The Impact of Diversity and Inclusion in Law School
Reverse Integration: Centering HBCUs in the Fight for Educational Equality
Document Type
Law Review Article
Publication Date
1-2021
Keywords
diverse campus environment, faculty diversity, curriculum diversity, historically black colleges and universities, hbcu, pedagogy
Abstract
School integration as a means of achieving educational equality has in many ways failed. It is a great irony that the case most celebrated for dismantling our dual system of racialized education in America, Brown v. Board of Education, has wrought at best mixed results for true educational equality. One underutilized resource in the ongoing fight for educational equality is Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In part their oversight is attributable to Brown’s desegregation mandate being pursued predominantly through the abandonment of Black schools in favor of integrating Black students into white schools. Indeed, Brown may be most responsible for relegating HBCUs to the margins of our system of higher education despite having played an outsized role in educating Black students from their origins in the nineteenth century right up to the present. The little-known (and often ignored) data on the success of HBCUs in educating Black students deserves greater attention. The unsung story of HBCUs reveals that a large part of the pursuit for educational equality has always been, and continues to be, about the success of Black students who attend Black schools.
This Article recounts both the historic and contemporary data demonstrating that HBCUs remain unparalleled in educating Black (and especially first generation and low income) students. Synthesizing the available data and extant literature, the Article identifies a unique pedagogical model common among HBCUs and suggests this model offers key lessons as we continue in our quest to realize the full guarantee of educational equality promised in Brown. While HBCUs have been relegated to the periphery of higher education since the desegregation era, this Article contends that they ought to reclaim their rightful place on the vanguard of higher education. By centering the experiences and contributions of HBCUs, we might finally realize what it takes to achieve true educational equality on behalf of Black students. In the process we might transform the landscape of higher education for first-generation and low-income (FGLI) students as well, who not only represent a disproportionate share of HBCU students but also a growing share of students served by all institutions of higher education.
