ABSTRACT
In 2004, I was accepted into a Ph.D. program in Higher Education Administration at Morgan State University, a research-intensive Historically Black University, in Baltimore, Maryland. While I intentionally chose to apply to a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) for my doctoral work, I did apply to a variety of other schools. Nonetheless, I ended up being resolute to attend an HBCU for my Ph.D. for several reasons. First, ever since I was a kid, I was intrigued by HBCUs; I viewed them as cultural oases for Black Americans, such as myself, because I was never taught about Black history beyond slavery in the K–12 system. The second, and perhaps most critical reason I strongly desired to attend an HBCU for my doctoral studies stemmed from the racial microaggressions I experienced both as an undergraduate and as a graduate student at the two different Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) I attended. Because the Ph.D. is a terminal degree, attending an HBCU for this degree would be my last opportunity to experience all of the great things I read about HBCUs in the scholarly literature as a master’s student.
