Soon-to-be college student Shaheed Ansari knows what he wants to do in life—become a defense attorney. And he made it clear at a recent community forum that when he steps onto a college campus this fall, it will be at a Historically Black College.
“There’s 50 people in my class,” said Ansari, a senior at Propel Braddock Hills. “I made every single person apply to a HBCU because a HBCU is a group of African Americans trying to better themselves and their community. No other college can truly say, ‘we are for a community, we are here to help this community.’”
The panel discussion was held March 30 at Community College of Allegheny County, where representatives from nearly a dozen HBCUs spoke about the advantages of attending those colleges and universities. HBCUs represented were Delaware State., North Carolina Central, Lincoln Univ., Tuskegee Univ., South Carolina State College, Prairie View A&M, West Virginia State Univ., Hampton Univ., Jackson State Univ., Bennett College and Alabama State Univ.
“It’s people who are educated, who are bright, who are Black like me who want to help the world, who want to do something with their lives,” Ansari said about his desires to attend a HBCU. “People who have risen above their circumstances and said, ‘hey, I want to do something, I want to build something.’”
High school and middle school students were in attendance, some brought by Jeanine Baxter, Youth Outreach Specialist for Housing Opportunities Unlimited in Oak Hill. She helped students in the program research different HBCUs prior to the event.
“I heard that the HBCUs are more of a family,” said Tashari Thompson, 10, a student in the program. “It’s more, ‘I’m going to help you because I want to better you in life.’”
Aujhanay Spencer 14, and Rabraya Logan, 12, also were in attendance. “It’s somewhere you can be safe instead of uncomfortable,” Logan said after hearing the panelists.
Frank Walker II, a local attorney and West Virginia State University graduate, told those in attendance that a HBCU provides students with parental-like figures. “I mean it in a good way,” he said. “They see you as one of their children, not in a sense that they are going to micromanage you or be in your room, but sometimes they will be like that.
“Sometimes you need that person in your life that’s going to say, ‘hey I’m here watching you, I’m your mother, I’m your father away from home, guiding you along the way,’” Walker II said.
Pittsburgh CAPA junior Tyra Galloway, 16, said her brother attended a HBCU, Tuskegee University. Her mother wanted her to apply to a HBCU, so she applied at Howard University. But as of now, she’s focused on Kent State University in Ohio because, “Their fashion program is really, really good, it’s close to home, and it’s just a nice community.” Galloway said she is anxious to let her friends know about the knowledge she received from the forum about HBCUs, as the Pittsburgh-area HBCU college tour is this week.
Larimer native and South Carolina State College graduate Alexis Howard said during the event that attending a HBCU will “change your life.”
It’s “going to change your perspective,” she said. “It’s going to change how they see themselves. When you go to a place that is predominately-Black and you see people who are encouraging you and not tearing you down…It’s about the people being able to pour into you and show you things you couldn’t see in yourself,” Howard said.
Dr. Christopher Robinson, a graduate of Jackson State University and CCAC professor, said that “HBCUs provide students a certain type of support system that some predominately-White institutions don’t always provide our African American students. All HBCU graduates are family, it’s a professional Black network, you’re able to learn and able to gain,” he said.
State Rep. Ed Gainey (D – Lincoln-Lemington) is a 1994 graduate of Morgan State University. He told the students and others in attendance that Morgan State, a HBCU, is where he learned to become a true student.
“I fell in love with knowledge. I fell in love with the knowledge of what I can become,” Gainey said. Attending a HBCU is “really a felling you can’t explain,” Gainey said. “I felt like it gave me life. I didn’t feel like I had to come home and be everyone else. I can be my own person and be comfortable with it. It made me want more.”
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