Education
Ralph Kennedy Frasier, who helped integrate the University of North Carolina, has died
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Ralph Kennedy Frasier, the last living member of the trio of young African-Americans who first desegregated undergraduate students at North Carolina’s flagship public university in the Fifties, has died.
According to son Ralph Frasier Jr. Frasier, who had been in failing health for several months, died on May 8 at the age of 85 at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. A memorial service was held Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, where Frasier spent most of his skilled profession.
Frasier, his older brother LeRoy, and John Lewis Brandon – all classmates at Durham High School – successfully fought against Jim Crow laws after they were capable of attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall of 1955. LeRoy Frasier died in late 2017, and Brandon joined him a couple of weeks later.
Initially, Hillside High School students’ applications for school were denied, though the UNC law school had been integrated several years earlier. The landmark Brown vs. decision The Board of Education, which banned segregation, took place in 1954.
The board of trustees of UNC – the nation’s oldest public university – then passed a resolution banning the admission of blacks to undergraduate programs. The students filed a lawsuit, and a federal court ordered their admission. The verdict was ultimately confirmed by the United States Supreme Court.
The three became plaintiffs partially because their families were insulated from financial retribution — the brothers’ parents, for instance, worked for the black-owned North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Durham. The brothers’ age difference was 14 months, but Ralph began school early.
After the legal victory, it was still hard to be on campus. In an interview at the time of his brother’s death, Frasier recalled that the school’s golf course and the university-owned Carolina Inn were unavailable. At football games, they sat in a bit with chaperones who were black. And all three of them lived on a separate floor of the dormitory part.
“Those days were probably the most stressful of my life” – Frasier he told the Associated Press in 2010, when the three visited Chapel Hill to be honored. “I can’t say I have many happy memories.”
The brothers studied for 3 years in Chapel Hill before Ralph left for the army and LeRoy for the Peace Corps. Attending UNC “was extremely difficult for them. They were tired,” Ralph Frasier Jr. said in an interview this week.
The brothers later graduated from North Carolina Central University in Durham, a historically black college. LeRoy Frasier worked as an English teacher in New York for a few years. Brandon earned degrees elsewhere and worked in the chemical industry.
Frasier also earned a law degree from N.C. Central before embarking on a protracted profession in legal services and banking, first at Wachovia and later at Huntington Bancshares in Columbus.
Featured Stories
Ralph Frasier was proud of promoting racial change in the Columbus business community and serving on a committee that helped place two black lawyers on the federal bench, his son said.
Relations with UNC-Chapel Hill improved, resulting in a campus celebration in 2010 commemorating their pioneering efforts, and scholarships were named of their honor.
Still, Ralph Frasier Jr. said it was disappointing that the current UNC-Chapel Hill board of trustees voted this week to recommend redirecting money from diversity programs to next yr.
“It’s almost a slap in the face and a step back in time,” Ralph Frasier Jr. said. The motion comes as the UNC System Board of Governors will soon determine whether to alter its diversity policy for 17 campuses across the state.
Frasier’s survivors include his wife of 42 years, Jeannine Marie Quick-Frasier; six children, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Education
Howard University ranked No. 1 HBCU on Forbes America’s Top Colleges List
If ever there was a likelihood to return to the nation’s capital for Howard University’s Homecoming Dance, this could be it.
This yr’s festivities will likely be held not only to have fun the candidacy of considered one of the varsity’s distinguished graduates for the President of the United States, but in addition Forbes Magazine named the varsity one of the best amongst historically black colleges and universities.
Six HBCUs, including Howard, made the annual list of the five hundred, which is compiled from greater than 5,000 colleges and universities within the United States. The list recognizes the highest 500 schools that consistently “produce successful, high-earning, and influential graduates from all economic backgrounds, with less student debt.”
Howard was ranked 273rd, ahead of Spelman and sister school Morehouse in Atlanta, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (also referred to as FAMU), North Carolina A&T and Hampton University in Virginia.
“Howard University’s high standing among HBCUs adds momentum to our march toward higher standing as a national research institution,” he said in (*1*)release responding to the rating. “Howard’s singular impact on the intersection of intellectual discovery and global culture cannot be overstated, and we will continue to push the frontiers of knowledge to help the world solve its most pressing challenges.”
Featured Stories
Interestingly, the variety of HBCUs doubled from three last yr. The list also comes as highschool seniors begin preparing college applications in the brand new reality of an admissions process without affirmative motion. As a result, a growing variety of predominantly white institutions, including Harvard, are reporting significant declines in black enrollment. At least this yr’s list was intended to focus on schools with less exclusive admissions rates.
“While we don’t factor in acceptance rates in our rankings, this year we decided to ease some high school admissions anxiety by highlighting excellent schools that don’t have admissions rates below 10 percent, like Princeton, Stanford, and MIT,” the list’s authors wrote. “Thirty-eight of our top 100 schools accept more than 30 percent of applicants, and 16 of those accept 50 percent or more—in other words, great schools with less admissions stress.”
Education
Watch: How to Create Inclusive and Supportive Classroom Spaces | Life Hacks
Bobby Morgan, Director and Founder of Liberation Lab, joins Life Hacks with Liana to discuss Liberation Lab and how to create inclusive and supportive spaces in classrooms.
“So I’ve been trying to build educators who can change the world through culturally responsive teaching and restorative practices,” Morgan continued. “I believe those are the 2 intersections where we are able to have probably the most impact, irrespective of what the external aspects could be: budgets might change, resources might change. But you possibly can still train teachers to be culturally responsive.
Watch the complete video and for more suggestions, click here.
Education
As the new school year begins, enrollment of black students at many elite colleges is declining
The first-class of freshmen is entering college since the Supreme Court struck down affirmative motion last year — and many elite colleges have already seen declines in black student enrollment.
After the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced a decline in black student enrollment, two more schools in the state reported the same. Amherst College and Tufts University, each in Massachusetts, in addition to the University of Virginia, reported declines in black student enrollment of various degrees. Boston schools were hit harder, with black student enrollment at Amherst falling by a full 8%, based on the report. New York Times (NOW).
Initially enacted in 1965 and updated in 1968 to incorporate gender, affirmative motion provided equal employment opportunities regardless of race, sex, religion, and national origin. Affirmative motion in higher education ensured that every one students received fair consideration for admission.
As the NYT further reports, many of the nation’s most elite and selective colleges haven’t yet released their data. Enrollment numbers for other races have also not been widely reported. But the data don’t bode well for what this might mean for black enrollment.
Meanwhile, based on a recent study conducted by Boys and Men’s Institute of AmericaHistorically, black colleges and universities have experienced declining enrollment of black men. The report found that black men now make up 26% of the HBCU student population, down from 36% in the mid-Seventies.
Featured Stories
According to the study’s authors, there are several aspects which have led to the decline in Black HBCU enrollment, including an absence of proper K-12 integration. “Targeted interventions in K-12 education in Black communities, increasing the representation of Black male teachers, and expanding funding opportunities for HBCUs and their potential students can all help increase Black male enrollment,” the authors wrote, adding, “Reforms in these critical areas can help HBCUs realize their full potential to support the educational and economic advancement of Black males.”
The study also found multiple advantages of an HBCU education, including the undeniable fact that HBCUs usually tend to enroll students from lower-income families than non-HBCUs, and such students are nearly twice as prone to advance economically.
As PWIs and other non-HBCUs grapple with the lack of affirmative motion, it’ll be interesting to see what impact this could have on HBCU student enrollment.
While more data is needed to completely understand the picture that is potentially being painted, college admissions are also bracing for a steep decline in enrollment across the country for a spread of reasons. Younger generations are selecting vocational programs as an alternative of four-year colleges in greater numbers. Many are dropping out of college and entering the job market, citing the high cost of higher education. Not to say the undeniable fact that falling birth rate in americathere’ll simply be fewer young adults.
When the positive discrimination ban was first introduced last year, many black leaders in higher education spoke out to warn of the potential consequences.
Carlotta Berry, a black professor living in Indiana, he said at that point“When I sit down and think about the amount of microaggressions and bias that I’ve experienced, even in a world where affirmative action is in place, I just don’t want to imagine what black and brown students might be experiencing right now, when they go from being one of two or three to possibly one of one.”
-
Press Release6 months ago
CEO of 360WiSE Launches Mentorship Program in Overtown Miami FL
-
Business and Finance4 months ago
The Importance of Owning Your Distribution Media Platform
-
Press Release5 months ago
U.S.-Africa Chamber of Commerce Appoints Robert Alexander of 360WiseMedia as Board Director
-
Business and Finance6 months ago
360Wise Media and McDonald’s NY Tri-State Owner Operators Celebrate Success of “Faces of Black History” Campaign with Over 2 Million Event Visits
-
Film5 months ago
Time Selects Taraji P. Henson to Host ‘Time100 Special’ in 2024 on ABC
-
Press Release6 months ago
Eggstravaganza, Returning to Miramar Regional Park
-
Ben Crump6 months ago
Attorney Ben Crump vs Google Black Minority Lawsuit
-
Fitness6 months ago
At Smartwater Wellness, check in with fitness trainer Shy Lovell