Book Reviews

Reimagining Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Survival Beyond 2021. Gary Crosby, Khalid A. White, Marcus A. Chanay, and Adriel Hilton, eds. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing, 2021. 217p. Hardcover, $95.00 (ISBN: 978-1800436657).

I have a sentimental connection to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and remain deeply invested in their survival. I attended Winston-Salem State University and have chosen to work at HBCUs professionally because of their storied history and commitment to Black excellence. While the first HBCU was founded in Pennsylvania in 1837, most Black colleges were founded after the Civil War in the South to educate the formerly enslaved and their descendants. Today, two-year and four-year colleges, public and private institutions, medical and law schools make up more than 100 HBCUs—102 to be exact. Reimagining Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Survival Beyond 2021 offers a kaleidoscopic view of these diverse institutions, combining historical analysis, theoretical interventions, and case studies with an eye toward the future. Across the text’s 16 chapters, leadership, innovation, transformative justice, sustainability, student success, and inclusion are some themes that emerge.

In his foreword, John T. Wolfe, Jr., a former HBCU administrator, issues “The Call.” Wolf situates HBCUs in the current moment, marked by a novel coronavirus, anti-Black violence, and protest. Echoing the question raised by Martin Luther King, Jr. in his 1967 book, Wolfe asks, where do we go from here? The chapters that follow provide “The Response,” offering “pivotal revelations on how HBCUs and their leadership can sustain, maintain, and advance from barely surviving to thriving in the new decade and beyond” (3).

HBCUs have always been sites of curricular and pedagogical innovation. The future of these institutions hinges on their ability to continue to innovate. The first chapter, “An Anchored Look Forward” by Gary B. Crosby, an editor and contributor, examines the current work of HBCUs as “anchor institutions” in Black communities, “aligning efforts with elected officials to strengthen, or in some cases implement, sustainable infrastructure and economic development projects” (1). Crosby contends that HBCU leadership must continue to look ahead and find new ways to innovate. Evan Wade picks up this thread in chapter 2, drawing on the long history of curriculum innovation and student activism at HBCUs to urge administrators to listen to students and include their perspectives in the institutional planning process. In the third chapter, “Don’t Believe the Hype: HBCUs and MSIs Are Still Necessary to Black Political and Socioeconomic Development and Advancement,” Lessie Branch confronts several myths about HBCUs. One is that Black colleges are inferior to predominantly white institutions. For Branch, critical discourse analysis and criticism become powerful tools for challenging anti-Black narratives about HBCUs. The fourth chapter, “HBCUs in a New Decade: A Look at 2010 to 2020 and Beyond,” by Ernest C. Evans, Brandon D. Brown, and Karen Bussey, assesses the last decade, especially policies and practices that shaped HBCUs to plan for the future.

Black colleges and universities have long been concerned with transformative justice, leadership development, and activism. In chapter 5, “HBCUs: The Foundation and Future of Social Justice, Leadership, and Leadership Development,” the authors use the Culturally Responsive Leadership Learning Model to consider the ways that HBCUs facilitate the development of student leaders. Kendra N. Bryant delineates how the first-year composition classroom “is a space where students can practice and propel democracy” in chapter 13 (135).

HBCUs have a record of facilitating academic student success, which is key to their survival. Rihana S. Mason, Curtis D. Byrd, and Lycurgus Muldrow introduce a practical, seven-dimension framework called THRIVE to illuminate the best practices of academic pipeline programs in chapter six. The authors aim to “standardize the magic that happens between students and faculty on campus” (66). Daniel F. Upchurch stresses the importance of building solid infrastructures that support and foster the academic success of Black male students in chapter 15, “The Usage of Personal Power When Collaborating with Black Male Scholars at a Historically Black College and University.”

Khalid A. White, also an editor of the volume, addresses HBCU leadership in the last chapter, “The Reason for Reimagining.” White encourages HBCU leaders to learn from the book’s content to position their institutions for the years to come.

The following three chapters address the historical underfunding of Black colleges and universities caused by centuries of racism and offer practical steps to improve the financial well-being of these institutions. Reshunda L. Mahone writes cogently about how HBCUs can move from one-off fundraising drives to continuous philanthropy by making data-driven decisions. Yoruba T. Mutakabbir and Christopher Parker provide a historical overview of financing and budget management at HBCUs, while Tamara Zellars and Pam Parry encourage HBCU administrators to pursue private and governmental partnerships by “leveraging the contributions [HBCUs] make to community betterment, increased numbers of degreed professionals in critical fields, and even professional athletics” (95). Elgloria Harrison and Morris Thomas look to four HBCUs—Bluefield State College, Bowie State University, Hampton University, and Spelman College—to examine “enabling factors of how they adapt to the changing environment” (98).

The inclusion of all members of the Black community is critical to the future of HBCUs. In chapter 11, Megan Covington and Nadrea R. Njoku invoke the Combahee River Collective to challenge HBCUs to invest in and amplify the voices of Black women, which are often silenced. Black queer and trans students too often experience violence. Jarrel T. Johnson writes about how HBCUs can become more inclusive of Black queer and trans students in chapter 14.

P. Jesse Rine, Adriel A. Hilton, and Jeremy C. McCool discuss long-term institutional survival and success in chapter 12, “Current Trends, Future Directions: Promoting the Long-Term Survival and Success of HBCUs.” HBCU advocate and scholar Marybeth Gasman closes the volume, offering an epilogue. In it, Gasman provides 10 suggestions for making sure HBCUs “thrive in the twenty-first century” (77).

Reimagining HBCUs does not address academic libraries or librarians. However, librarians and archivists at institutions charged with student success, or the first-year experience, should draw inspiration and creativity from HBCUs to imagine other possibilities. After all, librarians at Black colleges created new classification systems, extended access to literature, and constructed Black students as scholars. Nearly all of these practices were—and in many cases, continue to be—subversive, often challenging professional norms. The field has much to learn from us.—Harvey Long, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University