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by John Silvanus Wilson (Author)
With significant lessons from the history and evolution of HBCUs, a guide to the strategic conversations all higher education institutions must have to prepare students for a complex world.
In Hope and Healing, former Morehouse College president John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. looks to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to examine what it takes not only to survive as a relevant institution of higher education, but to thrive. Wilson draws on pivotal moments in the timelines of HBCUs and the work of past visionaries such as W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington to yield important perspectives on the future of higher education and the role of HBCUs within it. Wilson documents the strengths of HBCUs, which endure even as factors such as school desegregation, enrollment shifts, and fundraising shortages have deeply affected their operation. These schools have long optimized institutional character, he shows, and he encourages their leaders to similarly optimize institutional capital. Wilson emphasizes the indispensable role of educational finance in keeping schools viable and vital to US education, discussing funding approaches such as targeted endowment strategies, large-scale capital campaigns based in STEM research, and partnerships between schools and the philanthropic community. Wilson's asset-based framework reveals pathways for all higher education institutions to invest in their long-term futures. Suffused with optimism, the book credits HBCUs as exemplars that consistently demonstrate how all colleges and universities can marshal their institutional resources to shape better citizens, foster civic literacy, and work toward a better tomorrow.Back Jacket
John Wilson's Hope and Healing reminds us of the pivotal role that HBCUs have played in pushing the country to fully realize its democratic ideals. From Reconstruction through Jim Crow separatism to the civil rights movement, HBCUs have advanced Black citizenship and continue to do so by disproportionately educating Black scientists, jurists, teachers, and public servants. His arguments make the case for increased investment in institutions that have been at the frontier of social justice for well over a hundred years. --Mary Schmidt Campbell, president emerita, Spelman College
"An engaging and illuminating portrait of the history and purpose of HBCUs that makes a powerful case for their indispensable role in American higher education and American life." -- Drew Gilpin Faust, president emerita, Harvard University "Traditionally, US philanthropy has favored elite institutions over HBCUs, making these elite colleges among the wealthiest and most powerful institutions in history. Yet many of our elected leaders, typically educated at those institutions, seem among the most hostile to democratic ideals and fan the flames of hate and inequity. John Wilson's remarkable book, Hope and Healing: Black Colleges and the Future of American Democracy, persuasively argues how strengthening HBCUs and their character-driven educational model can help our nation meet its current challenges in ways that elite, predominantly white institutions are failing us--and provides a compelling road map for philanthropy to follow." --Bill Moses, managing director of education, Kresge FoundationAuthor Biography
John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. has been a career-long advocate of HBCUs. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1979 and later served as its eleventh president (2013-2017). He has also worked to advance HBCUs on the national stage by serving as the executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs in the Obama Administration. He now directs the Millennium Leadership Initiative for aspiring college presidents.
