Discusses the politics of higher education as it relates to the upward mobility of African Americans in U.S. society. It discusses higher education's role in reducing the endemic problems confronting blacks and how blacks can pursue their educational goals despite the politics in higher education. (GLR)

A free mind is the first step in the pursuit of liberty, but African Americans have been hampered in that pursuit by both the Eurocentric dominant culture and by the lack of consensus among blacks on the nature and goals of black education. Conflicting trends in the history of black education include the following: (1) opposing Eurocentric and…