Hope and healing : Black colleges and the future of American democracy - Wilson, John Silvanus, Jr., 1957- (Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard Education Press, 2023)
"With significant lessons from the history and evolution of HBCUs, a guide to the strategic conversations all higher education institutions must have to prepare students for a complex world. In Hope and Healing, former Morehouse College president John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. looks to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to examine what it takes not only to survive as a relevant institution of higher education, but to thrive. Wilson draws on pivotal moments in the timelines of HBCUs and the work of past visionaries such as W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington to yield important perspectives on the future of higher education and the role of HBCUs within it. Wilson documents the strengths of HBCUs, which endure even as factors such as school desegregation, enrollment shifts, and fundraising shortages have deeply affected their operation. These schools have long optimized institutional character, he shows, and he encourages their leaders to similarly optimize institutional capital. Wilson emphasizes the indispensable role of educational finance in keeping schools viable and vital to US education, discussing funding approaches such as targeted endowment strategies, large-scale capital campaigns based in STEM research, and partnerships between schools and the philanthropic community. Wilson's asset-based framework reveals pathways for all higher education institutions to invest in their long-term futures. Suffused with optimism, the book credits HBCUs as exemplars that consistently demonstrate how all colleges and universities can marshal their institutional resources to shape better citizens, foster civic literacy, and work toward a better tomorrow. "--
Perspective One: The Difficult Birth of HBCUs -- Chapter 1: The Dual Headwinds -- Chapter 2: The Literacy Trajectory -- Perspective Two: The Humane Aspiration of HBCUs -- Chapter 3: The Capital Contenders -- Chapter 4: The Character Imperative -- Perspective Three: The Unfinished Business of HBCUs -- Chapter 5: The Neglected Agendas -- Chapter 6: The Unheralded Value -- Chapter 7: The Iceberg Trustees -- Chapter 8: The Risen Tide -- Perspective Four: The Fluttering Veil Over HBCUs -- Chapter 9: The Re-Architecture Ultimatum -- Perspective Five: The Messianic Promise of HBCUs -- Chapter 10: The String Shooters.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Keywords: Historically Black colleges and universities; Education, Higher -- United States -- History -- 20th century; Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- United States; Democracy and education; Democracy and education; Education, Higher; Education, Higher -- Social aspects; Historically Black colleges and universities; United States; 1900-1999; History