Meet Dr. Marybeth Gasman, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair and a Distinguished University Professor at Rutgers University, and Dr. Levon T. Esters, the Dean of Graduate School and Vice Provost for graduate education at Penn State University. The co-authored HBCU:  The Power of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, published by John Hopkins Press.

In this program, Gasman and Esters discussed with us their book about the impact of HBCU’s.

“A lot of great scholars and athletes and politicians started their journeys at an HBCU. So, for me to be apart of that, and to be able to share that story with others, other students, right. No matter if they’re middle school or high school, as you name it, to get them to start thinking about it. I mean, matter of fact, I have three daughters. My middle one attended a HBCU. And so, for me, to know that I can share my story that can hopefully inspire others to want to attend, and gain what I gained when I was there. Just something that I look forward to doing. And this book is just one other mechanism to do that, “said Esters.

Gasman said she first learned of a Historically Black College in 1994 during her first year of her doctoral program. She read a book called the Education of Blacks in the South by James Anderson who was a Stillman College Graduate located in Tuscaloosa, AL. She was so inspired by Anderson, her research on HBCU’s.

“I always had an interest in race and equity, but that book really changed my life. And you know I grew up in the country. I grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where, there were no African-Americans anywhere within, like, a hour radius living in that area up near the Canada border. And so, I would, you know, a black college is not something that I would ever have crossed my radar. Especially given that we don’t really learn much in school about black colleges at the K through 12 level. It’s changing a little, but that’s kind of how I got into it, “said Gasman.

The book explores the remarkable impact and contributions of these significant institutions.