Black Women College Students

A Guide to Student Success in Higher Education

Felecia Commodore, Dominique J. Baker, Andrew T. Arroyo

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138659391
• eBook ISBN: 9781317216384
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The latest book in the Key Issues on Diverse College Students series explores the state of Black women students in higher education. Delineating key issues, proposing an original student success model, and describing what institutions can do to better support this group, this important book provides a succinct but comprehensive exploration of this underrepresented and often neglected population on college campuses. Full of practical recommendations for working across academic and student affairs, this is a useful guide for administrators, faculty, and practitioners interested in creating pathways for Black female college student success. Whether this book is read cover to cover or used as a resource manual, the pages contain critical insights that should be taken into serious consideration wherever Black women college students are concerned.

Chapter 1
Depicting Black Women Students in American Higher Education

President Barack H. Obama set a major goal for the higher education community to ensure that America would have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020 (White House, 2016). With this mandate in place, the higher education community has begun to have discussions of what is needed to ensure increased access and increased support for various student populations. It is believed that this increased access and support will translate, positively, to retention, persistence, and completion. Due to the heightened attention to student success in conjunction with a political landscape that has forced issues of race and diversity to the consciousness of these higher education discussions, the trends and experiences of Black college students have become of greater importance. Though this is the case, the Black college student narrative finds itself in need of a more nuanced conversation.

Black women college students are a group whose voices and experiences are often lost in the larger narrative of college students. Finding themselves at the intersection of race and gender, this group finds their voices at worst silenced and at best marginalized within the more prominent bodies of literature about Black men and women in general (Patton & Croom, 2017; Winkle-Wagner, 2015). It seems that Black women collegians have difficulty finding a reflection of themselves and their experiences in current discussions (Patton & Croom, 2017; Davis & McClure, 2009; Winkle-Wagner, 2008, 2015). Though the conversation is sparse, in recent years, scholars have begun to take a more vested interest in Black women collegians (Chambers, 2011; Chambers & Sharpe, 2012; Harper, Carini, Bridges, & Hayek, 2004; Davis & McClure, 2009; Patton & Simmons, 2008; Robinson & Franklin, 2011). Due to this recent focus, attention has been given to the academic and professional successes of Black women, but these successes are often held up against the challenges of their male counterparts (Winkle-Wagner, 2015). Therefore, a majority of the time, when Black women are discussed, they are used politically to highlight and at times to discredit the challenges Black men face in higher education (Kaba, 2008).

Due to data that highlights Black women attaining high-profile political positions and steadily increasing graduation rates, researchers and the popular press can point to the resiliency of Black women, at times presenting them as the new “model minority” (Kaba, 2008). However, studies (e.g., Robinson & Franklin, 2011) have begun to debunk that myth and shed light on the varied and layered experiences of Black undergraduate women. Robinson and Franklin (2011) highlight that though there are increasing numbers of Black women on college campuses who are successful, it does not indicate that Black women are void of experiencing barriers and challenges to pursuing postsecondary education.

The current chapter will provide a historical perspective regarding Black women and higher education. It will also highlight important and influential movements and significant events for Black women in higher education. The chapter will conclude with a look at the current experiences and state of Black women in higher education and what the future may hold for this group. As the chapter lays out the history, contributions, and current state of Black women in higher education, it simultaneously lays the foundation for this book as it works to establish a model of Black women student success and provides insight regarding what lies ahead regarding the research of Black women in higher education research.

History Of Black Women And Higher Education

Black women have had an ever-evolving relationship with higher education in the US. Every aspect, from access to higher education to areas of study available to Black women, has been affected by their unique intersections of race, gender, class, religion or spirituality, and sexual orientation. Though the US, historically, has had moments of increased access to higher education for Black persons, such as postbellum, during the 1960s Civil Rights Era, and in the 1990s (Pattillo, 2005; Perna, 2006), this increased access has occurred differently for Black women. In this section, the foundation of Black women gaining access to US higher education will be explored. Key Black women in US higher education as well as the major movements, key events, and influential ideologies that have shaped the experiences of Black women in higher education will be outlined. Through this exploration, a foundation will be laid to discuss the current state and challenges of Black women in US higher education, which will be addressed in later chapters.

Before the end of slavery, very few Black people had access to secondary education, let alone higher education. A small number of Black persons were able to attend the higher education institutions that would admit them due to their wealth, location, or networks (Anderson, 1988). There were also Black persons who were of a fair enough complexion to “pass” as a White person. This “passing” enabled them to access places and spaces typically off limits to Black people, including higher education (Dawkins, 2012). However, there were a small number of institutions which Black students, who were not passing, could attend. One college in particular, Oberlin College, produced a number of early Black women college graduates.

Oberlin College, founded in 1833, began accepting Black students in 1835 and women in 1837 (About Oberlin, 2016). In 1862, Mary Jane Patterson would become the first Black woman to graduate with an AB from the school. Three more female Patterson children would also graduate from Oberlin (Perkins, 1993). Following the Patterson family’s example, the institution’s reputation for admitting and educating Black women influenced a number of families to relocate so that their daughters, who were denied admission at other institutions, would have an opportunity at higher education (Perkins, 1993). Oberlin College played an important role in the education of Black students generally and Black women specifically. Prior to its founding, there were minimal institutions that were publicly open to Black students (Perkins, 1993; Waite, 1996). Yet, with the founding of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) the opportunity for Black women to attain higher education would drastically increase.

HBCUs and the Education of Black Women

During the Reconstruction Era (1863–1877), the US saw the emergence of Black colleges, some of which would later receive the federal designation of HBCUs. The first of these institutions would include Cheyney University (1837) and Lincoln University (1854), both in Pennsylvania, and Wilberforce University (1856) in Ohio. Varying motivations drove the founding of these three institutions, showing that even in their infancy, HBCUs were diverse and not monolithic.

Cheyney University. Cheyney University was founded by a Quaker philanthropist, Richard Humphreys. Humphreys would bequeath $10,000, which was one-tenth of his estate, to establish a school to educate descendants of the African race (About CU, n.d.). Humphreys desired to have a school where Black students could learn mechanic arts, trades, and agriculture so that they could become teachers (About CU, n.d.). The early leadership of the institution seemed to take the education of Black students seriously and saw their work as something with far-reaching impact. In the Annual Report of 1864 the Board of Managers state,

All that this single school may accomplish may seem to be but as a drop in the bucket, yet we are not therefore to shrink from putting forth our best efforts, though the educational labors of those we send out may reach but a limited number among the millions in this nation.

(Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, 1864, p. 2)

This report reiterates that the school was committed to educating “youth of both sexes” (Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, 1864, p. 2). The motivation to educate Black women is not specifically clear (Perkins, 1993). Though the institution was specifically for Black students, there was still high value placed on the favorable White gaze (Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, 1864). In the same annual report (Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, 1864), the Board of Managers reinforce this when discussing sending tickets to graduation to prominent citizens “giving a better opportunity to the White friends of the Institute to observe its progress” (p. 18). This display of ultimate concern in respect to White people and their perceptions of the institution reinforces the notion of the high value of obtaining the favorable White gaze. The importance of the White gaze would play a role in a theme of respectability politics that would be an issue not only discussed with regards to HBCUs, but one that Black women, specifically Black college women, would have to wrestle with and navigate through while pursuing higher education and professional opportunities (Donovan, 2011).¹

Lincoln University of Pennsylvania. Lincoln University, originally founded as The Ashmun Institute, “received its charter from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on April 24, 1854, making it the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU” (About, n.d.). Initially, as The Ashmun Institute, the institution was for the education of “colored youth of the male sex” (History, n.d.). Educating Black women was not part of the institution’s original mission. In fact, women would not be permitted to receive degrees until 1953. This means for almost 100 years, though committed to educating students of “every clime and complexion” (History, n.d.) in the areas of scientific, classical, legal, medical, and theological education, Black women were not welcomed. Having to battle with barriers to education due to both race and gender, Black women who aspired to attain higher education during the early years of US higher education access found their options limited. Nevertheless, they persisted.

Wilberforce University. In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church and African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church would open Wilberforce Institute in Xenia, OH. In 1863, Bishop Daniel A. Payne of the AME Church would purchase the institution’s facilities and, along with other members of the church, secure the property of the school (Wilberforce History, n.d.). The AME Church, the oldest Protestant denomination founded by Black people in the world, continued its rich history of Black empowerment with the establishing of Wilberforce University as the first college for Black people founded by Black people. Early in its inception as a university, Wilberforce welcomed female students, with Cornelia Austin being the first student assigned a room in the dormitory of the original building (Talbert, 1906). Wilberforce’s early openness to women students could have been attributed to the unique nature of much of its early student population (Campbell, 1995). Known by some as the “Peculiar Institution,” scholars have proposed that Wilberforce was largely built from the support of Southern plantation owners who were in search of a place where their children, who were phenotypically identifiable as Black and born of their relations with their Black mistresses (both enslaved and free), could be educated as they could not access education in the South (Campbell, 1995). This begs the question if these Black women were granted access to higher education because it was seen as valuable or because these daughters of slave owners held a unique proximity to Whiteness and the money attached to it. And if the latter was the case, how would this power in proximity to Whiteness affect Black women’s access and opportunities throughout the history of US to higher education?

The three earliest HBCUs shared a common passion to educate Black Americans, though all three approached the task in their own manner. The variation of manifestations of this goal would continue as the number of HBCUs continued to grow. The Reconstruction Era in the US would bring with it a citizenry now including recently freed slaves. Due to this societal shift, a number of ideologies arose concerning how Black Americans, primarily residing in the South, would be fully integrated. White missionary groups felt that the institution and practice of slavery had morally corrupted Black Americans, necessitating schools to “refine” and instill morality into this group (Anderson, 1988). Some White missionaries believed that this approach would in essence “civilize” slaves to be part of the greater society. Of note this presumes that Black Americans knew no civilization prior to being brought to America and enslaved, which scholars have demonstrated not to be the case (e.g., Asante, 2009).

Another group responsible for the foundation of many of the early HBCUs were Northern White industrialists. Anderson (1988) wrote, “Industrial philanthropy began in the postbellum South with the educational reforms of the northern-based Peabody Educational Fund, which was founded in 1867 and was boosted by the establishment of the John F. Slater Fund in 1882” (p. 478). These groups saw an opportunity to financially support institutions that would train newly freed slaves in trades that would enable them to support themselves (Anderson, 1988). Areas such as agriculture and mechanics would give Black Americans the skills needed to be hired for labor, thus earning the means to support themselves and their families.

It is important to note that the leaders of the industrial philanthropic foundations favored racial inequality (Anderson, 1988). These industrialist groups included but were not limited to the Peabody Educational Fund, the John F. Slater Fund, The General Education Board, Anna T. Jeanes Foundation, Phelps-Stokes Fund, Carnegie Foundation, Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Fund (Anderson, 1988). Decker (2014) writes, “These industrialists demonstrated that it was more important to keep Blacks as cheap labor in the South and live up to the part of their ‘Puratanical’ ancestry that promoted economic interests, rather than to respond to their forebearer’s religious and humanitarian interests in equality” (p. 236). “Attaching the negro to the soil” was an aim to keep Black Americans concentrated in the South and deter the demographic to migrate to northern cities (Decker, 2014, p. 236; Roucek, 1964, p. 374). Though this may be the case, it is rarely discussed what “attaching the negro to the land” (Anderson, 1988, p. 89) meant in terms of the gendered identity of Black Americans. Black women were not, and often still are not, seen as vastly different from Black men in terms of means of physical labor exploitation, aiding in their masculinization (White, 1999). Furthermore, the majority of American society viewed neither Black men nor women as human but rather property, undoubtedly influencing the perspective regarding Black individuals receiving or obtaining education (Perkins, 1993). However, with respect to the concerted effort to push Black individuals toward more industrial education, it is still unclear the ways in which Black women engaged in higher education and were considered, if at all, in White industrialists’ foray into higher education philanthropy.

Black church denominations were also involved in the founding of HBCUs. The complexity of Black church denominations opening institutions that would accept Black women for the sake of gaining education, yet within their own churches not affirming the idea of women in leadership or as ordained clergy, is not lost. This is just one example of the conflicting philosophies around gender many Black women found within Black communities specifically and American society as a whole. An illustration of these conflicting philosophies can be found in the AME Church. The AME Church established Wilberforce University and also opened its doors to women students, encouraging young women to be educated. Though this was the case, the AME Church itself would struggle with women in leadership, not electing its first woman bishop until the year 2000 (Goodstein, 2000). HBCUs historically created opportunities for the education of Black Americans who had been denied access to learning due to slavery. Though many of these institutions welcomed women students, there were still limited higher education opportunities for Black women. This would change with the founding of Black women’s colleges.

Black Women’s Colleges

Another phenomenon that came to fruition during the early founding of HBCUs is the establishment of Black women’s colleges. For girls and young women belonging to the Black elite, boarding schools that often doubled as finishing schools had existed since 1886 (Graham, 1999). However, the Black women’s college would take this schooling of young women a step further, not only preparing women to be “proper ladies” but also women of thought and skill. The earliest of these institutions included Scotia Seminary and Women’s College (founded 1867), Barber Memorial (1896), Daytona Industrial Institute (1904), Tillotson College (1875), St. Phillip’s Industrial School for Girls (1898), and Mary Holmes College (1892). Scotia Seminary and Barber Memorial eventually merged to create the current Barber-Scotia College (1932); Daytona Industrial Institute eventually evolved into the current Bethune-Cookman University (1931); Tillotson College entered a merger and became H...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Series Editor Introduction
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Depicting Black Women Students in American Higher Education
• 2 Key Issues Facing Black Women College Students
• 3 Toward a Holistic Model of Black Woman College Student Success
• 4 Institutional Responsibility for Holistic Success
• 5 Future Directions
• References
• Index