Preserving Student Activism at HBCUs
Florida A&M, Tuskegee, Texas Southern, and Jackson State Universities
HBCU students actively engaged in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. As they fought to reimagine their schools, communities, and the nation, they made history. Their roles in those movements continue to shape social justice issues. HBCU students have repeatedly held their colleges, state governments, and the country to the highest standards of excellence and equity.
The records of these battles live in student newspapers, artwork, yearbooks, alumni scrapbooks, and photograph albums.
Early Student Protests at HBCUs
Burned campus buildings at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical College, 1923
Students sit on trunks of rescued belongings after three campus buildings burned in 1923
As long as there have been colleges and universities, there have been student protests. Students have sought to right perceived wrongs, voice concerns, and share their views on social and political issues. Student protests at HBCUs were often shaped by ideas about cultural nationalism, racial progress, and freedom. These ideas, combined with other issues such as the mistreatment of Black women and the need for curriculum changes, have shaped the history of HBCU activism.
In 1923, Florida Agricultural & Mechanical College (FAMU) burned to the ground during student protests. Faculty and students were angry that the Florida State Legislature fired FAMU President Nathan B. Young, halting his attempts to expand the school’s curriculum beyond vocational training.
Florida A&M students protest the kidnapping and rape of one of their classmates by four white men, 1959
Fighting Segregation with Nonviolence
During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, HBCU students risked beatings and imprisonment for participating in peaceful protests. Students demanded equal access to restaurants, shops, transit, schools, and jobs. A rich trove of written documents, photographs, and objects in HBCU archives preserves students’ experiences.
The Committee on Appeal for Human Rights
The Committee on Appeal for Human Rights (COAHR) was founded in 1960 by students from HBCUs (Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark College, Atlanta University, and the Interdenominational Theological Center) comprising the Atlanta University Center. Their nonviolent protests helped end segregation in Atlanta restaurants and other public businesses. COAHR leaders encouraged citizens of all ages to raise their voices against segregation and stand in solidarity against injustice.
Members of the student-run COAHR handed out tens of thousands of printed advertisements, encouraging locals to participate in demonstrations and fight for African American civil liberties.
I thank God that in some small way that I am able to help those of us who are denied our equal rights. I do not consider going to jail a sacrifice but a privilege.
Priscilla Stephens, FAMU student, letter written from the Leon County Jail, 1960
The Murder of Sammy Younge Jr.
Tuskegee High School photo of Sammy Younge Jr., 1962
Sammy Younge Jr. was an activist and student at Tuskegee University. He was killed by a gas station attendant in 1966 for allegedly trying to use a restroom designated for white people's use only. The all-white jury who tried Younge’s killer returned a not-guilty verdict, leading to national outrage.
Younge’s killing led to James Foreman’s 1968 publication, Sammy Younge Jr: The First Black College Student to Die in the Black Liberation Movement. Younge was one of many students in the Civil Rights Movement who were killed, injured, or harassed for their activism.
The 1968 Tuskegee University Student Uprising
Tuskegee University student protesters confront an administrator during their occupation of Dorothy Hall.
Tuskegee University students protest outside of Dorothy Hall during a meeting with the Board of Trustees, blocking the door.
During the height of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, Tuskegee University students demanded institutional reform, racial justice, and a curriculum more reflective of the Black experience. Students were frustrated with the school’s conservative administration, lack of student input in governance, inadequate financial aid packages, and the outdated curriculum in certain departments. Tensions escalated, but nearly all the student demands were implemented over time.
Tuskegee University’s archives contain documents, photographs, and video footage from this turbulent period
Chester Higgins’s Student Unrest, Tuskegee Institute: A Chronology
Chester Higgins is a renowned photographer whose work often documents Black history and culture. Some of his initial research interests and reporting were cultivated as a student at Tuskegee Institute. Higgins worked under Dr. Edgar Epps at the Behavioral Science Research Institution. Under Epps’s tutelage, Higgins created Student Unrest, Tuskegee Institute: A Chronology.
This compilation of position papers and memos covers the lead-up to the Tuskegee Uprising on April 6, 1968. The materials capture the varying viewpoints and communications between Tuskegee students and administrators that led to the school's shutdown. The protest, which occurred only two days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gave Tuskegee students an opportunity to demand numerous changes.
Students Respond to Police Violence at Texas Southern University
In 1967 Houston police, citing a riot on campus, stormed Texas Southern University (TSU). Police shot at a dormitory and jailed hundreds of students, many still in their pajamas. Though TSU’s archives did not include student testimonies about the incident, the art department saved students’ work reflecting on their experiences of the event and other local and national issues.
The Arrest of Lee Otis Johnson
Houston’s Lee Otis Johnson. Kenneth Carter, 1968.
Lee Otis Johnson was a Texas Southern University student, activist, and organizer and the leader of TSU’s Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee chapter. Johnson led a 1967 TSU student strike and was one of five activists charged with inciting the protest known as the TSU Riot where a police officer was killed and nearly 500 students were arrested. In 1968, Johnson shared a marijuana cigarette to an undercover police officer, which resulted in a 30-year prison sentence. His arrest led to many rallies and protests, with students all around Texas chanting “Free Lee Otis!”
Fellow TSU student Kenneth Carter drew this portrait of Lee Otis Johnson to honor Johnson and criticize his imprisonment.
Archiving the Jackson State University Killings
On May 15, 1970, responding to alleged student protests on campus, local and state police officers shot nearly 400 bullets in the direction of students gathered in front of Alexander Hall at Jackson State College. The gunfire killed Phillip Gibbs, a 21-year-old Jackson State College student, and James Earl Green, a high school student. Twelve other students were injured.
Archived photos capture the wake of unrest at HBCUs in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Fighting to Save and Sustain HBCUs
FAMU student march, ca. 1967
To Save a Legacy
Philanthropists, religious organizations, missionary societies, and, in some cases, the federal government helped found many of today’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Today, most depend on state and federal funds for operating costs and research dollars. Many states have historically provided unequal funding to HBCUs or threatened to close or downsize them. Believing in their important legacy and ongoing relevance, HBCU students continue to fight for their schools.