HBCU MADE

Graduates praise their education at historically Black colleges and universities.

Rascoe, host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, gathers 16 essays testifying to the significance in the writers’ lives of attending an HBCU. With contributors from the arts, academia, the tech world, popular culture, and politics, the essays represent a wide range of experiences, achievements, and schools. Rascoe, who grew up in North Carolina, went to Howard, where, she recalls, “I didn’t have to worry about trying to break into spaces that Black people had been shut out of. That was a relief. It allowed me to focus on what those unburdened by racism generally focus on in college: figuring out who the heck I was!” Stacey Abrams went to the all-women’s Spelman, which she chose partly because she hoped to date a Morehouse boy from the college across the street, partly because her mother urged her to attend. Like Rascoe, she chose an HBCU to immerse herself “in a singular experience, one where race and gender ceased to be wielded as weapons against us or used to justify questions about our capacity.” After attending the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, jazz artist Branford Marsalis opted for Southern University, attracted by its marching band. Shawn Zachery went there, too, studied computer science, and became a dancer. MSNBC political analyst April Ryan applauds her years at Morgan State. HBCUs have also nurtured famous TV personalities: Roy Wood Jr., with aspirations to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a journalist, went to Florida A&M because it had—besides a journalism program—a baseball team. Oprah Winfrey was one credit short for graduation from Tennessee State; reading news for a local TV station got in the way of finishing her degree. Other contributors include Nichole Perkins (Dillard University) and Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (Talladega College).

Warm testimony about critically important experiences.