Black Graduates Are Important
May and June are the graduation season nationwide, and of course, the African American community is no different. Since the Cheyney University of Pennsylvania was established in 1837 African Americans have been graduating from college with degrees to help not only the black community but the United States at large. Since that time there are over one hundred and thirty colleges in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and the US Virgin Islands. Early in our tenure here in the United States we came to understand the power and need for our people to be educated. Now, that we are in the twenty-first century the importance of Black hasn’t changed.
In the past education has always presented itself as the road or pathway to prosperity and a greater sense of freedom in the USA for African Americans. This was believed by luminaries of thought and politics of the times, even though they disagreed with the importance of training in the trades vs liberal education of African Americans. The most vocal on this issue was, Dr. Booker T. Washington, who believed the best road was via the trades and proving our worth to this country. However, W.E.B. DuBois believed that education in all areas was needed to make sure the black man is prepared for all aspects of American life. Despite such debates, it was clear that the education of the Black community was paramount to saving it.
This is evident when we see the number of inventors and business people who arose out of the era of Reconstruction into the Industrial Revolution. Such as Lewis H. Lattimer who work improved the light bulb filament and wrote the first book on streetlight systems for cities. Or the chemist, Annie Turnbo Malone of St. Louis, MO, who invented hair care products for black women and used her money to support causes for freedom and progress of the African American community. There are a plethora of examples of education providing advancement for African American people. We continue to see this importance in the community, by the fact that black women are the fastest-growing educated block in the USA for the past decade at least. The benefits of education, even though interrupted by white supremacy, have been economic safety for many in the community over time.
It has been shown that individuals who complete college earn more in their lifetime than those with a high diploma or less. In, 2019, the US Dept of Education release new information on college graduates one year after graduation. They found that “74 percent of all African Americans who graduated from college were employed one year later…” Also, the middle income for those Black graduates was around $36,000 annually. However, black households with college degrees earn more than blacks with a high school diploma by 99.5 percent. Even though these statistics are fifteen years older than those previously mentioned, we still see blacks with only a high school diploma had a median income of $18,396 (or thereabouts), and those with a bachelor's degree were $36,694. See the table below from Bank Rate that gives a clearer picture of the situation:
Therefore, it is more than evident that college graduation is extremely helpful in pulling our people out of poverty to a greater level of economic safety that can translate into political power when we are in unison on common issues. We need to continue to support and highlight our graduate’s college successes and encourage youth to strive for more and better for the whole community and their families. I salute and encourage all the graduates and admonish them to encourage their younger relatives to follow in their footsteps providing go reason why as I did above!