‘A Forgotten Migration’: Dr. Crystal R. Sanders Uncovers The Legacy Of ‘Segregation Scholarships’ In New Book

Source: Dr. Crystal R. Sanders

In her groundbreaking new book, A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs, Dr. Crystal R. Sanders uncovers a little-known chapter of American history that continues to resonate today: the systemic underfunding of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and the complex legacy of “segregation scholarships.”

Inside the detailed historical analysis, Dr. Sanders, a North Carolina native and associate professor of African American Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, illuminates how southern states during the Jim Crow era used “segregation scholarships” to provide Black students with access to graduate education. Rather than integrating predominantly white institutions or expanding opportunities at HBCUs, many states chose to fund Black students’ educations at universities in the northern, midwestern or western states. While these scholarships enabled Black students to pursue advanced degrees and ultimately secure better careers and higher salaries, they also had a profound downside: They diverted critical financial resources away from the very institutions — public HBCUs— that could have been nurturing and advancing Black scholars.

“Sixteen states had segregation scholarship programs, and about nine of those states funded their segregation scholarship programs by taking money out of public Black colleges budgets,” Dr. Sanders explained to NewsOne of how segregation scholarships effectively drained crucial financial resources from Black colleges—an impact that continues to be felt today, as we see the ongoing financial challenges faced by HBCUs.

While HBCUs generate an impressive $16.5 billion annually in economic impact across the U.S., not a single one has a billion-dollar endowment. In fact, the combined endowments of all HBCUs total less than $5 billion, The Hill notes. 

“Today, we know that Tennessee State University, the only public Black college in the state of Tennessee, is in a financial crisis,” she continued. “The Tennessee segregation scholarship program started in 1936 and the scholarship program said, ‘We will pay for the segregation scholarships by taking money out of Tennessee state’s annual operating budget.’ And so, for 30 years, they are taking money out of Tennessee state’s budget to preserve segregation. The debt that the state of Tennessee really owes Tennessee State is probably closer somewhere between seven and $8 billion,” she emphasized. “We can clearly see that this long-term underfunding and robbing of these institutions has had a very negative effect on their ability to add additional programs and to matriculate students.”

A slow and painful process

The adverse impact of segregation scholarships began with the landmark 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws and established the “separate but equal” doctrine. Charles Hamilton Houston, the first general counsel of the NAACP, and his team set out to address the lack of graduate and professional education opportunities for Black students in the South. At the time, no graduate programs were available for Black students after completing their bachelor’s degrees, forcing many to look elsewhere for further education. To put things into perspective, before 1936, only seven institutions in the South offered graduate or professional studies to Black students: Howard University, Hampton University, Fisk University, Meharry Medical College, Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta University, and Xavier University. However, the graduate offerings at these institutions were limited.

In an attempt to appear compliant with the law, white lawmakers and lawyers enforced segregation scholarships to align with the “separate but equal” doctrine, but in practice, Black students were anything but equal under the system. They faced an arduous application process and were often awarded far less financial support than their white counterparts. For example, Texas allocated $1,500 per year for a white student attending the University of Texas School of Dentistry while the largest segregation scholarship available to a Black Texan was just $400. For medical students, the gap was even more pronounced: white students received $1,900 while Black students were limited to $500.

“When we see these segregation scholarships, this was an effort by Southern states to preserve segregation and to try to say that they were in compliance with the law. Time and again, the NAACP would have to go into court and say, this is not legal, this is not constitutional.”

Still, even after the 1938 Supreme Court ruling of Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, which mandated that states provide equal access to legal education, opportunities for Black students remained severely limited. This was largely due to the failure of segregation scholarships to be enforced. While students of other ethnicities could pursue master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees at state-supported institutions in the South, Black students continued to face significant barriers, with many of these schools effectively closed to them due to entrenched racist policies. These systemic obstacles not only curtailed Black students’ academic and professional prospects but also contributed to the persistent financial struggles faced by HBCUs – and it lasted for over two decades. 

“Georgia had its segregation scholarship program until 1971,” Dr. Sanders revealed. 

Dr. Crystal R. Sanders

The downside of out-of-state education and the resilience of Black students

For Black scholars seeking higher education, attending out-of-state institutions was often the only option. However, earning degrees far from home in the North or West also came with its own set of challenges. In A Forgotten Migration, Dr. Sanders explores the significant hurdles Black graduate students faced at northern and western universities—ranging from discrimination and racism to isolation—while the HBCUs they left behind remained underfunded and neglected by state governments.

Despite this, Black students displayed remarkable resilience in the face of adversity. One of the most powerful aspects of Dr. Sanders’ book is the strength of Black graduate students who, despite enduring significant discrimination at out-of-state institutions, chose to return to the South. They were determined to preserve the legacy of HBCUs and to support other Black students striving to pursue graduate and professional studies.

A key figure who emerged during this period was Fred Gray, the esteemed lawyer and civil rights activist. Gray fought tirelessly to protect these vital centers of Black intellectual and cultural life, having personally experienced the discriminatory limitations of segregation-era scholarships.

In the 1940s, Gray faced the harsh realities of segregation when he sought to attend law school in Montgomery, Alabama, after graduating from Alabama State College. At the time, the state had no law schools that admitted Black students, nor any post-baccalaureate programs for Black individuals. With the help of his family, Gray was able to raise enough money to attend Western Reserve University Law School in Cleveland, Ohio, where he studied from 1951 to 1954. Determined to make a difference, he vowed to return to Montgomery and “destroy everything segregated” by using his legal expertise.

On Jan. 28, 1963, Gray worked closely on Lee v. Macon County Board of Education, leading to a 1967 court order that integrated all of Alabama’s public higher education institutions not already under desegregation mandates. His future lawsuits also contributed to the desegregation of over 100 local school systems statewide.

Dr. Sanders was deeply moved by Gray’s journey, recognizing it as a powerful act of resistance and resilience against the forces that sought to marginalize Black institutions and students. By returning to Alabama, he made a bold statement about the central role these institutions played in the fight for racial equality and social justice.

“One of the things that really stayed with me was the fact that he said, before he even left home, he had already made up his mind that he was coming back to Alabama,” said Sanders of Gray’s powerful story. “In the case of Fred Gray, not only does he come back, right, but he comes back and he makes a career out of suing the state of Alabama. I find that to be just so remarkable,” she shared. “He was able to have such a successful legal career. Remember, he’s learning the Ohio statutes in the daytime and the Alabama statutes at night. It shows us how segregation scholarships put him at a disadvantage. If he could have gone to the University of Alabama, he could have just learned Alabama law, but he’s having to do double work, right? And despite doing double work, he excelled.”

In addition to desegregating schools in Alabama, Gray went on to pass both the Ohio and Alabama bars, becoming one of the most influential attorneys of the 20th century. He would go on to represent figures like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the survivors of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.

Dr. Sanders’ work does not stop here.

Looking ahead toward the future, Dr. Sanders’ work doesn’t stop with A Forgotten Migration. She already has plans to write a book about the experiences of the first African students who attended Black colleges and the global impact they had. This research promises to add another layer to the story of HBCUs, highlighting the international reach of these institutions and their role in shaping the African diaspora.

“We often times talk about the fact that Black colleges have changed the United States, right? They’ve given us Kamala Harris, they’ve given us Thurgood Marshall, they’ve given us Martin Luther King. But I really want to underscore the fact that Black colleges have changed the world,” Sanders said of her forthcoming piece.

“When we look at the independence movements in East and West Africa in the ‘50s and ‘60s, most of these independence movement leaders have been educated in Black colleges. When we look at something like Kenya’s constitution, Kenya’s Constitution was written by Thurgood Marshall, people don’t realize the reason he wrote that constitution is because when he was an undergraduate student at Lincoln, his classmates were students from Kenya and they remained friends. So, I think it’s just a reminder that HBCUs have literally shaped the entire world, and that’s a message that we need to be saying, from the rooftops, louder than ever now.”

As we approach another Trump presidency, Dr. Sanders is closely monitoring the incoming administration’s actions, particularly regarding its stance on funding for HBCUs. Notably, Howard University receives a federal appropriation of around $235 million annually from the Department of the Interior, Sanders revealed—an amount unmatched by any other HBCU. She will be watching to see whether the administration will continue to protect, or potentially restrict, financial support for these institutions.

“I am a little concerned about the real possibility that perhaps a Trump administration might decide to do away with that appropriation entirely or to make it so small that Howard is not able to do the meaningful work that it’s done for centuries,” the scholar expressed. “I think we all need to be keeping an eye on ensuring that this institution, which has done so much good for not just the nation, but the world, continues to be well-resourced,” Sanders added, “I’m hopeful that these public HBCUs and their alumni are going to go and demand more of their state legislatures.”

SEE ALSO:

A Wake-Up Call For HBCUs: The Trump Administration’s Impact On Funding And Legacy

How The Underfunding Of HBCUs ‘Disadvantages’ Students And Faculty