Wilberforce University was established as a center for Black self-determination both before and after the Civil War. Cheyney University, founded nearly two centuries ago, became the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the United States, focusing on educating people of African descent and preparing them to become teachers.
Over time, HBCUs have played a significant role in American society. Their alumni include prominent figures such as Megan Thee Stallion, Spike Lee, Toni Morrison, Edward Brooke, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr. These institutions contributed to artistic and social movements like the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement following the Second Morrill Act of 1890.
A new book from NYU Press titled “Dissenting Forces: A History of Abolition and Black Thought in Higher Learning” by historian Michael Jirik examines how college students advocated for abolition before most HBCUs existed. The book discusses how classroom experiences helped advance Black liberation and served as a precursor to W.E.B. DuBois’s ideas about higher education.
“During this period, Black and white students used arguments about Black experiences in history to make claims for Black freedom,” said Jirik, assistant professor at the University of Missouri. “The ideas came from abolitionist newspapers and other printed materials to students, who engaged them, and in turn, became more involved in the movement and became an important constituency of the abolitionist movement on the ground.”
Jirik describes “college slavery” as universities or colleges owning enslaved people at an institutional level—including presidents, professors, or students who owned enslaved individuals whose labor supported university operations or attendance. He notes that early American universities such as the College of William and Mary were directly tied to enslavement through ownership of plantations.
In recent years, universities like Harvard and Yale have published reports documenting their historical connections to slavery. However, Jirik points out that less attention has been paid to 19th-century academic arguments justifying enslavement—ideas that influenced long-term attitudes within academia.
On why Blacks sought access to higher education before the Civil War, Jirik explained it was both for personal advancement and as a means to demonstrate equality: “But many Black abolitionists and some Black students themselves said that a college education was also a way to demonstrate to the broader society that Black people are equal…to show that they could learn and gain a degree just like anybody else.” He added that learning about their own history was central for many: “It was about self-determination for Black people—to know who they were and to use that knowledge as a tool…”
Jirik noted figures like Alexander Crummell argued higher learning should be available broadly—not only for elites—and encompass classical studies along with manual skills.
Students resisting slavery on campus often engaged with literature from publications such as The Liberator by William Lloyd Garrison. Many formed anti-slavery societies at their colleges—sometimes collaborating with local communities—and organized petitions sent to elected officials.
After the Civil War there was growth in HBCUs because mainstream colleges excluded Blacks. W.E.B. DuBois argued these institutions needed specifically to serve Black communities’ needs rather than simply replicate existing models: “If we’re going to have colleges for Black people…we need to create our own…there should be Black institutions to address the needs and experiences of Black people in the world—and that what they should be learning is how to make a living and live a life.”
Debates over slavery among 19th-century college students included exchanges between colonizationists—who favored sending Blacks back to Africa—and abolitionists calling for immediate emancipation. According to Jirik: “Once…debates over slavery entered into the broader public, it really threw into question: What is the purpose of a college education? Can students engage questions of their era or of their time or should they be muzzled?”
He argues these student-led movements informed later activism during events such as the Civil Rights Movement by providing historical context for intellectual resistance: “The history of Black abolitionists and student abolitionists in higher learning provides an understanding…of historical struggles for using learning or intellectual work for the cause of liberation…”
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