Jefferson,Tiffany . (2022, April, 27). The True History of Higher Education in America [Video]. YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si3No4gPlD0

In American society, there is a widespread belief that "knowledge equates to power". White-cis-AMAB(assigned male at birth) folx exert strict control over power in the United States of America. The reality is that in contemporary society and since its inception, white straight men wield the power. White straight men intentionally crafted the phenomenon of power dynamics in the United States of America, rather than it happening by chance or coincidence. According to Jefferson (2022) the founders of Harvard University, which is our nation's first institution of higher education in America, were slave traders themselves or sons, and nephews of those who owned black bodies. The ideology of exclusion and competition founded formal education. White men who wanted to attend university often could not because of their station in life. Many families in the 16th and early 17th century couldn't afford to send their able-bodied men to college due to their responsibilities on family farms. Losing these men in the fields would cause a loss of capital. In the early years of college admission, authorities did not deny individuals entry solely based on subpar test scores. Intentional exclusion as a result of bias assessments came later in American History.

By the end of the Civil War, the United States lost a collective 618,222 men, union and confederate soldiers combined. The nation acknowledged the importance of life and started investing in its preservation. As cited by Squire et al., (2021) preservation of life in the post-Antebellum era came in the form of higher education. Following chattel slavery in the south, White affluent men traveled north to suffice a desire to expand their minds. As a deterrent from the southern states losing capital to the north, universities erected in the south. The Morrill Act of 1862, also known as the “land grant act” set aside federal lands to create colleges to “benefit the agricultural and mechanical arts”. The Act began a successful genocide of settler colonialism of indigenous peoples by removing them from their land and forcing them out west to spaces of America foreign to them. The purpose of the Morrill Act was to ensure white men of lower class could have access to institutions of higher education.

Since wealthy white men established the foundation of higher education in North America, the curriculum within these spaces praises and normalizes the ideologies of its intended audience (Zamani, 2003). Eventually, the Morrill Act of 1890 provided state funds to erect colleges for men of color. Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were the first institutions of higher learning created for the advancement of the black population. W.E.B. Dubois and Booker T Washington and founded these schools. Booker T Washington believed that for black people to rise above their station and claim ownership of themselves and their futures, they must band together. Booker's belief was that depending on white people to enhance the quality of life for the negro was pointless. W.E.B. Dubois believes that for Black people in America to achieve the American dream, they must assimilate into homogenous norms and blend into the status quo. Change was coming for America and the idea of minorities in spaces of higher education, however, with change came resistance.

Citations

Jefferson,Tiffany . (2022, April, 27). The True History of Higher Education in America [Video]. YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si3No4gPlD0

Williams, B. C., Squire, D. D., & Tuitt, F. A. (2021). Plantation politics and campus rebellions: power, diversity, and the emancipatory struggle in higher education. Critical Race Studies in Education. https://doi-org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/https://www.sunypress.edu/p-6999-plantation-politics-and-campus-.aspx

Zamani, E. M. (2003). African American Women in Higher Education. In New Directions for Student Services (Issue 104, pp. 5–18). https://doi-org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/10.1002/ss.103