Envisioning Black Colleges : A History of the United Negro College Fund

Etched into America's consciousness is the United Negro College Fund's phrase "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." This book tells the multifaceted story of the organization's efforts on behalf of black colleges against the backdrop of the cold war and the civil rights movement.Founded during the post–World War II period as a successor to white philanthropic efforts, the UNCF nevertheless retained vestiges of outside control. In its early years, the organization was restrained in its critique of segregation and reluctant to lodge a challenge against institutional and cultural racism. Through cogent analysis of written and oral histories, archival documents, and the group's outreach and advertising campaigns, historian Marybeth Gasman examines the UNCF's struggle to create an identity apart from white benefactors and to evolve into a vehicle for black empowerment.The first history of the UNCF, Envisioning Black Colleges draws attention to the significance of black colleges in higher education and the role they played in Americans' struggle for equality. (2008) Contents......Page 10 Foreword......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 16 INTRODUCTION: A Time for Innovation and Change......Page 20 CHAPTER 1 Black Colleges and the Origins of the United Negro College Fund......Page 30 CHAPTER 2 Bringing the Millionaires on Board......Page 52 CHAPTER 3 Flirting with Social Equality: New York’s Elite Women Raise Funds......Page 88 CHAPTER 4 A Stigma of Inferiority: The Effect of Brown v. Board......Page 105 CHAPTER 5 Responding to the Black Consciousness Movement......Page 138 CHAPTER 6 Speaking Out on Behalf of Black Colleges......Page 157 CHAPTER 7 “A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste”......Page 186 CONCLUSION: An Organization That No One Could Argue Against......Page 214 Appendixes......Page 220 A. Pittsburgh Courier Letter to Black College Presidents......Page 222 B. Member Colleges, 1944 to Present......Page 225 C. Executive Directors and Presidents, 1944 to Present......Page 227 D. National Campaign Chairmen, 1944 to 1979......Page 228 E. Archives and Oral History Collections......Page 230 F. Oral History Interviews......Page 231 Notes......Page 234 A......Page 280 B......Page 281 F......Page 282 I......Page 283 M......Page 284 P......Page 285 S......Page 286 W......Page 287 Y......Page 288 The multifaceted story of the UNCF. Winner, Outstanding Publication Award, American Educational Research Association Etched into America's consciousness is the United Negro College Fund's phrase "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." This book tells the story of the organization's efforts on behalf of black colleges against the backdrop of the cold war and the civil rights movement. Founded during the post–World War II period as a successor to white philanthropic efforts, the UNCF nevertheless retained vestiges of outside control. In its early years, the organization was restrained in its critique of segregation and reluctant to lodge a challenge against institutional and cultural racism. Through cogent analysis of written and oral histories, archival documents, and the group's outreach and advertising campaigns, historian Marybeth Gasman examines the UNCF's struggle to create an identity apart from white benefactors and to evolve into a vehicle for black empowerment. The first history of the UNCF, Envisioning Black Colleges draws attention to the significance of black colleges in higher education and the role they played in Americans' struggle for equality.

Etched into America's consciousness is the United Negro College Fund's phrase "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." This book tells the story of the organization's efforts on behalf of black colleges against the backdrop of the cold war and the civil rights movement.

Founded during the post–World War II period as a successor to white philanthropic efforts, the UNCF nevertheless retained vestiges of outside control. In its early years, the organization was restrained in its critique of segregation and reluctant to lodge a challenge against institutional and cultural racism. Through cogent analysis of written and oral histories, archival documents, and the group's outreach and advertising campaigns, historian Marybeth Gasman examines the UNCF’s struggle to create an identity apart from white benefactors and to evolve into a vehicle for black empowerment.

The first history of the UNCF, Envisioning Black Colleges draws attention to the significance of black colleges in higher education and the role they played in Americans’ struggle for equality.

Etched into America's consciousness is the United Negro College Fund's phrase "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." This book tells the multifaceted story of the organization's efforts on behalf of black colleges against the backdrop of the Cold War and the civil rights movement. Founded during the post--World War II period as a successor to white philanthropic efforts, the UNCF nevertheless retained vestiges of outside control. In its early years the organization was restrained in its critique of segregation and reluctant to lodge a challenge against institutional and cultural racism. Through written and oral histories, archival documents, and a cogent analysis of the group's outreach and advertising campaigns, historian Marybeth Gasman examines the UNCF's struggle to create an identity apart from white benefactors and evolve into a vehicle for black empowerment. The first history of the UNCF, Envisioning Black Colleges draws attention to the significance of black colleges in higher education and the role they played in America's struggle for equality "In many ways, the history of the United Negro College Fund is also a history of the private black colleges and universities that it represents: a chronicle of their struggles in the mid-twentieth century to break free of ties to white industrial philanthrophy and to forge identities as promoters of black culture and educational opportunity. This story of black leadership and agency amidst tumultuous change in race relations in the United States crisscrosses the lives of such civil rights luminaries and black college graduates as W. E. B. Du Bois, Benjamin E. Mays, Sadie T. M. Alexander, Martin Luther King Jr., and Vernon Jordan ... Initially the UNCF seemed to be a perfect example of black agency: an organization started by blacks on behalf of black institutions. The real story is considerably more complicated."

Etched into America's consciousness is the United Negro College Fund's phrase A mind is a terrible thing to waste. This book tells the multifaceted story of the organization's efforts on behalf of black colleges against the backdrop of the cold war and the civil rights movement.