Black History, Progress, and Professional Education

Black History Month presents a recurring, yet reflective, occasion to examine the history of education and professional success in the African-American context. Education has long been valued and deemed essential in the ongoing struggle for equality and access to opportunity. The importance of education continues in the contemporary labor market—particularly as the Information Age requires, and demands, a constant refreshing of new skills across sectors and industries. As jobs rapidly transition away from rote manufacturing jobs, which have been a significant source of employment for many, into a Knowledge Economy that requires more complex skills, the threat to the black community, in particular, is dire and devastating. The good news, however, is that educational institutions are adapting to these changes, offering both the training and re-training that can facilitate prosperous growth in this new paradigm. Education has the power to lift communities and arm them with the talented workforce needed to remain relevant and competitive.

This “Access to Education” phenomenon has not always been available—at least not for our African-American ancestors. In pre-Civil War America, it was illegal, in some states, for slaves to receive an education. Even after slavery, for a period, some remained bound to former owners through loophole apprenticeship laws. During the period of Reconstruction, the first public schools opened for black children but were poorly financed, inadequately staffed, and systematically sub-par. When Jim Crow laws came into effect in the 1870s, many schools were racially segregated. They remained that way until 1954, when Brown vs. the Board of Education began the process of forced integration in public schools, but, in actuality, took the civil rights movement of the 1960s to be seriously enforced.

Today, we see the results of that historical fight for equality in education all around us. As is true for many successful individuals, the biographies of African-American leaders in some of the U.S.’s best-known organizations typically demonstrate impressive educational profiles. Examples include Dick Parsons, former head of Citigroup and Time Warner (and current CEO of the L.A. Clippers). Parsons earned degrees from the University of Hawaii and Albany Law School. Ursula Burns, a Columbia University graduate, serves as Chairman of Xerox Corporation. On his path to becoming CEO and Chairman of American Express, Kenneth Chenault attended Bowdoin College and Harvard University. Publisher and philanthropist Earl Graves was an economics major at Morgan State University, and Stacey Stewart, President of the March of Dimes, received an undergraduate degree from Georgetown and an MBA from University of Michigan. Each’s rise to leadership was undoubtedly due to many factors, with education being one of them. It is extraordinary to ponder that just 200 years ago, the most basic schooling of African Americans was unusual and often done clandestinely, and access to higher education could hardly be imagined. 

In addition to these contemporary revolutionaries, it is also worth mentioning several of the early African-American pioneers who pursued education, in a variety of ways, and used it to gain professional success. Research any number of accounts on black entrepreneurship, and you will see the name James Forten (1766-1842). He received his professional training by serving as an apprentice to a sail maker in Philadelphia, who eventually sold Forten the business. As previously noted, the education of slaves was illegal in some states. However, James Forten had the fortune of being born free, and in the north, where he was able to attend a Quaker school for black children, and had the opportunity to learn, through apprenticeship, the sailing ship business. Based on equipment he himself developed, Forten became a wealthy businessman and used his economic power to counter injustices perpetrated against fellow blacks and other vulnerable groups. 

A few generations later, new African-American leaders emerged including Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955). Born in South Carolina to slaves, she received an education with help from benefactors. It was not easy—she had to walk miles each way to and from a missionary school. Bethune persisted and continued her studies through other religious institutions and eventually started an African-American girls school. She later went on to become one the few women of her time to serve as a college president; she held that position at what is now Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black university affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Among her many other accomplishments, Bethune was also a civil rights leader and was appointed national advisor to president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

A lesser known figure—but someone who made an early contribution to financial and business education—was Norman McGhee (1897-1979). He had the good fortune to be born into a middle-class family that stressed, and had the necessary resources to support, education. McGhee obtained not only an undergraduate degree, but also a law degree at Howard University in 1922. During the Jim Crow era, he migrated north to Cleveland and made his fortune in real estate, later founding a securities firm. As he progressed in his career, he seized opportunities to communicate to, and train, others in the African-American community through channels such as newspaper columns and teaching a course at his company. He recognized the benefit of providing financial education to blacks who were understandably cautious about investing their hard-earned money in the stock market. By sharing his practitioner knowledge and modeling success, he encouraged African Americans to gain a stronger foothold in the economy and leverage market resources for expanded wealth.

Chronicling the success stories of today’s African-American executives and their earlier counterparts, we see a common thread. Education—whether it be apprenticeship, K-12 and higher education, or practitioner-based training and development—is often a key link to advancement and, ultimately, to equality and access. It is a vital reminder that professional education has been a powerful tool in the march toward progress, and continued/expanded access is a critical component for the desired success trajectory of the next next generation of African-American leaders.

This post was originally published in HuffPost.

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