DIRECTORY INTRANET UW SITE MAP CONTACT

Application Deadlines

Scholarships & Funding

Courses

At A Glance

Calendar

Giving

Center for

Multicultural Education

Radicalizing the Ebony Tower: Black Colleges and the Black Freedom Struggle in Mississippi

Joy Ann Williamson

This path-breaking examination of Black colleges in Mississippi during the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements offers a unique opportunity to understand how institutions are transformed into liberatory agents. Williamson examines how campus constituents negotiated and clashed over local, state, and national pressures against the backdrop of the highly contentious conflict between those determined to protect racial hierarchy and others equally determined to cripple white supremacy. She shows how students challenged the notion of the university as an ivory tower, aloof from community affairs, and documents how these colleges tried to resolve the tension between activism and academics. Through the words and deeds of actual participants, this profoundly moving account also provides firsthand knowledge of how students balanced their pursuit of higher education with campus and societal reform.

Dr. Williamson's primary research agenda examines the reciprocal relationship between social movements--particularly those of the middle twentieth century--and institutions of higher education. Her previous work investigated black student-motivated reforms at predominantly white institutions during the Black Power era. Her book, Black Power on Campus: The University of Illinois, 1965-1975, examined the interaction between students and administrators that created the successful support systems which exist on today's college campuses. She has recently completed a manuscript entitled Education for Liberation: Black Colleges and the Black Freedom Struggle, which examines issues of institutional autonomy, institutional response to internal and external pressures, and the relationship between historically black colleges and the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. She has also written about the Black Panther Party's educational programs, the history of social justice in education, and the portrayal of the black freedom struggle in high school history textbooks.

Dr. Williamson teaches courses on the history of education, the history of higher education, education as a moral endeavor, the shifting definition of 'proper education' and 'liberation' for different social groups, and the educational histories of people of color. She also teaches in the Secondary Teacher Education Program.

''Whereas many historians have neglected student activists as students, Williamson examines student activism within the college and university context rather than merely within the larger Civil Rights Movement. ... By focusing on one state, Williamson is able to delve deeply into the topic at hand, comparing and contrasting the public and private Black colleges, all the while providing a rich context. ... The stories that Williamson crafts will force the reader to think about the role of presidents today at all colleges and the stands they choose to take on behalf of their students. ... Overall, Williamson s book is a beautifully written history that depicts the centrality of Black college students to the Black freedom movement.'' --Teachers College Record, June 27, 2008