Before beginning my doctoral studies at Howard University, I heard the same refrain more than once: “Don’t go to another HBCU. You already did that in undergrad and for your master’s. It’s time for the real world now—get your PhD from a PwI.”
The implication was clear: while my HBCU education had been valuable, it wasn’t enough. For some reason, “real life experience” and credibility were supposed to come only from predominantly white institutions. To me, that was bologna. How could the very people who preached the transformative power of HBCUs now insist my terminal degree required a detour from the very spaces that had shaped me? Read more...
