Compare And Contrast Howard University And Fisk University
Comparison Paper:
Howard University and Fisk University There are over one hundred Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States. These are institutions of higher education that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community. Two of those colleges include the prestigious Howard University and Fisk University. Both these colleges helped and still help African Americans. Both are very good schools and have several similarities as well as several differences. Howard University was founded in 1867 by white founders in Washington D.C. It was not initially founded to be an African American school. It was founded to further the education of youth in the liberal arts and sciences in Washington D.C. The founders never envisioned a segregated college for blacks. In early years, it had a few white men and women, Chinese, Native Americans, and Native Africans enrolled. Despite initial funding problems, Howard was one of the only universities established after the Civil War that …show more content…
was able to gather enough resources to provide real education to African Americans, above and beyond a high school-esque curriculum. In the beginning the board of trustees was predominantly white. However, Frederick Douglass and John Mercer Langston were influential black board members. Neither supported Howard being a segregated institution but due to the heavily segregated city of D.C there was not much of a chance of getting a substantial white student population. Langston was technically speaking the first black president of Howard University, when he acted as President for three months in 1875 while President Howard was away. When Howard stepped down as President the board voted on who would take his place. Both Langston and Douglass were nominated. The heavily white board elected a white president, George Whipple but he stepped out of the candidates when Douglass and Langston asserted to the public that white Congregationalists were trying to take over the university. Another white man, Edward P. Smith was elected but blacks did play an increasingly more significant role in Howard University’s development. In 1907 Booker T. Washington was elected to the board of trustees. It was hoped that his influence would bring more funding from white philanthropists. Blacks at Howard were concerned that Washington might try to bring industrial education to Howard. They were against this and envisioned Howard as a great academic institution instead. Washington did no such thing though and instead lent his support in improving Howard’s medical school and many of its other academic schools. Howard had great success as an intuition of higher learning, due greatly to the excellence and dedication of its facility. Howard was transformed into a first-class university due to the many highly trained blacks that arrived at the school to teach. Segregation and racism prevented many African Americans with advanced degrees from getting teaching jobs at white universities. Howard offered employment and opportunities to these black professors. Alain Locke, a black member of the faculty, established the school’s Department of Philosophy. His literature, The New Negro, helped build the basis for the Harlem Renaissance. Lucy Diggs Slowe, another black faculty member, worked to make the experience of the black woman at Howard equal to that of men academically, socially, and culturally. In 1926 Howard has its first elected black president in Mordecai Wyatt Johnson.
During his thirty-four year tenure, all of Howard’s schools became fully accredited and Howard became the “best-known and the most successful and respected predominantly black university in the world” (Roe 1-2). Johnson constructed new buildings and upgraded libraries and other academic facilities. Johnson upped the number of African Americans on the facility and actively recruited black scholars. Johnson also pursued Congress to make amendments allowing for an annual federal appropriation for the university. Charles Houston revamped the School of Law into an accredited program and it later became the center of the NAACP’s struggle to reverse Plessey v. Ferguson (1896). Howard trained lawyers in 1954 helped with Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe to make the Supreme Court decision that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional, a landmark
decision. Howard University was criticized for being a “black bourgeoisie school” whose black students were apathetic and all upper- and middle-class. However Howard’s students were very politically. They protested against the KKK, race riots, and lynching. They demonstrated against segregated schools in D.C. In the 1960s, they had protests relating to civil rights, the Vietnam War, black pride, and student’s rights. These students were not, as claimed, apathetic. Howard has graduated more African American PhD’s than any other university. It has trained more black lawyers, doctors, historian, scientists, social scientists, and other professionals than any other college in America (Roe 1-3). Howard is an excellent university. Fisk University, another black university, has similarities to Howard but differences as well. Just like Howard, Fisk was founded by white benefactors. It was established initially in 1865 in Nashville, Tennessee. Unlike Howard, it began as an elementary school, not a university. Unlike Howard, its main focus has begun with black education. It taught basic education to newly freed slaves of all ages. In 1867, Tennessee passed a law requiring elementary free education to all races thus allowing Fisk to focus on college courses. So Fisk became a university that same year, the same year Howard became a university. Fisk was a university for men and women or all races. Similarly to Howard, Fisk put its emphasis on the liberal arts, not industrial education. Its founders saw Fisk as a school that would measure itself to the highest standard of not just Negro education but of American education (Robinson 1). Fisk has a successful concert tour called the Fisk Jubilee Singers. All initial members were freed slaves. They raised money for the college and brought African American music to the public for the first time (Patel 1). With money raised by the singers the trustees were able to purchase a 40-acre site for the campus (Robinson 1).
Erastus Cravath was Fisk’s first president. During his time as president, 130 graduated became teachers in black schools. Fisk’s curriculum soon included along with liberal arts, theology, teacher training, and a secondary school.
Like Howard, the students at Fisk were activists. They wanted more black teachers and administrators and protested against un-due firings of black teachers. The students fought back against strict regulations imposed on them by a later president, McKenzie, another white man. He segregated blacks and whites, canceled student organizations, and forbid any disagreement with his regulations. The students went on strike for ten weeks planned for a mass transfer to Howard University. This was supported by the black community and by Fisk alumni. McKenzie finally backed down and resigned. It was called a victory over white supremacy. Students called to minimize white involvement in running the university. Thomas Elsa Jones took over as president. He introduced classes in black life and black history and brought in black art to the school. Booker T. Washington also served on the Fisk board of trustees, as well as the Howard board. Fisk’s first black president came in 1947, twenty one years after Howard’s first black president. It was Charles S. Johnson, who had helped the school establish one of the country’s foremost centers for race relation research.
In the 1970s, Fisk had financial problems like many other black colleges when predominantly white schools started to complete for black students. Fisk had more financial problems than Howard has. It almost went bankrupt in 1984 (Patel 1-3). Despite this, a survey found in 1990 than about one in every six practicing African American physicians, lawyers, and dentists were graduated of Fisk. Fisk does not offer graduate programs, like Howard does, but its undergraduate programs offer great opportunity for advancements in academia (Robinson 2).
Howard and Fisk universities were both parts of African American history. Both colleges are great colleges and are still alive today. They went through similar struggles and different challenges. They are both considered to be among the top ten black universities today.
Works Cited
1. Patel, Abha Sood. "Fisk University." Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Ed. PaulFinkelman. Oxford African American Studies Center. Wed Nov 30 14:19:22 EST 2011. .
2. Robinson, Lisa Clayton. "Fisk University." Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition. Ed. Kwame AnthonyAppiah. Ed. Henry LouisGates Jr.. Oxford African American Studies Center. Wed Nov 30 12:36:31 EST 2011. .
3. Roe, Donald. "Howard University." Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Ed. PaulFinkelman. Oxford African American Studies Center. Wed Nov 30 17:15:15 EST 2011. .
Howard University and Fisk University There are over one hundred Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States. These are institutions of higher education that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community. Two of those colleges include the prestigious Howard University and Fisk University. Both these colleges helped and still help African Americans. Both are very good schools and have several similarities as well as several differences. Howard University was founded in 1867 by white founders in Washington D.C. It was not initially founded to be an African American school. It was founded to further the education of youth in the liberal arts and sciences in Washington D.C. The founders never envisioned a segregated college for blacks. In early years, it had a few white men and women, Chinese, Native Americans, and Native Africans enrolled. Despite initial funding problems, Howard was one of the only universities established after the Civil War that …show more content…
was able to gather enough resources to provide real education to African Americans, above and beyond a high school-esque curriculum. In the beginning the board of trustees was predominantly white. However, Frederick Douglass and John Mercer Langston were influential black board members. Neither supported Howard being a segregated institution but due to the heavily segregated city of D.C there was not much of a chance of getting a substantial white student population. Langston was technically speaking the first black president of Howard University, when he acted as President for three months in 1875 while President Howard was away. When Howard stepped down as President the board voted on who would take his place. Both Langston and Douglass were nominated. The heavily white board elected a white president, George Whipple but he stepped out of the candidates when Douglass and Langston asserted to the public that white Congregationalists were trying to take over the university. Another white man, Edward P. Smith was elected but blacks did play an increasingly more significant role in Howard University’s development. In 1907 Booker T. Washington was elected to the board of trustees. It was hoped that his influence would bring more funding from white philanthropists. Blacks at Howard were concerned that Washington might try to bring industrial education to Howard. They were against this and envisioned Howard as a great academic institution instead. Washington did no such thing though and instead lent his support in improving Howard’s medical school and many of its other academic schools. Howard had great success as an intuition of higher learning, due greatly to the excellence and dedication of its facility. Howard was transformed into a first-class university due to the many highly trained blacks that arrived at the school to teach. Segregation and racism prevented many African Americans with advanced degrees from getting teaching jobs at white universities. Howard offered employment and opportunities to these black professors. Alain Locke, a black member of the faculty, established the school’s Department of Philosophy. His literature, The New Negro, helped build the basis for the Harlem Renaissance. Lucy Diggs Slowe, another black faculty member, worked to make the experience of the black woman at Howard equal to that of men academically, socially, and culturally. In 1926 Howard has its first elected black president in Mordecai Wyatt Johnson.
During his thirty-four year tenure, all of Howard’s schools became fully accredited and Howard became the “best-known and the most successful and respected predominantly black university in the world” (Roe 1-2). Johnson constructed new buildings and upgraded libraries and other academic facilities. Johnson upped the number of African Americans on the facility and actively recruited black scholars. Johnson also pursued Congress to make amendments allowing for an annual federal appropriation for the university. Charles Houston revamped the School of Law into an accredited program and it later became the center of the NAACP’s struggle to reverse Plessey v. Ferguson (1896). Howard trained lawyers in 1954 helped with Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe to make the Supreme Court decision that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional, a landmark
decision. Howard University was criticized for being a “black bourgeoisie school” whose black students were apathetic and all upper- and middle-class. However Howard’s students were very politically. They protested against the KKK, race riots, and lynching. They demonstrated against segregated schools in D.C. In the 1960s, they had protests relating to civil rights, the Vietnam War, black pride, and student’s rights. These students were not, as claimed, apathetic. Howard has graduated more African American PhD’s than any other university. It has trained more black lawyers, doctors, historian, scientists, social scientists, and other professionals than any other college in America (Roe 1-3). Howard is an excellent university. Fisk University, another black university, has similarities to Howard but differences as well. Just like Howard, Fisk was founded by white benefactors. It was established initially in 1865 in Nashville, Tennessee. Unlike Howard, it began as an elementary school, not a university. Unlike Howard, its main focus has begun with black education. It taught basic education to newly freed slaves of all ages. In 1867, Tennessee passed a law requiring elementary free education to all races thus allowing Fisk to focus on college courses. So Fisk became a university that same year, the same year Howard became a university. Fisk was a university for men and women or all races. Similarly to Howard, Fisk put its emphasis on the liberal arts, not industrial education. Its founders saw Fisk as a school that would measure itself to the highest standard of not just Negro education but of American education (Robinson 1). Fisk has a successful concert tour called the Fisk Jubilee Singers. All initial members were freed slaves. They raised money for the college and brought African American music to the public for the first time (Patel 1). With money raised by the singers the trustees were able to purchase a 40-acre site for the campus (Robinson 1).
Erastus Cravath was Fisk’s first president. During his time as president, 130 graduated became teachers in black schools. Fisk’s curriculum soon included along with liberal arts, theology, teacher training, and a secondary school.
Like Howard, the students at Fisk were activists. They wanted more black teachers and administrators and protested against un-due firings of black teachers. The students fought back against strict regulations imposed on them by a later president, McKenzie, another white man. He segregated blacks and whites, canceled student organizations, and forbid any disagreement with his regulations. The students went on strike for ten weeks planned for a mass transfer to Howard University. This was supported by the black community and by Fisk alumni. McKenzie finally backed down and resigned. It was called a victory over white supremacy. Students called to minimize white involvement in running the university. Thomas Elsa Jones took over as president. He introduced classes in black life and black history and brought in black art to the school. Booker T. Washington also served on the Fisk board of trustees, as well as the Howard board. Fisk’s first black president came in 1947, twenty one years after Howard’s first black president. It was Charles S. Johnson, who had helped the school establish one of the country’s foremost centers for race relation research.
In the 1970s, Fisk had financial problems like many other black colleges when predominantly white schools started to complete for black students. Fisk had more financial problems than Howard has. It almost went bankrupt in 1984 (Patel 1-3). Despite this, a survey found in 1990 than about one in every six practicing African American physicians, lawyers, and dentists were graduated of Fisk. Fisk does not offer graduate programs, like Howard does, but its undergraduate programs offer great opportunity for advancements in academia (Robinson 2).
Howard and Fisk universities were both parts of African American history. Both colleges are great colleges and are still alive today. They went through similar struggles and different challenges. They are both considered to be among the top ten black universities today.
Works Cited
1. Patel, Abha Sood. "Fisk University." Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Ed. PaulFinkelman. Oxford African American Studies Center. Wed Nov 30 14:19:22 EST 2011. .
2. Robinson, Lisa Clayton. "Fisk University." Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition. Ed. Kwame AnthonyAppiah. Ed. Henry LouisGates Jr.. Oxford African American Studies Center. Wed Nov 30 12:36:31 EST 2011. .
3. Roe, Donald. "Howard University." Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Ed. PaulFinkelman. Oxford African American Studies Center. Wed Nov 30 17:15:15 EST 2011. .