Of all the honors and accolades bibliophile and noted authority on the Underground Railroad Charles Blockson has received, being bequeathed recently with some of Harriet Tubman's personal items by her great-niece is one of the most significant experiences of his life. A longtime collector of books and rare items by and about African-Americans,…

This article presents an interview with NCAA President Mark Emmert. President of the NCAA since October 2010, Dr. Mark Emmert is constantly engaged in a delicate balancing act, as he deals with the competing priorities and agendas of college presidents, coaches, athletic directors, boosters, sports agents, and the media, while trying to look out…

It used to be that newly minted Ph.D.s had to establish themselves and cut their academic teeth at less competitive colleges and universities. That was certainly true for young Black scholars. The prospects of landing a coveted teaching position at one of the nation's eight Ivy League institutions were dim. In the years leading up to the Civil…

Which colleges and universities graduate the most Black students with bachelor's degrees who then make it through medical school and become doctors? Two historically Black schools lead the pack. Xavier University continues to dominate, with 60 of its alumni graduating from medical schools around the country last year. Howard University is next,…

Ruth Simmons made a big news splash a decade ago when she was named president of Brown University, making her the first Black president of an Ivy League institution. She made another splash three years later by naming a committee to investigate Brown's role in the slave trade and make recommendations on possible reparations. Reflecting on her…

Even on the sixth anniversary of the hurricane that buckled the Crescent City in 2005, left much of Xavier University of New Orleans under water and its faculty and students scattered by the rushing winds, Dr. JW Carmichael did not expect to be talking that morning about Katrina. For him it was a horrific storm that nearly drowned a hundred dreams…

When Gabrielle Carpenter became a guidance counselor in Northern Virginia nine years ago, she focused on the academic achievement gap and furiously tried to close it. At first, she was compelled by tremendous professional interest. However, after seeing her son lose his zeal for school, Carpenter joined forces with other parents to form an…

This article reports that the flexibility and convenience of online degree programs have attracted minorities in droves, especially Black K-12 educators. Universities that deliver most or all of their courses online have become the leading producers of Blacks earning graduate degrees in education. The online trend is most pronounced among Black…

This article reports on a research authored by University of Pennsylvania's Dr. Shaun Harper that sought answers on how Black males adapt and succeed in college. Harper's National Black Male College Achievement Study is the largest-ever empirical study of Black male undergraduates. Partly launched when he was a Ph.D. student at Indiana University…

This article describes a University of West Georgia program that focuses on creating a brotherhood of successful Black male students. The students, all freshmen, live together, counsel together and reinforce one another in the effort to learn, achieve--and graduate. Called the West Georgia Learning Community, the students are learning to trust one…