Reimagining the historically Black college and university (HBCU) environment: exposing race secrets and the binding chains of respectability and othermothering

Abstract

This article investigates how the intersections of gender, race, policy, and student differences at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) can impact student experience. Such an environment can displace and penalize those who do not adhere to the uniformity of heteronormative gender roles or respectability politics. Using intersecting themes that have emerged from press coverage of HBCUs as a departure, this article illustrates the ways Black respectability and conservatism are maintained through campus policy and creates an exclusionary environment for students on the margins. Through the conceptual lenses of respectability and othermothering we deconstruct this environment and opine that HBCUs, in these specific cases, stand in opposition to their founding mission of inclusion by perpetuating heteronormativity, stringent gender roles, and reinforce White supremacy. Ultimately, we call for HBCUs to reimagine the capability of campus environments to embrace variations of Blackness and disrupt marginalizing practices rooted in politics of respectability.

Keywords:

• Historically Black colleges and universities
• race
• campus enviornments
• policy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Dr Mary Howard-Hamilton of Indiana State University for her valuable feedback on the development of this article when it was first presented at the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).

Notes

1. The racialized terms ‘African American’ and ‘Black’ are used interchangeably in this article.