ERNIE BROWN JR. The need to support black colleges hasn't diminished

I attended the first East High School all-alumni dinner dance last week and was surprised and happy to see Thelma Clark among the nearly 400 people at the Archangel Michael Church Community Center in Campbell.
I hadn't see Thelma in years, and we spoke briefly about our past involvement in Youngstown-area United Negro College Fund drives. The chairman for many of the drives was Youngstown dentist Dr. James Hovell, and Thelma helped coordinate many of the fund-raising events along with several other people in our community. Telethons were broadcast locally on WYTV Channel 33.
The local fund-raising efforts for UNCF have stopped, but the need to continue financing historically black colleges and universities goes on.
Birthplace
The first black college in this country was Lincoln University, established Jan. 1, 1854. Lincoln, which is about 20 miles southwest of Philadelphia, became part of the Pennsylvania state college and university system in 1972.
Lincoln's notable alumni, according to the school's Web site, include: Langston Hughes, (Class of 1929), world-acclaimed poet; Thurgood Marshall, (1930), first black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; Hildrus A. Poindexter, (1924), internationally known authority on tropical diseases; and Roscoe Lee Browne, (1946), author and widely acclaimed actor of stage and screen.
The UNCF, which supports 39 HBCs, is still relevant in the 21st century, and here's why.
There are still many bright, young black students who would be unable to pursue higher education without these schools, most of which are in the South. (Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio, near Dayton, is the only UNCF-supported school in the Buckeye State).
Here is a brief historical note on the UNCF taken from its Web site, www.uncf.org:
"In 1943, Dr. Frederick D. Patterson, president of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University in Alabama), wrote an open letter in The Pittsburgh Courier to the presidents of other private black colleges urging them to 'pool their small monies and make a united appeal to the national conscience.'
"His idea took root, and on April 25, 1944, the United Negro College Fund was incorporated with 27 member colleges.
"Since that time, UNCF has grown to become the nation's oldest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization. Our mission is to enhance the quality of education by raising operating funds for our 39 member colleges and universities, providing financial assistance to deserving students, and increasing access to technology for students and faculty at historically black colleges and universities."
Some of the nation's earliest black doctors, lawyers, clergymen and educators were graduates of HBCs. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a 1948 graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, a UNCF-supported school.
The need continues
Many black people still lack the financial wherewithal to send their children to college. That is where the UNCF steps in. It has four or five scholarship programs available for qualified students.
Historically black schools also play another important role for young people -- maintaining a sense of black culture.
When I first set foot on the campus of Ohio State Unversity in September 1970, there were less than 1,500 blacks among a student population of nearly 55,000. It was difficult making the adjustment from high school to college. My college transition was further hampered by not seeing a lot of people that looked like me walking around one of the nation's largest campuses.
Black students attending UNCF-supported colleges and universities certainly don't have the cultural hurdle to overcome. The hurdle it does continue to deal with is financing.
Check out the Web site and you can find out how you can make tax-deductible donations to these fine institutions. The 25th national fund-raising telethon, hosted by singer Lou Rawls, is scheduled for broadcast Jan. 10. Check our paper to see if it will be shown locally.
The person who may find the cure for some of our currently incurable diseases may now be sitting in or may one day attend a historically black college.
Remember: A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
ebrown@vindy.com