Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

"1lTew Creation or Familiar Deatla"
A REJOINDER TO
"d seriously question whether more than
a handful of Blaek inc+6i~Kio»r could
launch an inw~tute that ~.aoKld wart re
motely appro~incste tike Atl~ts Uas.iuersity
Cent;1 msdel"
BY WILLIAM J . WILSON
~~~aN THE March 1969 issue of NEGxO DIGEST, Vincent Harding
wrote a passionate and thought-provoking letter to black
students and faculty in the North which seriously challenged
the legitimacy of our creating various programs to effect a
more meaningful black experience on predominantly white
campuses . In Harding's own words, his letter was "written in the spirit
of black ecumenical concern as we move towards a new humanity,"
and he encouraged those of us to whom his remarks were directed to
respond . I am, therefore, taking this opportunity to react to Professor
Harding's very timely letter .
Since space will not permit an elaborately detailed rejoinder to Professor
Harding's arguments, I shall here concentrate on what I take to
be the basic points of his statement . If I understand his position correctly,
he maintains :
1) That white northern institutions, as a result of black student pressure,
have recently discovered the need to enroll more black students,
to hire more black faculty, and to establish various levels of bh~_koriented
curricula ; and in attempting to deal with this problem they have
begun to exploit black schools in the South by recruiting competent
black faculty, by entering "into serious competition with the southern
schools for the best black students," and by pirating "some Afro-
American curriculum which had not been destroyed by `integration' ."
2) That such activities are threatening the survival of black institutions
because they are not in a position to compete effectively in terms
of the fabulous scholarship and financial aids offered to the best black
6 March 1970 NEGRO DIGEST