Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established more than 50 years ago with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Currently, there are 107 HBCUs in the United States, including public and private institutions, community and four-year institutions, medical and law schools.
Every year, the Madison Metropolitan School District’s Black Student Unions takes a trip to a different part of the country to tour a handful of HBCUs and to see local important historical sites.
“The first HBCU tour was actually led by Ed [Holmes] back in the mid-’90s at [Madison] West [High],” Madison Memorial High School’s Multicultural Services Coordinator JoAnne Brown tells Madison365. “It’s been an important event for students for a long time and when I started working [at Madison Memorial] in 2011, I started doing them here. We take anywhere from 50 to 80 kids to visit various HBCUs.”
Brown is getting set to lead a large group of Madison-area students from the Madison Memorial, East, and La Follette’s Black Student Unions on another cross-country trip to visit five HBCUs in Tennessee and Alabama from April 6-12. Each year, they pick a different region of the United States to visit colleges at. “We choose schools that would be considered the Ivy League for HBCUs to schools [the equivalent of] UW-Milwaukee or UW-Platteville,” Brown says.
The Black Student Union is an organization focused on the commitment to supporting students who recognize themselves of color and/or multicultural communities. Members attend weekly scheduled meetings, perform service hours, and participate in fundraisers and school programs as a part of membership. Throughout the year, BSU is involved in and creates school programs/activities that support cultural growth that influences the lives and identities of students who recognize themselves of color and/or multicultural communities.
“The Black Student Union has five points that we work under,” Brown says. “Mentoring and tutoring others, feeding and clothing others, learning about ourselves, teaching others about ourselves, and preparing for success. Everything that we do is from those five points. When we go on these trips, we make sure that we do everything that these five points encompass.”
The group will do a service project while they are on the trip including some mentoring of kids at a local club. They will learn the history of the schools that they visit along with tours of historical sites in the area. When they come back, they will relay all of the information that they learned on the trip to staff or other young people.
“This year we are going to do our service project for Education Like Me,” Brown says of the national campaign that produces books, live events, games and supplementary materials for youth to enjoy learning experiences most reflective of themselves. “Jay Byers is a former Madison West High School BSU grad, who is currently at Alabama State, one of the schools that we are going to go visit. She’s working on the Education Like Me non-profit where they go and talk to young African American elementary and middle school kids to basically boost their self-esteem and to appreciate their blackness through literacy and other activities.”
The group this year will be buying books – “Queen Like Me” and “Superhero Like Me” – and will be reading them to the kids and then giving them the books.
Along with Alabama State, the group will also be visiting Tennessee State, Lane College, Alabama A&M, and Tuskegee University.
“The books alone were $850 and the travel part was the most expensive – the hotels and bus and stuff. It’s about a $50,000 trip,” Brown says. “The district kicks in some money but the students are required to pay a certain amount and that’s why fundraising is so important.
“We’re looking to do something strategic so each year we don’t have to scrape for money,” she adds. “Do we take a year off and figure out how to raise the funds? Do we solicit a corporate sponsor? Kaleem [Caire] is actually spearheading that for us and for that we are very grateful. I know nothing about the big-wig fundraising.”
This year, Brown has been reaching out to the community to help raise funds for the kids here. Donations can also be sent to:
Memorial High School
C/o BSU
201 South Gammon Rd
Madison, WI 53717
The response so far has been great, especially after Brown made a Facebook post this week talking about the trip and asking for support.
“I just love how the community is coming together over that Facebook post,” she says. “I wasn’t even sure if I was going to do that. Even if it’s just a dollar… I’ve got 1,500 friends and that would mean something. The pledges and the amounts that people have already donated have been amazing. I appreciate Madison.”
