White Money Black Power: The Surprising History of African American Studies and the Crisis of Race in Higher Education

225 Pages·2007·1.02 MB·English

by  Noliwe M. Rooks

WHITE MONEY/BLACK POWER

W H I T E
M O N E Y
/
B L A C K
P O W E R
The Surprising History of African American Studies
and the Crisis of Race in Higher Education
Noliwe M. Rooks
beacon press, boston
Beacon Press
25 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-2892
www.beacon.org
Beacon Press books
are published under the auspices of
the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
© 2006 by Noliwe M. Rooks
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
10 09 08 07 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the uncoated paper
ANSI/NISO specifications for permanence as revised in 1992.
Text design by Patricia Duque Campos
Composition by Wilsted & Taylor Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rooks, Noliwe M.
White money/Black power : the surprising history of African American
studies and the crisis of race in higher education / Noliwe M. Rooks.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8070-3271-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. African Americans—
Study and teaching (Higher)—History—20th century. 2. Education, Higher—
Economic aspects—United States—History—20th century. 3. African
Americans—Education (Higher)—History—20th century. 4. Ford
Foundation—History—20th century. 5. United States—Race relations—
History—20th century. 6. Black power—United States—History—
20th century. 7. African American college students—History—20th century.
8. Student movements—United States—History—20th century. I. Title.
E184.7.R66 2005
973(cid:2).0496073(cid:2)0071173—dc22
2005014708
For my son, Jelani, who has
waited almost patiently for me
to dedicate a book to him.
It’s my pleasure to do so now.

CONTENTS
1.
1 WHITE MONEY/BLACK POWER:
THE FORD FOUNDATION
AND BLACK STUDIES
6 A Story to Pass On
9 Remembering Freedom
13 Race, Higher Education,
and the American University
15 Rise of the Black Student
Movement
26 McGeorge Bundy, the Ford
Foundation, and Black Studies
2.
31 BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY:
STUDENT PROTEST AND THE
BIRTH OF BLACK STUDIES
32 Prelude to a Strike
35 San Francisco State:
An Unlikely Place
for a Revolution
39 The White Student
Protest Movement:
Port Huron Statement
44 The Strike in Black and White
56 Cornell University
3.
61 NATION BUILDING IN THE
BELLY OF THE BEAST
65 Race, Rebellion, and
Black Studies
68 Structured Equality:
Methodologies of Blackness
in the Early Years
75 The Ford Foundation
and Black Studies:
The Yale Conference
80 McGeorge Bundy
and Black Power
85 Cleveland: Background
of an Election
90 Ocean Hill-Brownsville
4.
93 BLACK STUDIES IN WHITE AND
BLACK: THE FORD FOUNDATION
FUNDS BLACK STUDIES
94 Black Studies Grant Making
and the Ford Foundation
102 White Philanthropy and Black
Education: An Overview
106 The First Round of Grants in
Black Studies
114 Looking Back and Wondering:
Surveying the Field Five
Years Later
118 Maybe Wrong, but
Never in Doubt
5.
123 THE LEGACY IN THE PRESENT
127 Travels in Time: Black Studies,
African Americans, and
Affirmative Action
131 Ford, Black Students, and
the Post–Civil Rights Era
135 Stories from the Front Lines:
African American Studies in
Contemporary America
146 Bakke, Affirmative Action,
and Higher Education,
1970–2003
151 From Black Studies to
African Diaspora Studies:
A Shift in Perspective
6.
155 EVERYTHING AND NOTHING AT ALL:
RACE, BLACK STUDIES, AND
HIGHER EDUCATION TODAY
160 Diversity in Black
165 Getting There from Here:
The Future of African
American Studies
169 Profiles in Diversity in Higher
Education, or, What’s Race
Got to Do with It?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 179
NOTES 181
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 195
INDEX 205