The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville has celebrated their Daughters of Greatness program going back to 2011. In their own words, this program “celebrates the women who are shaking up the world.”
I was able to attend the event honoring Dr. Helene Gayle, the 11th President of Spelman College, one of America’s premier historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Spelman has educated Black women since the late 1800’s and continues to be a preeminent liberal arts institution, not just amongst HBCUs but among all liberal arts colleges across the United States.
Dr. Gayle shared her perspective on the continued need for HBCUs as a place that affirms the racial identities of their students. Spelman is able to double up on their affirmation of identity as not only an HBCU, but also as an institution that educates women.
This made me think of the incredible role that HBCUs play in the collegiate landscape. Initially HBCUs filled a need due to segregation and racist structural practices in higher education that did not allow Black people in the United States open access to all higher education institutions. Opportunities were limited and HBCUs filled the need.
One might argue that HBCUs are no longer a necessity. One might argue that these institutions are relics- dare I even say divisive.
What Dr. Gayle and the robust populations of faculty, students, and alumni of HBCUs understand is that there is still a profound need for educational institutions that affirm the racial identities of their students, schools that center the identities of their student in the creation of programs and curriculum, and that embrace their unique histories in tackling the challenges of racial dynamics in the United States moving forward.
Black students crave this affirmation, as we see with the continued rise in applications to HBCUs across the country. There is still a profound need for HBCUs as a space that fosters a celebration of Blackness.
Kentucky is lucky to have two HBCUs that provide this space of celebration within our Commonwealth. Kentucky State University in Frankfort serves as one of only two land grant universities within the Bluegrass and as the state’s only public HBCU. Simmons College of Kentucky in Louisville is the Commonwealth’s oldest HBCU, having been founded in 1879.
We are lucky to have these institutions that center and celebrate Blackness for so many students across Kentucky.