Public higher education in the United States has a long and problematic legacy when it comes to issues of racial equity. In fact, the history is profoundly inequitable. The State Must Provide: The Definitive History of Racial Inequality in American Higher Education is an accessible, non-academic treatment of the topic with a focus on Black Americans. A skilled journalist with years of experience covering higher education, Adam Harris penned the book. His writing can be found in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other publications. He knows how to weave individual experiences into larger themes.
Unfortunately, there is little that a scholar of American history would find surprising in this account. For those less aware of history or the development of higher education, The State Must Provide is a reliable introduction. Harris’s book is chronological, starting before the Civil War and extending to the end of the twentieth century, with a brief overview of ongoing challenges in recent years. He starts by engaging the reader with a explanation of the development and passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act, which incentivized states to invest in public education. Many did, but the focus was fundamentally about advancing white males and agriculture. The Morrill Act gave the federal government a role in public higher education. Is development and passage was possible because of the deep changes taking place in the US.
Understanding and appreciating that theme – higher education usually reflects the high-level priorities of country, region, political leadership and times – helps a great deal in appreciating Harris’s history. Sometimes higher education leads. Most of the time, higher education follows.
The story of Berea College in Kentucky is illustrative, and Harris uses it to frame a larger argument. The first college in the South to be racially integrated (founded by an abolitionist), Berea educated Blacks and Whites. Segregation steadily took hold and by the end of Reconstruction and the passage of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, segregated schools, colleges and universities were the norm. Berea fought to retain its mission but ultimately was unable to remain integrated. The battle went all the way to the Supreme Court. Segregation was the law. Opportunities for Black Americans decreased as public higher education increasingly focused on Whites. Berea’s mission and enrollment reflected those changes.
Moving into the twentieth century, Harris uses the story of Lloyd Lionel Gaines as an example of the many hurdles that individual Blacks faced when trying obtain a college education. Graduating from a Black high school in 1930, Gaines wanted to become a teacher so he enrolled at Lincoln College, a public institution for Blacks in Missouri. Remember, these were the decades of “separate but equal.” The University of Missouri was off limits for Black Americans. After graduating from Lincoln as an exceptionally strong student, Gaines decided he wanted to become a lawyer. As the University of Missouri’s only law school was White only, the state offered funds to pay for Gaines to study outside of Missouri. This was a common solution to addresses segregation and to maintain White only institutions. By way of example, in 1935 Missouri sent 35 Black students to other states for education.
The NAACP became involved, and after years of trials and argument, the Supreme Court decided that Missouri had not provided equal protection under the law by offering to send Gaines out of state. As the case was appealed – and Gaines life was on hold – the state attempted to get around the ruling by creating a cohort within Lincoln University, a law school on the cheap. Gaines disappeared as the case dragged on, and while the eventual ruling was in his favor, his ability to learn and pursue a chosen career was never realized. There were untold numbers of students, over the years, whose educationally journey was derailed because of their skin color.
The NAACP was deeply committed to integration and equity. They searched for other students and other examples that would afford an opportunity at the Supreme Court. The Sipuel case coming out of discrimination in Oklahoma provided an important ruling affirming equal protection under the law in the post-WWII years. Implementation of education without regard to race did not happen automatically, however. The University of Oklahoma set aside separate classrooms for the first Black student admitted. More legal battles were required before anything approaching integration was possible.
Harris reviews these and other key higher education battles, such as what took place for years at the University of Mississippi. He moves assuredly and quickly. Knowledge of the history of the Civil Rights movement is helpful, as Harris does not explicitly tie the higher education struggles to related fights in the movement. The overall arc of change, though, is consistent throughout and unambiguous. Whites – in politics, businesses, society and institutions of higher education – readily resisted efforts at integration and racial equity for Blacks.
While the book jacket claims that this is a “shameful secret” of America’s colleges and universities, it is well-known in academia for decades. Harris does not need to sensationalize, but it may be necessary for those that don’t know, or want to know, American educational history. It is important to emphasize, too, that battles were ongoing and complicated. Many other individuals have been denied equal access.
The scholarship on the difficulties of women receiving a fair shake at higher education are numerous. That holds true for studies of Hispanics, for people from Asia, and Native Americans. Adams book, like so many other works in the field, documents longstanding inequity and struggles by individuals, groups and organizations to move the needle.
The larger questions that linger: can we acknowledge that history, take a good look at where we are now in higher education, and plan for a more equitable future? It is in all our best interests.
David Potash