Stories Untold: Counter-Narratives to Anti-Blackness and Deficit-Oriented Discourse Concerning HBCUs

Abstract

Although there is empirical evidence concerning the value of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), broader narratives about these institutions too often overemphasize challenges and depict them from a deficit perspective. We argue that such depictions elide the benefits of HBCUs within the higher education landscape and are rooted in a form of institutional anti-blackness—persistent imagery and discourse that construct Black colleges and universities as institutions devoid of value. In response to such silencing, this study employs counter-narratives rooted in a critical race methodology to illuminate the modern contributions of HBCUs as told by their chief executive officers—HBCU presidents. These contributions include transforming today’s learners into tomorrow’s leaders, a commitment to serving low-income students that is unencumbered by their financial strains, and tapping the potential of students who were marginalized in prior academic environments.

Critical Counter-Narrative as Transformative Methodology for Educational Equity

“…Motha and Vargese (2018), working from Solórzano and Yosso (2002), used the same idea of a theoretical lens for their counterstorytelling study of women faculty of color (p. 507). Similarly, in their examination of deficit discourse concerning historically Black colleges and universities, K. Williams et al (2019) described counter-narrative as an “approach” that should not be assigned “an inflated value in social justice scholarship,” noting fundamental limitations suggested by Delgado and Stefancic’s (1992) notion of the empathic fallacy, detailed earlier.…”

Disentangling engineering education research'santi‐Blackness

“…The following list of research practices are not intended to be comprehensive, but rather as a guide to actionable ways research in engineering education can become free from entanglement with anti‐Blackness. Although I readily assert anti‐Black racism is embedded in engineering culture, there is a conglomerate of higher education institutions that deserve more study as they have been tremendously successful in producing Black engineers despite this harsh reality (Williams, Burt, Clay, & Bridges, 2019). These institutions are known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).…”

Outpacing Expectations: Battling the Misconceptions of Regional Public Historically Black Colleges and Universities

“…At the end of 2019, the Washington Post and the New York Times —two nationally‐recognized media outlets—published pieces on the “peril” and “ruin” of HBCUs (Lumpkin, 2019; Smith‐Barrow, 2019). Media representations such as these paint a deficit framed picture of HBCU management and quality (Williams, Burt, Clay, & Bridges, 2019). However, neither article dug deeper into distinguishing which types (i.e., private liberal arts versus large state‐funded systems) were subject to these classifications.…”

“…This practice can lead to an absence of context when presenting data and sources or a co‐opting of HBCUs for personal, professional, or political gain as opposed to ensuring the institutions are allowed agency to advocate for themselves. Often, HBCUs are encouraged to “tell their story” (Williams et al., 2019). And though this is true and necessary, allies and advocates must also acknowledge when they need not speak for HBCUs but let them speak for themselves.…”