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Reflections on Black Colleges: The Historical Perspective of Charles S. Johnson

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Ralph L. Pearson
Ralph L. Pearson*
Affiliation:
Loyola University of Chicago
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From 1928 when he moved from the National Urban League to Fisk University until his untimely death in 1956, Charles S. Johnson was a major spokesman for black higher education in general and private, black southern colleges in particular. During that almost thirty year period he defended the uniqueness of their role in American higher education, while persistently urging them to elevate their academic quality to a level equal to that of mainstream colleges and universities.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , Spring 1983 , pp. 55 - 68
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 by History of Education Society 

References

Notes

1. Johnson, Charles S., The Negro College Graduate (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1938), pp. 247–249.Google Scholar

2. Ibid.Google Scholar

3. Ibid., pp. 250–251.Google Scholar

4. Ibid., p. 257 Google Scholar

5. Ibid., pp. 298–299.Google Scholar

6. Ibid., p. 300.Google Scholar

7. Scholars have used the concept of “marginality” to interpret Johnson and his work. See, for example, Robbins, Richard, “Charles S. Johnson,” in Blackwell, James E. and Janowitz, Morris (eds.), Black Sociologists: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Chicago, 1974), pp. 56–59.Google Scholar

8. Johnson, , The Negro College Graduate, p. 356.Google Scholar

9. Ibid.Google Scholar

10. Ibid., p. 365. Johnson's position on the existence of an independent black tradition in America was, and is, challenged by black and white scholars. See, for example, Levine, Lawrence W., Black Culture and Black Consciousness (New York, 1977).Google Scholar

11. Johnson, , The Negro College Graduate, p. 366 Google Scholar

12. Ibid.Google Scholar

13. Ibid., pp. 366–367.Google Scholar

14. Ibid., pp. 367–368.Google Scholar

15. Ibid., p. 368.Google Scholar

16. Pres. [sic] Johnson's, Charles S. Message to the Alumni,” Fisk News, 20 (December, 1946): 2.Google Scholar

17. Johnson, Charles S., “Four Pillars of Faith,” inaugural address, Fisk University (November 7, 1947), Fisk University Library, Johnson papers, p. 1. (Hereafter references to the Johnson papers in the Fisk University Library are noted simply as Johnson papers.) Google Scholar

18. Ibid., pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

19. Ibid., p. 2.Google Scholar

20. Ibid., p. 3.Google Scholar

21. Johnson, Charles S., “The Social Responsibilities of Higher Education,” in Tenth Yearbook of the John Dewey Society, Democracy in the Administration of Higher Education, ed. by Benjamin, Harold (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950), 21.Google Scholar

22. Ibid., 23 Google Scholar

23. Johnson, Charles S., “American Education and the Negro College,” Text of Address To Be Delivered By Johnson, Charles S. Dr. … Principal Speaker at the 10th Annual United Negro College Fund Convocation at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, Monday Evening, January 12, 1953, Johnson papers, p. 2.Google Scholar

24. Ibid., p. 3.Google Scholar

25. Ibid.Google Scholar

26. Ibid., p. 4.Google Scholar

27. Ibid., pp. 5–6.Google Scholar

28. Ibid., p. 8.Google Scholar

29. Johnson, Charles S., “Next Steps in Education,” Phylon, 15 (First Quarter, 1954), 10; see also Johnson, Charles S., “The Future is Here,” speech given at Booker T. Washington High School, Houston, Texas, May 7, 1954, Johnson papers, p. 16.Google Scholar

30. Johnson, , “Next Steps …, 16.Google Scholar

31. Ibid.Google Scholar

32. Ibid., 9.Google Scholar

33. Johnson, Charles S., “Comment on Ginzberg's “The Negro Potential” Chapter on The Educational Preparation of the Negro,” Johnson papers, p. 3.Google Scholar

34. Ibid., p. 5.Google Scholar

35. In 1956 Johnson expressed his expectation that higher education would lead in the desegregation of American institutions: “With no defense of segregation remaining, save custom and the political expedient of states rights, it is not unlikely that the first area of total integration in southern education will be in the college and universities.” Johnson, Charles S., “Integration in American Colleges and Universities,” Institute of International Education News Bulletin, 32 (October, 1956): 5.Google Scholar

36. Johnson, Charles S., “The Time is Now,” Remarks for UNCF Campaign Meeting, Detroit, Michigan, July 18, 1956, Johnson papers, pp. 3, 4, 5.Google Scholar

37. Ibid., pp. 6, 7, 8.Google Scholar