Good Essay On American Civil Rights Movement

Given the increased need for black education in 1960s America, particularly with the progress and publicity of the Civil Rights Movement, Gerald McWorter got to work developing a blueprint for what would become the institution of the “Black University.” Black Universities are, in short, institutions meant to serve the complete and comprehensive needs of the African-American community, provided as a haven in which black students could learn and grow without being marginalized or discriminated against because of their race. Black students struggling in white institutions, whether due to racism or the academic divides that were borne of white privilege and systemic inequalities in socioeconomic conditions for black and white, could find a new home in these Black Universities.
According to McWorter, the goal of the Black University was to act as a framework by which to provide education as a tool for black men and women to uplift themselves from the “oppressive social structures” they faced due to their race (4). The more educated blacks are, the more they can start to realize their destinies as compared with the legions of already-entrenched white, educated people taking the jobs that blacks could easily get if their social conditions were better. McWorter believed that, through dedicated black education, social change on a powerful, systemic level could be achieved. With the Black University as a dedicated, high-quality institution for arming blacks with needed knowledge and skills to enter the workforce and academia, these students would be even better armed to improve their disadvantaged conditions and exit the cycle of poverty and discrimination more easily. The Black University permits students to exit the “limiting problem of the national state,” allowing them to grow smarter and more fully developed as individuals (p. 8).

Works Cited

McWorter, Gerald. “The Nature and Needs of the Black University.” Black World/Negro Digest