PUSH Excel Historically Black College Tour Gives Students Appreciation For Education

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country were founded during a time when whites were reluctant to give access to education to the newly freed blacks. What would the formerly enslaved do if enabled to compete on an equal level with their former enslavers? Would they excel, rise to positions of prominence in business, take over the government, and exact vengeance on whites? Or would they forgive, choose to become partners in the development of the nation, and still maintain social separation in a way that made whites feel comfortable? Great minds like Booker T. Washington built institutions of higher education with the help of white philanthropists who felt that an educated, skilled tradesman would be content to maintain a separate social system between whites and blacks if earning a decent living. This week, during Spring Break, two busloads of highschool students, sponsored by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, are on a national tour of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to learn the history of post slavery education and the responsibility of a new generation to excel, rise to positions of prominence in business, take over the government, and correct the wrongs in America.