The startling paradox at the heart of anti-racist struggles is that the destruction of racist institutions would not have been possible without the space for intellectual and political mobilizations that race-identified institutions provided. This article examines the apparent contradiction that predominantly black institutions, especially historically black colleges and universities (HBCU’s), were essential spaces anchoring challenges to the American racial order between the 1860s and the 1930s. It analyzes the diverse forces shaping the political consciousness and experiences of the two generational cohorts of Black scholars who passed through the HBCU’s. It shows how this history, as well as similar developments later such as the Civil Rights Movement, puts into question contemporary notions of “racial blindness” and/or the erasure of racial identities.
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