gilmore, “The Case for Abolition” (The Intercept, part 1 & 2)

While reading Professor Brim’s book (which I thorough enjoyed– especially the reference to A Room of One’s Own), I felt a common theme appearing– Queer Studies as a discipline, and the associated tension that comes with, represents a microcosm (or is perhaps the situation itself): where within The Academy does personal experience and knowledge through experience (a type of praxis) fit? We’re living in an age of increased awareness of intersectionality and the inherent politic of personhood, and while on the one hand individuals and institutions get brownie points for increased “wokeness,” we’ve time and time again failed to see fundamental priority shifts materialize. In other words, we’ve been offered conflicting narratives: the personal counts, but cannot be the basis of your inquire– not while we’re still referring to Foucault and Derrida. What Professor Brims clearly points out is there’s overlap in the material he’s teaching and the location in which the material is being taught. Is the only potential for valid personal academy inquiry within an underfunded/public institution like CUNY– and even within CUNY only schools like The College of Staten Island vs. Hunter or the GC.

My questions go back to a larger question I have thought repeatedly this semester– what does the Institution owe us (individuals) and what is it place in our lives outside of the classroom? It seems to me that to allow for Queer Studies to become commonplace is in some way to declare the institution owes us more than an education, but clear support in a type of conduct and wellbeing. This may be the way the world is now, but is it right?

Is there a way to hold a school accountable to the complex reality of students’ lives while maintaining a role as an only-academic space?

While trying to impact societal and organizational change on a fundamental level, in theory, to hear “yes” to a request for advancements is generally a good thing. But can this theory be applied to higher education? Theories, in essence, are fragile and require that a very particular set of underlying assumptions fit a scenario before they can be applied. Furthermore, beyond the assumptions, they depend upon lemmas and corollaries, assistants in the mapping of arguments to proofs, to take the assumptions and prepositions and align them to support the proof. The higher education realm is dynamic and, at any given moment, the conditions that fit a particular assumption can shift. Certain givens, as they are stated in proofs, are static. For example, minoritized subjects are at a disadvantage with respect to college admissions. As Brim states, “As a general rule, in higher education, riches harm the poor…Poor students are hidden by elitist educational institutions, not from them.” General rules govern the proof of theorems. Better yet, they contain them so that the results of narrowly defined suppositions do not fall outside of predetermined bounds. Though ambitious in scope, later, I hope to use many of the givens established in our society, along with lemmas and corollaries justified in our readings and class discussions, to prove an overarching theory regarding the subject matter of this class.