November 3rd 2023.
Dr. Jasmine L. Harris, an associate professor of African American Studies at the University of Texas, San Antonio, remembers when she was 17 years old and her high school guidance counselor reacted negatively to the list of colleges she wanted to apply to. In her upcoming book, Black Women, Ivory Tower: Revealing the Lies of White Supremacy in American Education, she details the experience and explains it in an interview with Newsweek.
"He called my list ambitious,” Harris told her mother at the time. She believes that if she were white, the administrator would have praised her for her hard work. The professor feels that the questioning of Black students’ achievements begins even before college applications come up.
"By the time I was a junior in high school, despite my academic achievements, it became standard to question my ability. By the time I finished my doctorate, asserting my achievements, and therefore my ability, was a required part of my daily routine,” Harris says.
After careful consideration, Harris and her mother decided on fifteen colleges for her to apply to. This was based on her academic achievements and climate preferences. However, to Harris, her guidance counselor’s reaction implied that she didn’t belong in prestigious institutions.
"This unyielding non-belonging in education requires Black academics to constantly reaffirm our credentials to maintain access to predominantly white academic networks and the spaces where those networks are constructed,” Harris explains.
The student’s mother handled the situation with her daughter’s guidance counselor in a meeting the next day. “It’s handled. You will apply to the schools we agreed on,” her mother told her.
Harris also talks about the scarcity of Black representation in historically white-serving colleges and universities. She discusses the importance of Black students making connections and gaining mentorship from Black educators. She examines policies such as school integration that resulted from the Civil Rights Movement.
According to The Library of Congress, desegregating public schools across the United States was a major mission of the Civil Rights Movement to ensure all students had access to first-class education. Harris argues that school integration may have led to a cycle of Black academic isolation.
Black Women, Ivory Tower: Revealing the Lies of White Supremacy in American Education is scheduled for release on Jan. 16, 2024. This book offers insight into the experiences of Black students in the education system and the lies of white supremacy that are present in American education.
Harris hopes her book will bring attention to the issues of inequality that Black students face and help create a more equitable education system. With more Black leadership roles in divinity schools, and the release of her book, Harris is determined to make a positive impact on the education system.
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