Gerald McWorter’s Blueprint For the Development of a Black University

The student movement of 1960s felt that something was seriously wrong with the conservative approach to education of the blacks. For this reason, they demanded the development of the black educational institutions that could help solve the problem. In every racists society, rewards and opportunities are always assigned according to race and color, and those who suffer the most in racist American society are the blacks. Gerald McWorter was highly concerned about the deficiencies of academic institutions and how these institutions related with black students as well as the communities where the students came from. Gerald McWorter together with other academic experts came up with an idea of developing a “Black University (McWorter et al. 1968).”

The ideas for the development of the “Black University” developed by McWorter and his colleagues were meant to articulate and promote the artistic nature of the black people. He had three different proposals or blueprints for the development of a “Black University.” The first proposal was that, the “Black University” should cover the total and real needs of black students and the entire black community. Gerald McWorter also proposed that the “Black University” would struggle to strengthen institutions that make the black community feasible. In his third proposal, McWorter felt that the university should be concerned with raising the political awareness of the black students. Generally, McWorter’s blueprints for the development of “Black University” were concerned with removal of psychological, economic, and social inequalities that characterized the academic institutions of 1960s. Through his proposals, McWorter demonstrated his full dedication towards the liberation of the black students from assumptions that have been imposed upon blacks and their culture. He had every reason to believe that his proposals with take a positive course (McWorter et al. 1968).

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