Providing a variety of college experiences and job training to thousands of Black, Hispanic and other students is a task honed to perfection by a handful of little-known and little-recognized historically Black community colleges.
Like their four-year cousins, many of the historically Black community colleges have religious origins and were begun in the South during and after the time of slavery.
And like the four-year historically Black colleges and universities, many of the two-year institutions take pride in providing a nurturing environment for students who may need a little extra. "We have a rich culture and we overemphasize providing services to the under prepared and under represented. We take pride in individual attention to students," says Dr. Charles A. Taylor, president of St. Phillips Community College.
But there the easy comparisons end. The historically Black community colleges are as varied as the four-year institutions and defy categorizing, ranging from a small liberal arts college in Arkansas to a technical college in Louisiana.
Shorter, a privately supported two-year college with 300 students, sits in the heart of the Black community in Little Rock, AR. Founded by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church in 1886, it was first a high school that later expanded to a four-year college until, in 1955, it became a two-year college.
Many of its programs, such as the early childhood development center, serve community needs, making it in some ways a fairly typical community college. The center offers students studying childhood development an opportunity for practical experience and offers quality day care for the community, says its president, Dr. Katherine Mitchell.
But Shorter has on-campus dormitories housing about one-third of its students, making it atypical for community colleges. And its emphasis is on teaching the liberal arts rather than the more traditional technical programs.
"We look for a special sense of commitment in our teachers, who are carefully selected," said Mitchell. And we stress to them that we are here to serve the needs of our students. We know that is why we exist."
