No, he’s not light-skinned (or “light-skindid”)…
[Josh] Packwood will graduate as the 2008 valedictorian, the first white student to do so in the 141-year history of Morehouse, which has never counted more than a handful of white students among its enrollment of roughly 3,000. [Source: KCStar]
So what’s the word? Is this a good thing or a bad thing for HBCUs? Does a white Valedictorian or more generally, the admission of whites at one of the premier HBCUs somehow diminish the purpose and culture of the school? Or should we celebrate the small but growing diversity of HBCUs and embrace excellence in whatever color it comes?
Let’s go at it…
4 responses so far ↓
1
E
// May 16, 2008 at 10:27 am
The school was founded in 1867 by a group of men, one a former slave, and another was an organizer for the National Theological Institute for educating freedmen. The founders sought to educate black men in the ministry and education. From its inception, the task of leading the charge for training and educating Black men was done by White men. It wasn’t until almost four decades, in 1906, that the school had its First Black President.
I write this to say that perhaps the creation of the Morehouse man entailed the creation of the Morehouse mindset and ideology. Packwood is a Morehouse Man…just as a Chinese student at the college would as well become.
HBCU’s may be necessary for the preservation of the ideological goals of black culture and scholarship, rather than just the preservation of Blacks.
2
L
// May 20, 2008 at 9:00 am
E, we’ll have to agree to disagree. Even if I agree with your comments E, which I do not, “preservation of . . . black culture and scholarship” must mean preservation BY blacks and FOR blacks, not OF blacks. If your point had any validity to it, then Morehouse (and other HBCUs) would have from their inception taught Afrocentric curriculums and focused on an academic inquiry of “blackness.” They would have been less audacious and aspirational and more practical and mundane. They did not focus their curriculum inward (to focus on black culture and black scholarship), because they did not have to. Rather, Morehouse (and other HBCUs) taught and teach biology and chemistry and Classics and literature and art and economics TO blacks, not OF blacks. Every black student there was and is already a learned scholar on being black. I do not doubt that Packwood, having imbibed the spirit of Morehouse for four years is a Morehouse Man, however that term is defined. Nonetheless, let’s not lose sight of the fact that HBCUs exist for the sole purpose of educating a unique subset of people: black people. To contend otherwise trivializes these historically important institutions (many with valid claims of continued accomplishment) into exhibits that non-blacks can experience to sate curiosity and get tangential edification.
3
E
// May 20, 2008 at 9:42 am
L…you missed my point. Packwoods story compelled me to challenge the views that I held about HBCUs. I agree with you…that from inception these institutions were for the education of descendants of slaves. Whereas I previously held the belief the present state of African Americans and African American culture may have obviated the institution’s usefulness, I am now compelled to think that: “HBCU’s may be necessary for the preservation of the ideological goals of black culture and scholarship, rather than just the preservation of Blacks.
“
4
Mike
// May 20, 2008 at 9:34 pm
True, HBCUs were created to educate blacks during a time where there were few other possibilities to for blacks to earn degrees. But times have changed since then and so have HBCUs.
But one thing that remains unique about them is the socialization process one goes through especially at a place like Morehouse. The culture that is reflective of this process is still distinctively black–no doubt about it. Yet, I don’t think it requires one to be black to be a member of that culture.
So, as I think we can all agree on, a white man who sincerely embraces and takes in that culture can in fact be a Morehouse Man. It is also true that the identity of any Morehouse Man, whether black or white, is immensely influenced by black ideology.
E, I agree that it is more important to preserve this kind of “black ideology” than it is to preserve the “blackness” of HBCUs. But I do hope blacks will continue to own and perpetuate this academic culture that inspires dignity, respect, responsibility, perseverance, and tough mindedness. The evidence has shown it to serve us well.
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