WEBVTT - The A Building: Historically Black 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:05.440 Coming up on the A Building. 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:07.000 This is your time. 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.440 The light of new realization shines on you today. 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:18.119 This was an era of terror. It was not a 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:18.800 term network. 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.000 This is an era of terrorism, of lynchings, of rape, 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:24.200 of impunity. 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:26.520 I knew doctor Gloucester very well. 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:27.720 Yeah, what kind of man was he? 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.560 Well, he was a more rigid He kept telling me 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:31.840 to shave my beard. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.680 The A Building, Episode three, Historically Black. 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:02.120 Atlanta, nineteen ninety six gold medalist Muhammad Ali lights the 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:06.120 torch to start the Olympic Games. His body, now controlled 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:08.880 by Parkins's disease, could barely hold steady as he lights 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.880 the torch. He manages to light the flame and he 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:15.360 raises the torch, his arms shaking from the disease. It 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:19.240 made the once invincible boxing champion into a mortal man 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:23.880 with a frail body. However, in that moment, he reminded 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:26.280 the world why he was still the greatest champion of 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.800 all time. The nineteen ninety six Olympic Games had begun 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:32.360 and Atlanta was on the world stage. 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.560 The decision goes to Cassius Play of the United States 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.160 Masterful Boxing Exhibition. 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.360 Nineteen sixty nine, just nine years after I Leave won 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:46.640 gold in Rome, Atlantis sat Amid another historic moment, but 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.800 unlike Olympic sports, victory would be much harder to prove. 0:01:56.320 --> 0:02:01.520 At an HBCU halftime is game time. The sounds of 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:05.680 the big band carry through a stadium with pulse and energy. 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.800 There is no place like a historically black college on Saturday. 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.480 Dion Saturdays took the road of college football by storm 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.880 when he took the head coaching position at Jackson State 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:21.040 University in Mississippi in eighteen seventy seven. Jackson State was 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:25.400 originally called Natchez Seminary. The school was established to educate 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.920 recently free slaves and prepare them for a new world 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:33.760 of American possibility. Jackson State is just one example of 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.720 a storied history of historically black colleges and universities. As 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.640 of today, there are one hundred and seven hbcs. This 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.880 accounts for three percent of all collegies and universities around 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.519 the country. However, the impact goes far beyond this number. 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.840 In twenty twenty one, Deon Sanders shocked the world by 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.400 flipping the number one recruit in the nation, Travis Hunter, 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.400 from his alma mater, Florida State, to Jackson, Mississippi. I'm 0:02:58.440 --> 0:02:59.919 pretty certain that this is why I'm hearing. 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.600 I'm pretty certain this is why God led me to 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:07.200 Jackson State University, to HBCU, to the Swag. I'm pretty 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:11.080 certain that's why I tried to tell you. Everybody nobody wanted. 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:11.239 To listen to. 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:15.480 You thought I was just just running the mouth, and 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.320 it was not that. I truly believe. You know, we 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.120 stand by that word. I believe and we truly believe 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.040 that it's going to be a change. Everything I've done 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:26.560 in my life, I provoke change. 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:32.280 Change At an HBCU, change is more than cliche. It 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.640 is a way of life. And they knew that at Morehouse. 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.800 Here's a young graduate and more House man Otto Taylor 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:42.880 discussing his reasons for attending me. 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.280 It was always, you know, what is my why when 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:47.400 I get discouraged? What I go back to to keep 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.480 me going even if I don't feel like going to 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.160 class or doing my work? Got standing behind me. Doctor 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.800 Martin Luther King Junior DATD Team Warehouse College. But a 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.440 lot of enough people don't know about his mentor Doctor 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:03.440 Benjamin lager Mas very intricate part of the Moorhouse mystique, 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:05.200 and I see that today on campus. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:07.720 A lot of people have left at Marco Morehouse and 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.080 now Elwood Robinson talks about the mission and value of 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:12.800 HBCUs in the US. 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:16.920 HBCUs have strived to be driven by something more than 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:20.320 the market economy. There has been the vision that a 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:24.560 university would be an inescapable social. 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:25.640 Force for good. 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:31.640 This has attracted a caguary of faculty, staff, and administrative 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.760 to these institutions who came because of a strong sense 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:40.520 of mission and providing an excellent educational experience to those 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:45.599 who have been denied access because of racial, social, cultural, 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:47.080 or economic barriers. 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:51.920 In the core of the HBCU experience. As I mentioned earlier, 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.880 HBCUs account for three percent of collegies and universities in 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:57.320 the United States. 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.719 But they play an outsizeer role and the success of 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:04.640 this black leaders and politics, sports, business, and the arts. 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:05.839 Here are just a few. 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:08.120 We love road called y'all. 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:15.599 Lionel Richie, everybody see everybody, Advanced tu Ski University, Taraji 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:16.279 p Henson. 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.919 There are no colored bathrooms in this building. 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:26.720 Howard University. Thirdgood Marshall, I'm getting Nolan coming apart. Howard University. 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:31.240 Oprah Winfrey, Who's proud to vote again and again and again, 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:33.880 because I'm an American, and that's what Americans do. 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:38.880 Tennessee State University, Common Fletsco, Florida A and. 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:42.200 M University, Jerry Rice, I. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.440 Always gave one. 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.240 Mississippi Valley State, Walter Payton. 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.320 Life is short. It's also sweet. 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:52.960 Jack The State University, Steve McNair. 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.080 It's been ups and downs. I learned from the good 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:56.160 and I learned from the bad. 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:03.599 Our Course State University, Erkabadu A warm and Sunday Grahmy 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.080 State University, Chadwick Boseman. This is your time. 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:15.839 The light of new realization shines on you today. 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.640 Howard University, Felicia Rishard. 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.080 Doctor King was assassinated in my sophomore year. 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.640 I watched these things happen. 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.440 So much unfolded on that campus. 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.240 Howard University, Kamala Harris. 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:34.440 And together, let us write the next great chapter in 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:39.200 the most extraordinary story ever told. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.159 Howard University, Spike Lee. 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.400 Let's do the right thing. Do you know how to 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:45.719 get that. 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:50.279 Any Morehouse College, Samuel L. Jackson. 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.680 The dream has been shared with my partner in crime, 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:59.279 my critic and residents, my rock solid foundation, and my 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:00.000 best friend. 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:04.400 Tell you Morehouse College, Latanya, Richardson Jackson. 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.280 If there's something we can do. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:07.400 We get to it. 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.040 Spelman College, Stacy Abrams. 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:12.000 We were dreaming here in Georgia. 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.800 We were dreaming about a president and a vice president 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.040 who could look at us and actually see us. 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.400 Spelman College, and the list goes on and on. 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.560 Welcome back to the A Building. The impact of HBCU 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:38.000 alumni goes far beyond the Richard famous. You can find 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:42.160 HBCU alumni in every industry and work in large corporations 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.720 that work as teachers. Their impact is directly connected to 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:50.120 the American experience. Despite a nationwide decline in college enrollment, 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:54.280 many HBCUs saw an increase in student applications and enrollment 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:58.680 during the early twenty twenties. This surge was partially attributed 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.680 to the height and awareness of from injustice Following the 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:05.440 twenty twenty protests that gave systemic racism and police brutality. 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:09.760 HPCUS became a refuge for black students seeking a culturally 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:11.520 affirming academic environment. 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:17.400 In response to growing interest, HBCUs expanded academic programs in 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:24.400 stem science, technology, engineering and mathematics, healthcare, and entrepreneurship. Schools 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.800 such as Howard University, North Carolina A and T State 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:32.160 University and Spelman College saw growth in their engineering and 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.560 medical programs, partnering with major corporations to provide students with 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:41.880 career opportunities. Education is often tied directly to impact. We 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:46.959 see the effect on the sciences, sports, business, humanities, and entertainment. 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:51.160 We see the impact on pop culture. At Morehouse, doctor 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.840 King's death created a new reality for Black America, and 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.000 this reality was beyond grim. 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.400 Back in nineteen sixty nine, the students of Morehouse College 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.719 wanted more from the HBCU experience. HBCUs were often too 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:08.040 conservative for the wide raising protests of the sixties. In 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.880 those days, the class and political divide was drawn by education. 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.960 This created conflict between an old school administration at Morehouse 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:18.880 and the new generation that would be drawn to leaders 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:23.120 like h. Ray Brown, Up Newton and ADAMLA. Davis. Battle 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:26.760 lines have been drawn, but what are the stakes and 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:31.160 who wins? We spoke with Dick Celeste, former director of 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.440 the Peace Corps, two term governor of Ohio, and most 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:38.680 recently nine year president of Colorado College. What was your 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.440 initial thought, you know, as a former college president, when 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.439 you heard about this story at Morehouse. 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:49.280 Well, firstly, I you know, I had a lot of 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.280 sympathy both for the president and for the students. Sure, 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:58.240 you know what, the late sixties were a fraught time, 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:03.320 and elect state government, you know, would have its young 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:10.400 rotc kids really fire on students who were their own 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:14.480 age demonstrating against the war. It was a tragedy. It 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.440 was one of the things that motivated me to get 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:22.560 involved in politics when I did, and I found that 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:27.280 the challenge was how to bring people who had very 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:32.400 different perspectives together in a way where they could really 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:37.439 listen to each other and hear each other. And often 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:43.200 those who were in authority, governors or college presidents felt 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:50.400 that their responsibility was to protect the institution and students 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:56.640 who were angry and frustrated and determined to try to 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.840 achieve change, but had very few ways in which they 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:05.720 could directly achieve that change had to find other ways 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.840 to do it. So a lock in, I thought, was 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.880 from a student perspective, a pretty creative thing to do. 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:18.200 It was peaceful, but it was firm, it was serious. 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.360 Well, okay, what's your view on the board lock in? 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:22.920 In nineteen sixty nine. 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:27.800 I could understand a president or members of a board. 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:33.640 Anyone being locked in would be upset because it is 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:39.560 resisting authority, and it makes it difficult to carry on 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:43.640 a conversation, to really listen to each other and to 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.520 say is there a path forward that we could do 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:53.400 together to address the concern that you have. As I 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:57.720 listened to the story of the lock in at Morehouse, 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.640 I kind of admire both sides for that story. I 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.800 mean Morehouses, I mean it was the leading HBCU. It 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:11.760 is a terrific university and proud of its tradition of 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.800 leadership moral leadership. At the same time, they were training 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:21.360 more House men to be men, to stand up for 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.760 you know, values, and to speak out. And so I 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:30.040 think in some respects the lock in may have been 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:37.240 a quintessential expression of protest in a Morehouse fashion. 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.400 Here's more from doctor Lomax, president and CEO of the 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:45.079 United Ingo College Fund and former president of Duluk University, 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.320 Doctor Lomax, If you're in charge doing that lock in 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.120 sixty eight or sixty nine, do you expel those students? 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:54.480 I mean, don't. 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:55.960 I don't want to say in one sense, I don't 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.520 want to say. Guest Hugh Gloucester, he handed me my degree. Yeah, 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.600 because I was in the first graduated class and I knew. 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:03.680 Doctor Gloucester very well. 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:04.839 Yeah. What kind of man was he? 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:06.880 Well, he was a more rigid. 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:12.719 He kept telling me to shave my beard so I 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:13.520 would play you. 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.440 You know, I was called in weeks a week before 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:20.959 graduation by the dean of the college, a guy named 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.480 Brailsford Brazil, who had been given the authority to do this, 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:28.280 I'm sure, by Hugh Gloucester. And doctor Brazil said, uh, 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:30.720 you know you're going to graduate. We can't stop you, 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.640 but you need to shave that beard off because you 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:42.760 look like a goriller. And you know I love doctor Brazil, 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:45.800 And I said, you know, but you know I was 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.959 graduating second in the class Phi Beta Kappa, and I. 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:51.880 Said, well, you know what, I guess I've just got 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:53.079 to look like a gorilla. 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.120 The things that they thought were important in my life 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.040 how I appeared had nothing to do with who I was, 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.480 So I know I would say if doctor Gloucester had 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.320 asked me, i'd have said I definitely would not have 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:09.559 expelled them. When I had a student graduated the year 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.120 that I had John Lewis as the speaker, and we 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:16.160 gave honorary degrees to him and to Julian Bond. And 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.920 we had a policy at at Dillard you could march 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.440 even if you hadn't completed everything, if you had something 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:26.360 left to complete. And there was one student, a young 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:31.040 woman whom I knew well, and she was allowed to march. 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.720 And she was so mad at me that she wasn't 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:37.200 going to get the degree yet. She's had jand something 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.720 to finish. And when she got up to there, she 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.280 took her robe off and threw it at me. 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.840 I was a little bit surprised. But what was the reaction. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.080 Well, we didn't expel her. We didn't say she could 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.880 never get her degree. We just required her to take 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:58.440 a course in anger management before she I haven't seen 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.400 that young lady since, but she now a dinograt and 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:02.320 she got her degree. 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:03.960 She to anger imagine maclass. 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:05.520 That was a requirement. 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:16.600 Welcome back to the A building. More with our conversation 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:17.760 with doctor Lomex. 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:21.600 Let me ask you, then, what do you think about 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:25.680 the jeers that did? I watch several clips of these jeers. 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.000 Hans is talking about the commission address for President Claire 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:30.960 Shipman at Columbia. 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:35.800 We firmly believe that our international students have the same 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:42.760 rights to freedom and speech as everyone else's market are 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:45.960 playing the government for exercising that right. 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:49.920 I watched the facial expression of the President and it 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:55.000 felt at some point that she was either surprised or 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:58.800 disappointment at the length of the. 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:03.720 Jeers with those presidents is what do you expect? I mean, 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:06.080 what do you expect? You don't know the students, you 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:10.480 don't engage with the students. And I'm going to just 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.440 say this about what I saw happening on those campuses 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.320 from October eighth on. I went to Columbia academic year 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:22.120 in nineteen sixty eight sixty nine, the year after their lockup. 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:26.880 It was a highly politicized environment. People from varying points 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:30.280 of view were speaking on all the occasions, but no 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.240 one No one stopped you from being able to go 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:37.680 to class. No one said you were an illegitimate member 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.240 of that community. All that happened within the gates of 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:45.000 Columbia University. It was a very tempestuous time, but it 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.880 was never a physically threatening time. What I saw happening 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:54.520 on that campus after October seventh was like a repeat 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.360 of what I had seen happening at University of Georgia, 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.840 when Charlene Hunter Galt and Hamilton Homes were admitted, when 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:09.760 the University of Mississippi was integrated, those when black children 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:13.760 were admitted to the public schools of a little Rock, Arkansas. 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:20.320 Those students were threatened, they were vilified, they were disrespect 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.359 they were put in harm's way. And I watched on 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:29.840 the University on Columbia University's campus, on UCLA's campus, disagreement 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:36.080 turning into violence and hatred and disrespecting the rights the 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.600 beliefs of others, and with respect to Jewish students, treating 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.720 all Jews as the enemy. I mean, I said to myself, 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:48.160 what has happened to this great university? So I would 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:52.679 say that the earned authority of the presidents of some 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:56.400 of those campuses, they haven't earned the right to lead, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:58.359 and they got a lot of work to do to 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.639 determine how to earn that right once again. And I 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:06.040 think that's been a great harm to those institutions. And 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:09.320 I think you just compare that with what has happened 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:15.320 on HBCU campuses, where students may have disagreed, but where 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.880 it's their education and the community in which they've received it, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.040 which they are respecting as they participate in this great 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:28.400 ritual of transition for them. You know, oftentimes HBCUs are 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:33.680 not viewed as leaders as institutions which demonstrate what higher 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:37.119 education should become. I think that they have demonstrated that 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:43.800 we have embraced diversity and disagreement and discourse and still 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.840 found a way to create community. And I hope that 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.320 we won't forget that. I hope that we will work 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:53.400 hard for that. I celebrate the presidents who have been 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:58.400 very intentional about imbuing the institution. Doctor Gloucester was a 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:03.840 very important president Morehouse. He created the Morehouse School of Medicine. 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:09.160 But on the issue of agreement versus disagreement, he may 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.520 have made a mistake, but that was a mistake in 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:17.399 the course of a very important leadership journey he was on. 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:21.840 I disagreed with him about my beard, and I disagree 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.400 with it, the characterization that I look like a gorilla. 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:26.399 You know, I look pretty cool. 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:27.520 I will say this. 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:32.480 Always embraced me, always celebrated my achievements, and never allowed 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:36.560 how I looked or what I thought to diminish the 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:38.960 respect that I received. And I think we have to 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:41.720 learn to do that. And I believe that we've learned 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:44.879 to do that at HBCUs. We have to continue to 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.560 cultivate that and we have to share that with the world. 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:50.560 That is one of our gifts to American higher education. 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.800 But there's a dark side to the world of HBCUs. 0:19:55.320 --> 0:20:00.000 These schools face historical and systematic headwinds to growth. Al 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.840 rule of twenty twenty one, the State of Maryland announced 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.840 through state Attorney General's office it had reached a five 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:09.520 hundred and seventy seven million dollars settlement. The funds would 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:14.240 be divided between its four HBCUs Alcorn State, Bowie State, 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:17.760 Morgan State, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:18.879 Quote. 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:24.119 The lawsuit accused Maryland of underfunding these institutions while developing 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.560 programs at traditionally white schools that directly compete with them, 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:32.240 draining away prospective students. In twenty thirteen, a federal judge 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:35.240 ruled that the state maintained a dual and segregated education 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:38.840 system that violated the Constitution end quote. 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:42.520 In September of twenty thirteen, the US Secretary of Education 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:46.440 and US Secretary of Agriculture sent letters to sixteen governors 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.960 across the country serving their disparity in funding between laggrad 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:55.080 HBCUs and their mind HBCU Land grand peers. These disparities 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.600 affect schools like Tennessee State University, which in September of 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:01.879 twenty twenty four support to be underfunded by the state 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:05.720 by as much as two billion dollars. GCU is reportedly 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:08.679 in a budget shortfall over forty million dollars. Such a 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.720 severe money crunch affects the acron inequality of life of 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:16.440 current and former students. One of the most defining aspects 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.600 of HBCUs in the twenty twenties has been the significant 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:23.399 increase in funding from both government and private sectors. The 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:28.159 Biden administration made historic investments in HBCUs, including billions of 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:33.040 dollars allocated through pandemic belief packages, student deck forgiveness initiatives, 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:37.920 and increased peil grant funding. Additionally, private corporations that philanthropists 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:43.360 recognize the importance of supporting HBCUs companies like Apple, Google, 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:48.520 and Netflix, pledged millions to support HBCU endowments, scholarships, and 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:54.119 research initiatives. Notably, Mackenzie Scott formerly m Kidney Scott Bezos, 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:58.560 a philanthropist, donated hundreds of millions of dollars to multiple 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:03.760 HBCUs on unprecedented act that provided much needed financial support 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:05.640 to those institutions. 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.440 While students at HBCUs feel the financial pressure at their 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:13.480 respective schools. In twenty twenty three, the Supreme Court reversed 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:18.879 a long standing affirmative action ruling, gutting race based admission considerations. 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:23.000 During the unrests of the pandemic, black students and students 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:27.240 of color documented and protested their struggles with equal treatment 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:29.320 at predominantly white institutions. 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:33.000 In the fall of twenty twenty one, a protest erupted 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:36.320 on the campus of Howard University. The situation was more 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:40.080 complex because the president, doctor Wayne Frederick, not only held 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:43.840 three degrees from Howard University, but was relatively young in 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:44.760 his late forties. 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:48.880 The students were protesting housing conditions on campus. Things took 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:52.800 a turn when students pitched tents on campus. The visuals 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:55.200 embarrassed the university not sit in. 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:59.040 At Howard University, about a dozen demonstrators are still occupying 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:03.440 Blackburn Universeverity Center. The students are demanding representation on the 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:06.399 university's board of trustees. They're also calling for action to 0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:08.960 address living conditions in student dorms. 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:13.159 So, students, I've been facing a lot of issues on campus, 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:19.600 everything from housing to tuition increases to safety issues on campus, 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:23.400 and we feel as though administration is not listening to us. 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:28.360 Back in nineteen sixty nine, HBCU students were experiencing some 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:32.520 of the same issues. We spoke to doctor Alvita King, 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:37.440 niece to Martin Luther King Junior and granddaughter to Daddy King. 0:23:37.640 --> 0:23:40.080 Who better to give us perspective on the climate of 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:43.000 Atlanta at the time and the thinking of both men. 0:23:44.400 --> 0:23:47.399 When is the first time you heard the story of 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:48.119 the lockout? 0:23:48.359 --> 0:23:50.800 Actually, during the time that it happened, I didn't know. 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:51.639 Samuel L. 0:23:51.720 --> 0:23:54.480 Jackson became a famous actor and all that and a 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:57.960 big voice that everybody listens to. But back in those days, 0:23:57.960 --> 0:23:59.879 I heard about it, but I was on a different 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:04.880 front of protests, you see. I wasn't Black power all 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:06.879 of this. I tried to do that, but my daddy 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:08.920 before he was killed. Dad was killed the next year 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:11.960 A d King, Martin's brother was killed and throwing the 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:15.560 swimming pool no water in his lungs. But until Daddy died, 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:19.360 he made sure that I didn't join the Black power 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:23.440 black only he said, you really can't do that. So 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:26.160 I was in a different movement, but I was there 0:24:26.200 --> 0:24:28.680 at the same time, so I heard about it. 0:24:29.480 --> 0:24:34.359 Do you recall, as you all called in Daddy King's 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:39.280 reaction to that locking or his reaction to being essentially 0:24:39.359 --> 0:24:40.920 held hostage in that way. 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:43.719 You know, he was like these young folks, That's what 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:47.159 he would have said, you know, his own son. He 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:49.800 didn't agree with all my uncle and Daddy's tactics. He 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:52.560 would ask them to come back off, to not be 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:55.520 so forceful with that. This were too dangerous. There's got 0:24:55.560 --> 0:24:59.080 to be a better way. That was Granddaddy's perspective. So 0:24:59.119 --> 0:25:01.359 he would have had to have looked at it. What 0:25:01.520 --> 0:25:04.199 was he in his forties then, maybe fifties alm, But 0:25:04.280 --> 0:25:06.760 he would have had to say, these are the young folks. 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:10.720 He would never have discredited their concerns, He never would, 0:25:11.800 --> 0:25:14.119 but he may not have agreed with their method. 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:17.160 In our question to deep in this event, the first 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:19.679