• Total number of black students enrolled in higher education in 2000: 1,730,300

• Total number of black students enrolled in higher education in 2007: 2,383,400

• % of white children ages 3 to 5 in 2006 who were read to seven or more times per week: 49.0%

• % of black childen ages 3 to 5 in 2006 who were read to seven or more times per week: 53.9%

• Black percentage of all graduate school enrollments in 1980: 5.6%

• Black percentage of all graduate school enrollments in 2007: 11.6%

• Year that California voters passed Proposition 209, eliminating race-based affirmative action in public institutions: 1996

• Number of African American students admitted to the California’s Boalt Hall Law School in 1997: 14

• Number of African American students admitted to Boalt Hall Law School who decided not to attend: 14

Sources: Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (1-6); Harper’s Index (8,9).

Posted by Ajuan Mance

Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009)

Jackson strikes a deep, primal chord in the human psyche, fascinating us, perhaps, because he so easily and eerily represents us, even mirrors us (all of us) at the same time. Thus, if he is not a Nietzschean Übermensch, he is a Promethean allperson who traverses traditional boundaries that separate, categorize, and define differences: innocent/shrewd, young/old, black/white, male/female, and religious/secular.

Perhaps this is also why he frightens us. In his cosmos, Jackson is guided by a logic of experience that flees the comfortable core of life to its often untested periphery. In some senses, Jackson celebrates the dissolution of Yeats’s center and exults in the scamper for the edge. If at times his pace to the uncharted is dizzying, his achievements in the wake of his pursuit are dazzling, and at times monumental.

–Michael Eric Dyson in “Michael Jackson’s Postmodern Spirituality,” reprinted in The Michael Eric Dyson Reader

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Dr. Michael Eric Dyson (b. 1958)

Biographical Notes: Michael Eric Dyson currently holds the title of University Professor at Georgetown U, in Washington, D.C. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Carson-Newman College (magna cum laude) and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University. One of the best known African American intellectuals of the late-20th and early-21st centuries, Dyson overcame a series of obstacles before discovering his true calling as a clergyman and scholar.

Born into a middle-class household in late-1950s Detroit, Dyson earned a scholarship to a prestigious Michigan preparatory school and enrolled at the age of 16. At boarding school, Dyson experienced culture shock and racist harrassment, a combination that led him to act out and rebel against his classmates. He was eventually expelled and returned to public school. By the time he completed high school he was a teen father, a welfare recipient, and a rumored gang member.

He slowly began to transform his life, and by the age of 21 he was an ordained Baptist minister with a reputation for powerful speaking skills. He entered college, and while there he discovered his love and talent for writing. Since then he has dedicated himself to sharing his unique insights on race, culture, power, and religion, through teaching, writing, and lecturing.

Professor Dyson is the author of 16 books, including: April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Death and How It Changed America (2008); Know What I Mean? (2007), a study of hip hop music and its relationship to American and African American culture; Debating Race (2007), a collection of “previously unpublished” discussions with a variety of politicians, pundits, public intellectuals and others; Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster (2006); Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost its Mind (2006); Why I Love Black Women (2004); The Michael Eric Dyson Reader (2004); Open Mike (2002); I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. (2001); and Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line (1997).

Posted by Ajuan Mance

Claflin football players at the turn of the last century.

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Claflin athletes in 2009.

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Posted by Ajuan Mance

Many thanks to SjP of Sojourner’s Place for recognizing Black on Campus with the Shades of Black and White Award, for “outstanding effort to raise awareness of racism.”

This award is especially dear to me because it comes from SjP, who epitomizes excellence in blogging, and who has consistently been an inspiration and a support. She has recognized Black on Campus with this award because of my participation in the Global Day of Blogging for Troy Davis. CLICK HERE to get to SjP’s list of bloggers who participated in this event (with links to their related posts). I encourage anyone who is unfamiliar with this event or with the case of Troy Davis to read what these bloggers have to say on this disturbing case of justice gone wrong.

As a recipient of the Shades of Black and White Award, I have the privilege of choosing other bloggers to receive this award. I would like to pass this award on to the following five blogs, each of which is a model of strong and consistent advocacy for social justice and against racism:

• On the Black Hand Side: This blog keeps its finger on the pulse of some of the most important current issues and events that impact the Black community. Always a strong voice for Afro-positive community building, On the Black Hand Side is a good and thought-provoking read.
• Electronic Village: The Electronic Village blogger was my inspiration for building Black on Campus, and he continues to serve as a model of community-building as he informs, challenges, and advocates for interests of Black people everywhere. Blogger Villager also has a great sense of humor and real knack for finding great hilarious photos to share with his readers.
• What About our Daughters (WOAD): Provocative, edgy, smart, and unabashedly Black-woman-centered, this blog is a consistent advocate against sexism and racism, but from a slightly different perspective than many other anti-racist and anti-sexist blogs. You see, WOAD offers interesting, insightful, and refreshingly non-accomodationist no-compromise stance on institutions and individuals who hurt and/or who work against the best interests of Black women.
• Black Women, Blow the Trumpet: Powerful advocacy in support of the safety, well-being, and success of Black women, this blog pulls no punches. The frequent and thought-provoking posts exemplify the best kind of progressive thought. Black Women, Blow the Trumpet should be a regular part of your trips through the blogosphere.
• The Kitchen Table: Blogging rarely gets better than this. African American Princeton profs Melissa Harris-Lacewell and Yolanda Pierce take on some of the most important issues and events shaping Black people’s lives today. Their commentary is insightful, intelligent, and original.

Kudos to all of these bloggers for their outstanding contributions to the battle against racism and prejudice. I hope that each of you will accept this award, post the icon on your own blogs, and then pass it on to the outstanding anti-racist bloggers who have inspired and informed your work.

Posted by Ajuan Mance

In 2008, David R. Williams was more frequently cited than any other Black scholar in the social sciences or the humanities. Professor Williams is the Florence and Laura Norman Professor of Public Health and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

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In academia, the number of times a scholar’s publications are cited by other researchers is sometimes used as a measure of the quality and significance of professor’s work, as well as his or her overall standing within the field.

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (JBHE) has published its annual list of Black scholars in the humanities and social sciences, ranked by number of citations.  JBHE includes separate lists for scholars in the humanities and social sciences, largely because of the different roles that scholarly books and articles play in each of these areas. JBHE explains:

Academic journals play a less important role in the humanities in comparison to the natural sciences or even the social sciences. There are not a large number of journals in which humanities issues are routinely debated. Therefore, the number of citations given to a particular scholar in the humanities — even some of the most highly respected novelists, poets, and playwrights — are likely to be far below the number of citations assigned to a scientist who publishes just one important paper in a scientific journal.

Thus, when analyzing the number of citations that link to a particular scholar, it is also important to note that the scholarly book that serves as the primary medium for sharing ideas in the humanities (although that particular medium plays a much less significant role in the sciences and social sciences).

For the year 2008, the ten most frequently cited Black scholars in the humanities were:

1. Paul Gilroy (156 citations)
2. Toni Morrison (110 citations)
3. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (88 citations)
4. bell hooks (78 citations)
5. K. Anthony Appiah (65 citations)
6. Paule Marshall (53 citations)
7. Danielle Allen (50 citations)
8. Alice Walker (42 citations)
9. Cornell West (42 citations)
10. Orlando Patterson (41 citations)

If any of these names are unfamiliar, stay tuned. In the coming weeks, I’ll be featuring several scholars from both the humanities and social sciences lists in The Quotable Black Scholar series.

For the year 2008, the ten most frequently cited Black scholars in the social sciences were:

1. David R. Williams (398 citations)
2. William Julius Wilson (322 citations)
3. Claude M. Steele (304 citations)
4. Elijah Anderson (245 citations)
5. Vonnie McLoyd (200 citations)
6. Paul Gilroy (141 citations)
7. Lawrence Bobo (140 citations)
8. Kimberle Crenshaw (135 citations)
9. Caroline M. Hoxby (109 citations)
10. Toni Morrison (88 citations)

The fact that a handful of Black scholars appear on both lists is a reflection of the interdisciplinary nature of Black studies and related fields.

In addition to Paul Gilroy and Toni Morrison, both of whom appear in the top ten on both the humanities and the social sciences rankings, the following Black scholars are also appear on both the humanities and social sciences lists:

• Orlando Patterson (41 humanities, 50 social sciences)
• Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (88 humanities, 29 social sciences)
• K. Anthony Appiah (65 humanities, 76 social sciences)
• William Julius Wilson (11 humanities, 322 social sciences)
• John Hope Franklin (16 humanities, 12 social sciences)
• Michael Eric Dyson (25 humanities, 18 social sciences)
• Manning Marable (10 humanities, 23 social sciences)
• David R. Williams (10 humanities, 398 social sciences)

Posted by Ajuan Mance

The Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes

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I have nothing against the miracles, but for me the qualities of Jesus that endure for contemplation are his stability and serenity. I like thinking about what gets Jesus from day to day. The Gospels are full of wonderful evidence about what took Jesus from morning to noon to night, and these details are great sources of spiritual insight. The portrait is of a man living through these highly dramatic events, yet who sees beyond them to their real meaning in the context of an eternal life. I feel this is someone I want to know.

–from The Santa Barbara Independent,  Peter J. Gomes interviewed by Charles Donelan

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Biographical Notes: Peter J. Gomes is the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church and Member of the Faculty of Divinity at Harvard University. He is a graduate of Bates College (B.A., 1965) and the Harvard Divinity School (S.T.B. [bachelor's of sacred theology], 1968). In addition, he holds 36 honorary degrees from: New England College, Waynesburg College, Gordon College, Knox College, The University of the South, Duke University, The University of Nebraska, Wooster College, Bates College, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Trinity College, Bowdoin College, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, Colby College, Olivet College, Mount Holyoke College, Furman University, Baker University, Mount Ida College, Willamette University, The State University of New York at Geneseo, Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Ursinus College, Wagner College, Lesley University, Williams College, Virginia Theological Seminary, Morris College, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Hamilton College, Union College, Tuskegee University, Lasell College, The General Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York, Lafayette College, and Augustana College.

Ordained as an American Baptist minister, Gomes is an internationally known for his spiritually and intellectually challenging sermons and speeches, and he is an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, The University of Cambridge, England, where The Gomes Lectureship is established in his name.

To read a more detailed biography of Rev. Gomes, click HERE.

Posted by Ajuan Mance

Backstory

Yesterday I wrote,

[A]s African and Afro-Caribbean students are becoming a greater and greater proportion of the Black student population on U.S. campuses, we may also be seeing the beginnings of a new kind of Black male college athlete, one  whose excellence on the playing field is not counterbalanced by his or academic underpreformance. Instead, this scholar-athlete demonstrates the highest levels of achievement in both areas.

If you are new to the Black on Campus blog, you may wonder why an increasing proportion of African and Afro-Caribbean students on U.S. campuses might lead to a growing numbers of Black athletes who are also academic overachievers.

Actually, this is part of a larger trend that Black (and non-Black) scholars, pundits, and administrators have been observing and commenting on over the past two years. It seems that, overall, African and Afro-Caribbean students are outperforming U.S. Black students (American born descendants of enslaved U.S. Blacks) at all levels, and in all measures of academic performance, from GPA, to test scores, to degree acquisition and graduation rates. Indeed, if bachelor’s degree acquisition is any indication, immigrants from Africa are outperforming all other ethnic groups in this country. Indeed, African immigrants are the most highly education population in both the U.S. and Great Britain.

In fact, nationally syndicated columnist Clarence Page has gone as far as calling African students “the new model minority.” This problematic label is just one indicator of the growing awareness among educators, higher education administrators, and informed observers, of the intra-racial achievement gap that exist among Black people in the U.S. Along with a growing awareness of this phenomenon has come a growing concern about what some perceive as the displacement of African Americans (Black descendants of U.S. slaves) by their African and Afro-Caribbean peers. (Click HERE to read my blogpost on Clarence Page’s identification of African immigrants as the new “model minority”).

Much of the discussion around these issues was prompted by an article published a couple of years ago in the Harvard Crimson. This article pointed out that while “immigrants account for 26.7 percent of black students at [U.S.] universities,” at Ivy League institutions “the statistic reached 40.6 percent.” Indeed, in both Great Britain and the United States, African immigrants and the children of African immigrants are the most highly educated group in the country.

A Vision for the Future

In imagining that that the academic and athletic successes of Amobi Okoye and Myron Rolle might signal a new trend among Black athletes, I am assuming that the impact of increasing numbers of Black immigrants and the children of Black immigrants on college campuses will penetrate into all parts of college and university life, including NCAA athletics. I am also assuming that students who fall within these groups will continue to academically outperform other ethnic groups.

What the impact will be, and how widespread stands to be seen. One thing is certain, though. All things being equal, colleges will choose the academically strong athlete over the academically weak athlete every time. Greater numbers of Division I football players with academic profiles similar to Okoye and Rolle — Black students who certainly could have chosen Stanford, University of Chicago, the armed forces academies, or the Ivy League — would mean smaller numbers (even slightly smaller numbers) of Division I athletes whose academics were, shall we say, less sure.

So, what would happen if, in 5 or 10 years, there was considerably less room on Division I campuses for academically underperforming athletic standouts? Whither the truly gifted wide receiver or left tackle, power forward or point guard whose academic and/or family circumstances have simply not been conducive to achieving a record of strong high school grades and test scores?

Talented athletes — like talented musicians, visual artists, and dancers — deserve to have an opportunity to make a living at something at which they are highly skilled and about which they are passionate; and it is not fair for that opportunity to be tied to the ability to get accepted into a four-year college. I have encountered several dancers who, after retiring for professional careers that they began right out of high school, returned to college a little bit later in life. Why could this work for professional football and basketball players? The development of minor leagues would not only provide talented athletes with an opportunity to make a living using their greatest skills, even if they are not academically ready for or interested in college. While many professional sports hopefuls would continue to take the college route, minor leagues football and basketball programs could open up both the NFL and the NBA to an even broader base of talent than these leagues can currently access.

Posted by AJuan Mance

Speaking of Myron Rolle, I’m sure I’m not the only person who, upon learning about his outstanding academic achievements, was reminded of another Black scholar-athlete, Amobi Okoye.

I wrote a blog post on Okoye back in April of 2007. You can find it HERE. If you are not familiar with Okoye, or if you’ve never heard of him, here’s a quick summary:

Born in 1987 in Anambra, Nigeria to Igbo parents, Okoye and his family moved with his family to the U.S. in 1999. Okoye was then 12 years old. He’d skipped two grades at his school in Nigeria, and by the age of 13 he was not only a sophomore at his Huntsville, Alabama high school, but a varsity football player, as well. Although he was accepted into the freshman class at Harvard, Okoye chose to attend the University of Louisville for his undergraduate education, largely because of the strength of Louisville’s football program. This past year, Okoye, having completed his bachelor’s degree in psychology in only three years, became the youngest player ever selected as a first round pick in the NFL draft. At the age of 19 he was chosen 10th overall by the Houston Texans. Currently a defensive tackle for the Texans, Okoye remains strongly interested in psychology, and has expressed his desire to pursue a Ph.D. in that field — preferably at Harvard — during the off season.

My thought, and I will be brief because I have only recently begun to entertain this notion, is that as African and Afro-Caribbean students become a greater and greater proportion of the Black student population on U.S. campuses, we may also be seeing the beginnings of a new kind of Black male college athlete, one  whose excellence on the playing field is not counterbalanced by his or academic underpreformance. Instead, this scholar-athlete demonstrates the highest levels of achievement in both areas.

Actually, new is not quite the right world for this phenomenon. Indeed, the tradition of the Black college athlete as academic standout and student leader hearkens back to the era of Fritz Pollard, Paul Robeson and any number of other early to mid-20th century sports figures for whom intellectual and athletic achivement were considered equal components of college success. Such students continue to be more common that many would think, especially in lower-profile sports and even in high profile, high revenue sports on campuses with low-profile athletic programs. It is primarily when you shine the light on Division One’s most prestigious football and basketball programs that the phenomenon of the Black male athlete as remedial academic performer seems most common.

I predict that in the coming years, the Myron Rolles and Amobi Okoyes of the world will become more and more commonplace, as colleges clamor for the chance to admit talented athletes whose acceptance into college will not be complicated by the need to push and finagle in order to meet the minimun admissions requirements.  Often the children of university graduates and holders of advanced degrees, such applicants will be require less academic grooming and hand-holding, before and during their college years.

There are, of course, some definite downsides to this scenario, the most troubling of which is that, should such Black male student-athletes become the norm, then a number of African American young men from more disadvantaged backgrounds will never get the opportunity to pursue a career in professional sports. The, though, is that this fact may finally, FINALLY push the NFL to develop the type of minor league system that exists in baseball. Such a league would, at last, decouple the pursuit of a football career from the necessity of attending college.

Of course, all of this is a long way down the road. In the interim, I will be watching for and blogging on Black scholar-athletes whose achievements in the classroom defy stereotypes and expectations.

Posted by Ajuan Mance

Myron Rolle on the football field for Florida State (left). Myron Rolle visiting Stonehenge in the country that will be his home for the next couple years (right).

(Source: FloridaState.Rivals.com and Fantoo.com)

Back in January, I wrote a post identifying Myron Rolle as a Black scholar to watch. Rolle, an Black student and recent college grad, is the first Florida State gridiron star in anyone’s memory to be named a Rhodes Scholar.

Recently, Yahoo Sports reporter Jason Cole published an update on Rolle’s preparations for his year at Oxford University, focusing on the scholar-athlete’s busy summer schedule. Rolle is not only getting ready to move to England; he’s also got several speaking engagements, continued work on a long-term health project in the Bahamas (where his parents and several siblings were born), and other activities, all in addition to an NFL-caliber training regimen.

Cole describes some of Rolle’s summer activities:

Even as Rolle keeps himself in shape these days, hoping to maintain his status as a first- or second-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft, he has made the medical gig a high priority as well. After a day of training, Rolle has spent afternoons shadowing orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brad Homan at nearby Celebration Hospital. He has gone on rounds and even observed Homan in the operating room.

“I didn’t set that up for Myron,” said Shaw, one of the best-known trainers with a client list featuring the likes of Deion Sanders and Michael Vick. “He did that on his own because he wanted to. Most of the guys I have here, they want to go test drive a car at Richard Petty’s track or go fishing or get on the golf course when they’re done working out. Myron spends his afternoon thinking about what he’s going to do next with his life.

“You’re not talking about somebody who is just driven. You’re talking about somebody who is truly special, the kind of person who becomes a president or a world leader … he’s different.”

In his spare time, Rolle goes on speaking engagements around the country and has worked on developing health programs. This Friday, he’s heading to Madison, Wis., to speak to high school kids. Next week, he’s heading to the Bahamas, where his parents and three of his four brothers were born, to work on a long-term healthcare project.

A week after that, he’s doing a leadership and fitness program for 100 children at Camp Blanding in Starke. Then he heads back to the Bahamas.

To read Jason Cole’s entire update on this young scholar-athlete, click on this link to Yahoo Sports.

Posted by Ajuan Mance

Our creator is the same and never changes despite the names given Him by people here and in all parts of the world. Even if we gave Him no name at all, He would still be there, within us, waiting to give us good on this earth.

– George Washington Carver

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Biographical Notes: George Washington Carver is easily the most famous professor to ever grace the campus of what is now Tuskegee University. Carver was born just prior to the end of slavery, and her worked all of his early life as a farm hand. He was the first African American student admitted to Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1894, from what is now Iowa State University.  He earned his master’s degree in 1896 and, shortly after, became the first African American to serve on the faculty of Iowa State.

As soon as news of the “negro professor” reached Booker T. Washington, he offered him a position at Tuskegee Institute. Carver accepted.

Carver is best known for discovering over 300 uses for the peanut. He patented only a handful of his discoveries, though, believing that nature belonged to everyone, and that it was unethical to “own” a particular use of one of nature’s plants. His discoveries made a significant impact on those states that grew peanuts. Washington also discovered over 100 uses for the sweet potato and 60 uses for the pecan.

To read a detailed biography of George Washington Carver, click HERE.

Posted by Ajuan Mance