I expressed my appreciation last year to Abel Pharmboy for posting a primer on the HBCUs of the United States. His observations and links were highly informative to me.
We are once again in a week of celebration of these institutions of higher education which have catered to African-American and other students who were either formally or informally alienated from the Historically Lily White Colleges and Universities.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim August 30 through September 5, 2009, as National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week. I call upon public officials, educators, and all the people of the United States to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that acknowledge the tremendous contributions these institutions and their graduates have made to our country.
You might as well start your reading with Abel Pharmboy's post for this year. As Abel noted:
Here's a pretty impressive list of well-known HBCU graduates including this Chicago businesswoman, a graduate of Tennessee State University.
Humanities & Social Science
Education
Comments
Thanks very much for publicizing this post, DM. As I wrote in my post, the only reason I knew a little more early on about HBCUs as a white Jersey kid was because I roomed with two HBCU guys during an undergrad summer.
And just in case you get any "insane, wingnut, or racist" commenters spilling over here, while National HBCU Week was established by President Carter in 1980, it has been renewed every year in executive orders initiated by Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and GW Bush.
Interestingly, President Obama is actually being criticized by some HBCU leaders for a proposed 2010 cut in earmarked funds. The claim being made in that article is that Obama lacks any HBCU graduate in his inner circle who can advise him on the critical financial needs of black institutions. The man just can't win, can he?
Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | September 7, 2009 11:03 AM