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The engineering and technological education of Black Americans: 1865-1950
Abstract
This study researches the history of black involvement in engineering and technological education from Emancipation to the year 1950. The educational opportunities that existed for black Americans during this period, and the lack of such opportunities, are examined. The progress of the former slave population into the technologically advanced twentieth century is followed. Tactics employed by individual states in reaction to black insistence for advanced learning are examined providing an understanding of black protests on the lack of access and the outright refusal of some states to field the question of black higher education. Voices from both sides of the racial bar address the question of educational parity. Teachers, politicians, and statesmen are prominent in this discussion, displaying a range of views that both astounded and empowered the forces that worked on either side of the controversy. Racism, institutional and individual, is a focal point. Tolerance is shown as a continuing thread throughout, often where one might least expect it, and alliances that forged a new era of cooperation between the races and among institutions are researched and reported. Institutions and individuals responsible for the racial and educational climate are examined: prominent spokespersons, both black and white, are included to give an overall feel for the struggle for parity in this area of the educational arena; institutions, their policies and practices, their willingness to look beyond the color of an applicant's skin, and their efforts to include a diverse student body are examined. There is also a discussion of the emergence of a national policy's broad guidelines that aided in the denial of access to black technological aspirants during this time period. The black struggle for opportunity and acceptance in the technological arena has been a struggle worthy of note. This struggle and the reporting of it is important because, despite the significance of the topic, it is one that has been minimally explored. This is a beginning.
Subject Area
Education history|Higher education
Recommended Citation
Wharton, David Eugene, "The engineering and technological education of Black Americans: 1865-1950" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9120953.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9120953