Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

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words, other black faculty persons have evidently taken a similar
point of view . How does that way of producing blackness fit into
our rhetoric concerning the needs of the community? Is it really
more imitation that we must have now?
5 . Considering our sadly limited resources, can there be more than a
few really excellent programs or institutes in Afro-American Studies
in this country? Is it possible that the recent announcements of the
creation of at least two dozen such programs will lead to even more
dispersion of our black talents, rather than to the consolidation we
so badly need for this period? If only a few such black research and
teaching centers can live with significant integrity, where should they
be developed? Indeed,' where will they find nurture during a period
of prolonged struggle?
6 . To move to an even more directly personal level, have any of you
considered the possibility that it might make more sense to bring
50 black students to a black-oriented professor in the South than to
take him away from his campus? In other words, have you questioned
your own locations seriously in the light of our need to gather
ourselves together?
7 . Have you given serious thought to your own sense of vocation?
The building of the Black University, whether it be realized in one
or a dozen locations, demands totally committed teachers, organizers
and administrators who have moved beyond jiving to real work .
What about you? (Perhaps you don't know that Black students in
the South on the "Negro" campuses, are also calling for more Black
faculty . Where will we find them?)
Concrete Suggestions for Action
1 . On the recruiting of black faculty for northern schools : If this must
be done during these days when the supply of well-equipped, blackconscious
brothers and sisters is so limited, then why not work for
the establishment of special visiting professorships rather than outright
raiding of black schools? Under such an arrangement, faculty
from the South could be invited for one year, we could teach one
course in our specialty each quarter or semester and be available for
many kinds of counselling. There would also be freedom from the
many ordinary academic pressures of our southern campuses, and
time (as well as secretarial and research assistance) could be made
68 March 1970 NEGRO DIGEST