Education and Black Liberation

In this week’s Freshmen Seminar we were introduced to Dr. Richard L. Wright, a professor in the Department of Speech Communication and Culture here at Howard. In his lecture he shared his experiences as an African American during the civil rights movement; and spoke of black liberation and Howard’s involvement, the importance of education in the black community and the need for continued student activism.

In 1960, Dr. Wright began attending Howard University. Howard started off very conservative; but, after an inspirational speech delivered by Malcolm X in our very own Cramton Auditorium, Howard took a turn for the best. Howard’s student body knew that change began with them and quickly became involved in the civil rights struggle for black liberation. Before liberation, laws segregated blacks from whites in order to deny them their resources, isolate them, and prevent them from becoming political figures. Regardless of having these odds against them, Howard students began organizing organizations, protests and Black Studies programs; those of which continue today. Undoubtedly, Howard made an incredible difference in the nation.

Another key concept mentioned was education as an essential part of liberation. Dr. Wright explained, “You have to be twice as good to get half as much—you can’t be black and ignorant” when you are an African American. During the civil rights movement education was a powerful weapon that had to be used energetically and wisely. He said a person can not be an irrelevant intellectual and as an intellectual you have to be energized in order to be liberated.

Fifty years later student activism, as mentioned by Dr. Wright, has been on a steady decline. He made the eye opening point that education in the black community has gone down with the increase of desegregation. Instead of us as a people doing more with our accomplishments we are doing less.

Dr. Wright’s lecture in this week’s session was moving and I hope it will inspire our generation to continue the legacy that has been established by Howard students before us.