Leadership and the Sustainability of Black Colleges and Universities

Within the U.S. higher education and society at large, a topic of continuing interest is the future of black colleges and universities. The nation's black institutions of higher education, despite ther size and stature, have proven their mettle, yet they face persistent challenge to their survival.

Edward W. Beasley (Beta)

Archon Edward W. Beasley (Beta) at the right, talks with Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago and Metropolitan Opera Star Leontyne Price, after having steered successfully a mammoth benefit concert in Chicago, attracting 5000 music lovers. Archon Beasley received at the June Commencement, an Alumni citation from his Alma Mater, Fisk University, for meritorious service to humanity.

At the dawn of the twentieth century black men of distinction had long functioned in various leadership posts, especially in the churches and benevolent association movement. Some, notably Frederick Douglass among them, had even served in high government posts. But by and large they lived lives separate from those of the black masses and the white professionals. In 1904 a small group in Philadelphia set out to create an organization that would provide a vehicle for men of standing and like tastes to come together to know the best of one another.

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