The Disparity above ALL Disparities?

The biggest subject matter taboo in the Black Experience is the disparity above all disparities. Female enrollment at Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) has been higher than male enrollment every year since 1976. The percentage of female enrollment at HBCUs increased from 53 percent in 1976 to 64 percent in 2022. The absolute number of Black men enrolled at historically Black colleges and universities is the lowest it’s been since 1976. That’s according to a recent analysis from the American Institute for Boys and Men, which crunched data from the Federal Department of Education. In fact, Black men now account for only 26% of the students at HBCUs. Back in 1976, that figure was 38%.
The following list of Black female/male student enrollment ratios at HBCUs is telling. The figures are for the 1999-2000 academic year, as reported on the website Blackexcel.org. The figures are probably representative of what is occurring at predominantly white colleges where Black students are enrolled:
Fisk University—72% female, 28% male
Tuskegee University–60% female, 40% male
Clark Atlanta University–72% female, 26% male
Morris Brown College–59% female, 41% male
Hampton University–60% female, 40% male
Florida A&M University–56% female, 44% male
St. Paul’s College–63% female, 37% male
Virginia State University–58% female, 42% male
Virginia Union University–58% female, 42% male
North Carolina Central University–63% female, 37% male
North Carolina A&T University–51% female, 49% male
St. Augustine’s College–58% female, 42% male
Bethune Cookman College–57% female, 43% male
Lincoln University–57% female, 43% male
Dillard University–78% female, 28% male
Xavier University–71% female, 29% male
Howard University–63% female, 37% male
Central State University–57% female, 43% male
South Carolina State University–58% female, 42% male
Voorhees College–65% female, 35% male
Bowie State University–62% female, 38% male
Morgan State University–59% female, 41% male
University of Maryland at Eastern Shore–58% female, 42% male
Alcorn State University–60% female, 40% male
Jackson State University–59% female, 41% male
Rust College–58% female, 42% male
Toogaloo College–68% female, 32% male
Grambling State University–55% female, 45% male
Shaw University–63% female, 37% male
Winston-Salem State University–66% female, 33% male
LeMoyne-Owens–68% female, 32% male
Alabama State University–55% female, 45% male
Miles College–56% females, 44% male
Stillman College–66% female, 34% male
Southern University–67% female, 33% male
Elizabeth City State University–63% female, 37% male
To update it, just add another 10% to females and subtract another 10% from male HBCU enrollment figures.
This disparity is catastrophic for Nagaru, the so-called Negro, African American people. It is both the cause and effect of a cataclysmic emotional (communication) and economic disconnect between Black men and women. This disconnect is making getting married, sustaining long-term marriages, and leaving a viable legacy for children statistically low. The disparity and its fallout is also making common dating like crossing a minefield, where the anticipation of it blowing up is highly likely. Many single women feel their chances of ever being in a significant loving relationship is slim to none, and these include women in their 20s and 30s!
Shjan Carter, a junior at Howard University, especially notices the gender gap on her campus in social scenarios — she has more interactions with women. She mostly sees women hanging out on the University’s manicured main yard. Something is missing, she says. “The mission of an HBCU can’t be fulfilled if we aren’t making a point to educate all Black people.” Ms. Carter’s simple astute observation is right on! Why the disparity?
Sometime in 1987, I purchased a taped lecture by the brilliant late and great Dr. Janice E. Hale, former Professor of Early Childhood Education at Wayne State University and Founding Director of the Institute for the Study of the African American Child. She spoke on how the increasing feminization of education and teaching at the elementary and secondary school levels is a direct cause of the educational disenfranchisement of Black males. She said something to the effect that: “The black male child is naturally the most energetic child in the classroom. Next is the black female child, followed by younger white males, and the least energetic is the white female child. And that what we see increasingly now in schools is that the least energetic white female adult is now the majority in teaching the most energetic child, the black male.” (Instead of more adult Black males teaching black boys).
This is why when you ask most teachers today what is the number one school issue they say “Behavior and classroom control” (that is, black male youth) and not academic or subject matter issues. The solution is simple. One-half is race-based. Hire more Black males to teach. And they should not have to have a teaching certificate. The other half requires more courage. That is the elimination of the Prussian military school base teaching and learning model for Black children forced onto all Americans beginning in the 1800s. To Be continued.