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theses

During the early twentieth century, a cadre of black student activists engaged in the fight for the rights and freedoms accorded to them as citizens of the United States. Beginning with their own institutions of higher education, student activists adopted a politics of protest, and sought to engender major campus and curricular reforms. As the student activists of the early twentieth century confronted racial and gender inequality on their campuses, and demanded to be included in campus governance, they raised larger questions about racial progress and black self-determination. Black student activists also protested the social, political, and economic injustices wrought by life in Jim Crow America. This dissertation addresses a particular set of questions: What did student activism in the early twentieth century look like? What were the issues that politicized and mobilized students to organize? What role did gender play in students’ activism? How did students’ activism change throughout the course of the early twentieth century? What role did students’ see themselves having in the larger struggle for civil rights and freedoms during these years? To answer these questions, my dissertation focuses on the history of early twentieth century student activism at three of the most prominent southern institutions of black higher education: Fisk University, Spelman College, and Howard University. By placing both the college campus and black collegians at the center of the story, my work provides a new perspective about the connections between black higher education, student leadership and activism, and the origins of the Civil Rights Movement. Indeed, throughout the early twentieth century, student activists at Fisk, Spelman, and Howard cultivated a tradition of leadership, critical thought, and social activism. As they organized around campus and curricular reforms, as well as larger social, political and economic rights, student activists at Fisk, Spelman, and Howard pioneered many of the non-violent direct-action strategies that would become the hallmark of the modern Civil Rights Movement. The ideas, aspirations, organizations, and leadership of the early twentieth century student activists laid the groundwork for the generation of students who would follow in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70s.

ETD_7024

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Melissa Mary Horne

doi:10.7282/T3XG9T6B

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.