The State Must Provide: The Definitive History of Racial Inequality in American Higher Education – From Civil War Laws to HBCUs and the Battle for Funding

by Adam Harris

The definitive history of the pervasiveness of racial inequality in American higher education

America’s colleges and universities have a shameful secret: they have never given Black people a fair chance to succeed. From its inception, our higher education system was not built on equality or accessibility, but on educating—and prioritizing—white students. Black students have always been an afterthought. While governments and private donors funnel money into majority white schools, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and other institutions that have high enrollments of Black students, are struggling to survive, with state legislatures siphoning away federal funds that are legally owed to these schools. In The State Must Provide, Adam Harris reckons with the history of a higher education system that has systematically excluded Black people from its benefits.

Harris weaves through the legal, social, and political obstacles erected to block equitable education in the United States, studying the Black Americans who fought their way to an education, pivotal Supreme Court cases like Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, and the government’s role in creating and upholding a segregated education system. He explores the role that Civil War–era legislation intended to bring agricultural education to the masses had in creating the HBCUs that have played such a major part in educating Black students when other state and private institutions refused to accept them.

The State Must Provide is the definitive chronicle of higher education’s failed attempts at equality and the long road still in front of us to remedy centuries of racial discrimination—and poses a daring solution to help solve the underfunding of HBCUs. Told through a vivid cast of characters, The State Must Provide examines what happened before and after schools were supposedly integrated in the twentieth century, and why higher education remains broken to this day. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, History, Race, Politics, Audiobook, College

267 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 10, 2021

Reviews

[Mary | maryreadstoomuch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Harris takes the reader on a journey through the history of US higher education, paying special attention to the pervasive racism embedded in this system. You've likely heard of Plessy vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education, but the lawsuits of various Black plaintiffs seeking higher education have mostly been lost to history. Harris shows the struggle of these men and women and how various states conspired to keep segregation alive despite court decisions telling them they couldn't do so. The land grant college system was unequal from the start, and the segregation it permitted only continues today. The beginning of the book discussing the founding of the system was a little dry, but the 2nd and 3rd parts of the book, covering the NAACP lawsuits and the state of the system today were very enlightening and readable. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in inequality and systemic racism, or the history of US universities.

Thank you to Ecco for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[New · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

The writing is a little confusing at times, but all in all the information presented was good and I think this information should be taught in schools to children. I liked three points the book made regarding higher education in the US:

1) (Speaking on affirmative action, and its importance) In order to be color-blind in the future, we must not be color-blind now.
2) (Speaking on affirmative action, and its critics who argue that it puts white students at a disadvantage) It is in the absence of affirmative action that we lose equal competition in admissions, not the other way around.
3) (Speaking on how to ensure non-white students receive the same quality of education as white students) Federal and state funds should be allocated based on a formula that gives institutions which enroll more non-white students more money.

Despite what the title suggests regarding the content of the book, most of it focuses on the history of discrimination in higher education, and only the last few paragraphs actually give recommendations on how to set that "right." But that's ok, I don't expect him to have all the answers and the burden of figuring out how to fix things should not fall solely on him.

[Adeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely eye opening, this book puts a lot into perspective especially having gone through college apps & humbled me a lot. The world is so much bigger than the 1%! The stories of the plantiffs and individuals are so inspiring & I never really realized the true value of (higher) education before. The book leaves off describing what still needs to be done and even though its mostly historic it is extremely informative about current disparities. Must read for bay area kids who are so caught up in elitism and climbing the ladder and being the model minority!!

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, great history in this. Really helped me connect some dots.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This truly is a history-- American education from the 1850s through the 20th century. All the Supreme Court cases, laws and norms are discussed.

I was hoping for more nuance and analysis, especially regarding higher education and how it exists in the 21st century. And as for "how to set them right", there wasn't much there.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important, but somewhat (maybe necessarily) dry, look at how educational institutions have benefited from our history of systematic racism and segregation. Although schools are not technically segregated anymore, the ongoing reluctance of Americans, and in particular, the legal and governmental segments, to take action to bring everyone to the same level compounds the head start predominantly white schools have (which benefit from black athletes, I'll add.) Our founders believed "that colleges are the best way to teach people to be good citizens" but it is clear that not everyone has the same opportunities. Some solutions are discussed near the end, but that section seemed thin; I was hoping for a bit more there. Still, recommended reading.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a digital review copy. Publish date August 10, 2021.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting history of the ways in which historically black colleges have been underfunded and left to do more with less. Even today HBCUs graduate 25% of black students who earn degrees in STEM. I'm not sure what else to say about it -- if you are interested in a history of higher education, I would recommend it.

I did learn that my home state of Missouri for a time in the early 1900s paid black students to attend professional schools out of state rather than admit them to the University of Missouri. Which honestly, that tracks.

[Joanne Manaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm glad this book exists. It's a critical topic that must be highlighted.

Additionally, the narrator of the audiobook, Cary Hite, is excellent!

[Savannah B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I knew some of this information from grad school readings, this book provided more in depth information on the pervasiveness of international or unintentional segregation in higher Ed. Definitely an interesting read given I work for a land grant institution.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important, with an engaging hook at the beginning that returns at the end, but that continuity is lost in the middle, so it drags a bit. An important history. I learned a good amount, and I think more people should read it.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harris begins his book from a personal standpoint: attending a Black college (Alabama A&M University) and comparing its grounds and resources to those of nearby University of Alabama in Huntsville. The discrepancy between these two neighboring state schools--one a historically Black college and one a state school largely catering to Whites (and in fact built to maintain segregation)--was tangible evidence that separate has never meant equal. Harris, a staff writer at The Atlantic and previously a reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education, decided to explore how these discrepancies developed.

After this personal introduction, Harris jumps back to 1844 Kentucky and the first attempts in the South to create an integrated college, what is now Berea College. The book is primarily historical as it looks at the challenges Berea faced both legislatively and socially, and then moves into explaining how land-grant universities were developed across the country. Harris shows the ongoing fight to keep many of these universities segregated and how the 14th Amendment and various Supreme Court rulings impacted these attempts from reconstruction to the present day. Harris primarily does this by focusing on individual stories and attempts to integrate by Black students in Oklahoma and Mississippi, using these personal stories to reflect what was occurring nationally.

At times these discussions become exceptionally detailed and in the weeds (which is odd given that it's a relatively short book and I'm sure lots of information was removed), but for the most part the compelling nature of these stories make the struggle and impact painfully real. It's still heartbreaking to understand how determined so many people were to maintaining segregation and how often courts at all levels supported these attempts that were clear violations of the law. There are examples of remarkable courage and sacrifice in efforts to allow equal access to education for all Americans, and then Harris shows how this fight for equal access and Supreme Court rulings (notably Bakke) resulted in a turnaround where much of the progress has been lost in recent years, Because the middle section of the book is generally written in a more objective style (though not always), Harris allows legal opinions and statistics to argue his points and demonstrate the inequalities in higher education.

Harris returns to a personal writing style for the final chapter where he shows that this is not a historical problem that was resolved with Brown vs. Board of Education, but one that continues through the impact of Covid on Black colleges versus other state schools. He highlights the example of Bennett College--one of only two historically Black women's colleges in the country--as one that lost accreditation due to lack of funding while many schools receive extraordinary support from endowments and the state. Harris closes by arguing passionately and persuasively that the US Government and state universities continue to fail our societies by not providing equal access to higher education for all our citizens.

Harris' writing is excellent, the information he covers is critical, he makes persuasive arguments, and he offers sound recommendations to address the concerns he identifies. Despite occasional dry sections, it's a compelling narrative and one that should be addressed by the government at all levels. One hopes this is a step towards making the issue more visible and guiding our country to a more equitable and just educational system.

I appreciate NetGalley providing a copy of this book in exchange for an independent review.

[Lance Eaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The depth to which white culture and citizens have gone to deny Black people equal opportunity has been well-documented in the realm of housing, criminal justice, primary education, and many other spaces. Intentional calculations about how to legally avoid, subvert, and manipulate policies are a hallmark of white supremacy in the United States--and, of course, when that doesn't work, mob violence in the form of lynching, riots, and even storming the Capitol are practices white people are willing to take to assert their supposed right to feel mightier than Black people. Harris's book brings another well-documented and critical look at how these practices and policies also played out in higher education over the history of the US. Harris balances a complicated argument quite effectively as he follows the legal policies that expanded colleges and universities across the US (from the Morrill Land Grant Acts to the G.I Bill and beyond) while also tracking the ways politicians and communities worked to take the money and land and prioritize white students and exclude black students--to the point of closing or moving schools. He also delves into the various legal cases that slowly attempted to chip away at the centuries-old racist assumptions and precedence that kept Black people out of white colleges and universities or continually underfunded and undersupported Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs). Meanwhile, he also traces the ways that HBCUs rose to the occasion advancing education, research, and community in powerful ways, despite always needing to fight for every resource and opportunity. The book is a powerful reminder of the lengths to which the US has been structured to disproportionately advance white privilege at the cost of Black opportunity and that even today, as Harris notes, these practices, the unequal funding and support for institutions with more BIPOC students still experience and creating unequal outcomes in education.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a scattered narrative that does not really cohere. No doubt its central contention--that US higher education has ill-served Black Americans--is true. It is mostly a history of Black higher education told dramatic vignettes--the establishment of the first integrated college in Kentucky (Berea); the Morrill Acts that codified segregation in higher education; Plessy v Ferguson (emboldening states like Kentucky to prohibit integrated education); NAACP efforts to challenge state policies to pay black students to get post-baccalaureate education in another state rather than let them attend their own white colleges (Lloyd Gaines, Ada Sipuel; McLaurin); James Meredith's integrating University of Mississippi; Bakke; Ayers v Fordice.

I won't deny that I learned a lot here, and Harris has excavated importance NAACP cases that are not as well known as James Meredith. While Harris's introduction and conclusion focus on the plight of HBCUs (particularly those in the South), they recede from the narrative in the middle of the book as Harris's attention turns to Black attempts to gain access to White colleges. The book is disjointed, and I worry that Harris's attention to the dramatic episodes in history detract from really shedding light on the book's titular concern--inequality among colleges. He strangely comments on the weather at the time when a court decision came down or when legislation was passed.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The State Must Provide
By Adam Harris

Mr. Harris provides an interesting point of view about educational opportunities – or the lack thereof – provided by the government for black Americans, especially those attending historically black colleges and universities. He goes into much of the history of higher education in this country and how the many public colleges and universities came into being and the effect of racism on the development of these institutions.

While I found the book to contain a lot of information, I did not always find that Mr. Harris' point of few was entirely accurate. For instance, in the early days of educational development in this country, he seems to gloss over the fact that blacks were not alone in not having access to higher education. He does mention that, in fact, a great percentage of people of all races in America were illiterate. But he does not seem to consider this to be worth dwelling on.

There is no denying that slavery and racism have been a black mark on our collective history. However, having government "provide" to fix all previous wrongs opens the door to encouraging a big brother state.

[Alex Anacki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw the author speak at a New America webinar (and probably have read some of his work in The Atlantic) and felt compelled to give this a thorough read.

Harris authored a disjointed narrative that nonetheless is a valuable and necessary contribution to higher Ed literature. I wasn’t previously familiar with a lot of the minutiae he describes in the fight to integrate higher education, particularly when it comes to the 1800s. The anecdotes are fascinating and there were a lot of characters introduced that have fallen by the wayside in high school history classes.

I felt like he lacked concrete solutions (which is what the title promises!) but, to be fair, you could write another book of equal size with those. As far as a historical primer, this is a decent one.

[Michelle Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally understand how African-Americans have been shortchanged in getting a quality education in the United States from reading this book. The systemic and Anti-Black racism that has permeated this country has really wanting me to take action to right these wrongs that have continuously have been placed on African-Americans. I am grateful to philanthropist such as McKenzie Scott for donating large sums of money to HBCU’s but Southern states really need to atone for their blatant racism that they perpetuated on Black people for years by intentionally withholding money from HBCU’s. An excellent read.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminds me at times of Color of Law and discussing how a lot of state laws acted to keep Black students out of public colleges and also left HBCUs underfunded. The later chapters talking about some of the specific court cases are particularly compelling. My only wish was for more—I would have loved to see a chapter talking about how federal benefits for veterans initially excluded Black veterans and what that meant for options, as well as more recent state funding patterns as other public institutions have desegregated. But always best to be left wanting more.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written account of America's appalling history of segregation and discrimination in higher education. I was floored by the lengths Southern universities went to in order to maintain segregation -- and shocked by how the colleges that were once the only option for African-American students continue to get short shrift today. My only complaint is that the history of the consciously desegregated Berea College might have been better handled in one chapter than providing an ongoing checkpoint in a long timeline. It's definitely a minor quibble -- this book was illuminating in every way.

[Haidong · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author did a good job explaining the history of why africa american didn't get equal access to higher education, why traditional black colleges didn't get sufficient funding, with lots of historical details, however, the author failed to make it clear what exactly is the end goal he would like to see: whether it would be all american people get equal access to higher education regardless of race, or equal access to funding for traditional black colleges, perhaps that would be for next book?

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has quickly become one of my favorite books. Long on historical evidence and short on opinion and editorializing, Mr. Harris focuses on the systemic racism and overtly-prejudiced policies aimed at keeping black students out of historically white institutions of higher education. He presents a sobering and historically-accurate account of the the fights over separate-but-equal, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and late 20th century Supreme Court rulings attempting to create truly equal opportunities in higher education for black students.

[Jennifer Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read if you: Want a thorough take on the inequality of higher education in the US.

This is an eye-opening look at the history and need for HBCUs, their current status, and the inequality in funding public HBCUs in contrast with PWIs (predominately white instituttions).

Librarians/booksellers: Purchase if contemporary titles on education are popular.

Many thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[James Schisler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well written, engaging work laying out how the US government, federal and states alike, intentionally and knowingly developed a shadow system of higher education for Black people, and only that after threats and endless lawsuits. Especially strong work walking through the various important court cases that led to the establishment of this system, and the end notes on how it persists today

[Chris Roberts · Rating 1 out of 5]

It works both ways -
There is an obligatory line
Between love and hate
Only because we need it to be there
Not because it is needed.

Endlessly shaming Anglos
So, you're saying, in-between the lines
As interpreted by me:
Caucasians are so white, it hurts
Lost, you lost me at insanity.

#poem

Chris Roberts, Patron Saint of the Amphibian Peoples

[Dina Samimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of under-told history in these pages. Harris retells the great lengths in which states have gone to segregate higher ed, kill affirmative action and drain various funding streams to create a truly inequitable institution of education, not to mention inequitable American lives. Great storytelling. Definitely the most recent book that has made me angry.

[Maurice McCaulley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. The picture Adam creates on the funding disparity across decades truly shows how educational opportunity and access isn't equal. It reads really well, and he provides create context for anyone to follow along (regardless of familiarity with the education/ funding space). I never really write reviews, but this book deserves to be read!

[Darien Tebbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, a lot of detail. I'm not into court cases and legalese, but he brought me along despite my own aversions.

It's impossible to discount institutional racism when detailed history like this paints it in stark colors.

[Mario D · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have any interest in the foundation of educational institutions in the U.S. this is a must read. There is great storytelling that keeps you engaged, but also enrages you at the continued mistreatment.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
This should have been much longer. I feel like I read someone‘s senior thesis… for a book, I wanted so much more! Great content and I would definitely recommend as part of anti-racist education, but boy do I wish there was more here.

[Gaia · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The State Must Provide: Why America's Colleges Have Always Been Unequal―and How to Set Them Right,” by Adam Harris, underscores the structure of systemic discrimination in higher education and proposes equitable remedies in an attempt to achieve parity.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this was a history of educational segregation that read like true crime, because it is. Provides a compelling narrative of the legal battles from Borea to (nearly) today. This would be a great DEI read for a department or university reading group.