Ayesha Rascoe is the host of Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR. Her new book, “HBCU Made”, is a collection of essays and testimonials from alumni of historically black colleges or universities, including Oprah Winfrey, Stacey Abrams, Roy Wood Jr., and others. Scott Brocato recently spoke with Ayesha Rascoe about the book.
SCOTT BROCATO:
First of all, what inspired you to put together this book?
AYESHA RASCOE:
Well, Algonquin came to me, the publisher of the book, and said, would you be interested in pulling together a collection of essays from HBCU alumni about the importance of HBCU's and how their experiences with these institutions, how it shaped their lives? And they said it hadn't been done before-- not from a major publishing company, not with HBCU graduates, just speaking in their own words about their experience. And I was shocked! I would have thought this would have been done long ago. So that made me intrigued.
But then I thought about my experience as a Howard University graduate, and how much attending Howard shaped my life, and how so much of who I am today started at Howard. And I felt like I had to do this, and I'm so glad I did.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Well, speaking of your time at Howard University, you write in the introduction that you grew up in North Carolina; you wanted to be a journalist since middle school. When it came time to decide on an HBCU, you almost went with your mother's alma mater. But you chose Howard University. It was your only HBCU choice. Why was that? Why was that particularly important?
AYESHA RASCOE:
Well, you know, Howard, to me, just seemed...first of all I was out of state. I wanted to go out of state. I grew up in Durham, NC. I wanted to get away.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Get away from home.
AYESHA RASCOE:
Yeah, I wanted to get away from home. But Howard just seemed really cool to me. Like it just it seemed chic. It was the school that was the basis of a different world. Howard University was the model for that, and it was just so well known. And so to me it was the Mecca. And I was just like, if I can make it there, then, you know, I could make it anywhere.
And when I went to actually visit the campus and I saw the people on the yard, which is like the main courtyard of the school, and I saw, you know, Deltas strolling, members of a sorority. And I saw all these beautiful black people. I was just like, this is where I want to be. It felt like home, and I wanted it to be home. And it was.
SCOTT BROCATO:
In your senior year you became the editor of your student-run newspaper, the Hilltop, and you write that even after getting the job, you still we're a little bit unsure of your ability to lead. But a departing senior who also went on to become a successful journalist, advised you to “put a little more bass in your voice”. Tell us exactly what that meant.
AYESHA RASCOE:
Yeah, what it meant was just to kind of stand in my own authority, and to embrace my own power and not to be so timid and afraid of just being able to say this is what I know, this is what I need, and to lead. And I say it did not happen overnight, right? Like I didn't just, you know, automatically gain that confidence. But I do think being at Howard really planted seeds that I now see the food of, and the work that I do and the person that you see before you today. That I learned about what it means to really stand in my own authority. And that if I come correct, if I come prepared, that I am just as worthy to be where I'm at as anyone else. And so that's what you see in me today.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Going back to the book itself, "HBCU Made”, whose testimonials or observances particularly stood out for you?
AYESHA RASCOE:
Oh, I mean, there's so many. And I love that you said “testimonials”, because I feel like this whole book is really a testament to the power of HBCU's. But I mean, obviously, you know, I think Roy Wood Jr. has a very powerful story about getting into some trouble while he was at (Florida A&M University), but then (they) gave him a second chance. And I think that redemption, the redemptive character of HBCU's, is so important.
And we have some people who talk about, they got into an HBCU, and then they had to maybe take some...they had to get tutoring, they had to get help. Because HBCU's will often maybe take students who may be, on paper, don't look like, “OK, this is the top student.” But they see the potential. And so I think that you see in HBCU’s so much where you see people are poured into, and that helps them to become so much more than they could have been or would have been.
Stacey Abrams has a beautiful essay talking about going to Spelman and really talking about, like, how she learned about...she already knew about activism, but how it really was instilled in her, including storming into Board of Trustees meetings at Spellman and protesting and things like that, and how all of that happened on Spelman's campus.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Since the Supreme Court struck down college affirmative action programs last June, how has that impacted HBCU’s?
AYESHA RASCOE:
You know, it has, I think, given HBCU's a second look for some students. Now I should be clear: HBCU's are not going to be able to educate every black person in the country. And that's not really what they're designed to do at this point, right? But what HBCU's can do is offer a safe haven for black students to develop and grow in a space where they can be supported, where they don't have to be thought of as the “other” or as “less than”, or, you know, as a stereotype; and they can really just develop in their full humanity. And that’s what HBCU’S offer.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Finally, what do you want readers to take away from "HBCU Made” after they’ve read it?
AYESHA RASCOE:
I want readers of “HBCU Made” to look at it, as I said before, as a testament to the importance of HBCU's and the impact that they have had and are having on the world; that HBCU’S make the world a better place that you have Oprah Winfrey. Branford Marsalis, Stacey Abrams. Roy Wood Jr. and so on and so forth. You even have Ayesha Rascoe doing the puzzle! And that is because all of these people went to HBCU's, and they were able to grow and to develop and to make the world a better place. And so that's what I hope people get from it, and that these places are worthy of support and they are worthy of being celebrated.
