Black Survival in White Academe

Abstract

Survival in a hostile environment has confronted Black people throughout their history in North America. The struggle of Black academicians in desegregated institutions of higher learning is just a new variation on the old theme of making it in the white world. However, when Blacks are first confronted with this variation, they may fail to identify it as such and, consequently, feel at a loss to deal with it. They are sometimes deceived into thinking that in the liberal university atmosphere things are different, everyone gets a fair shake and racism is not a problem. Blacks in predominantly white universities are often told that the world is theirs for the asking. The doors of opportunity are flung open wide and Blacks only have themselves to blame if they do not succeed in the liberal university environment where whites are bending over backwards to give them a chance to prove themselves. For example, Williams' asserts that Black professors now have a choice of teaching at either Black or white colleges and that this choice has greatly increased their freedom of movement from one position to another. Blacks feel that these claims are not just exaggerated; they are untrue. What is true is that since the late 1960s predominantly white institutions of higher learning have been required to correct discriminatory patterns of faculty and administrative staff employment. But research such as that conducted by Moore and Wagstaff2 shows that minority representation on university and college staffs and faculties remains disproportionately low. Their research indicates that reverse discrimination is a myth, and that Blacks generally occupy the lower ranks of academe, are untenured and wield relatively little real power when placed in administrative positions.