James, Thomas (1985). Life Begins with Freedom: The College Nisei, 1942-1945. Racial & Ethnic Diversity in Higher Education. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions. pp. 65-78.
The U.S. and its government participated in rationalized oppression (Japanese Americans were a perceived threat to national security).
1942 – The U.S. government evacuated over 110,000 Japanese Americans from their homes in the western U.S. to “temporary” relocation centers under Army control.
Issei – first generation Japanese Americans, strong belief in preserving culture, community solidarity and ethnicity.
Nisei – second generation Japanese Americans, view of political participation, citizenship and assimilation into the dominant culture.
By 1942, Nisei outnumbered Issei and the average age was 17 (college aged)
With forced evacuation, college-aged Japanese Americans were not able to participate in higher education without the intervention of several groups, one group was called the college Nisei.
The effort to get Nisei students to college was called an “Underground Railroad” – transit from camp to college (versus slavery to freedom).
The article draws attention to the “…complexities faced by any group of people trying to achieve acceptance in a society where the terms of citizenship, social status, and economic well-being are often racially determined.” (p. 66)
Nisei students had to have “high levels of performance and “verifiably conventional behavior on terms set by their Caucasian sponsors…” (p. 69). These students had to prove themselves worthy and deserving!
The effort to help Nisei get a college education:
1. Educators and humanitarian groups organized a system for selecting and sponsoring Nisei to go to college.
2. System could only function within the narrow constraints set by the Federal government and local population acceptance.
3. Admissions process prevented Nisei from communicating with their family who remained at the camps. This had the effect of driving 2nd generation students away from their community and keeping them away.
Anderson, James D. (1993). Race, Meritocracy, and the American Academy During the Immediate Post- World War II Era. Racial & Ethnic Diversity in Higher Education. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions. pp. 79-93
Meritocracy is the idea that privilege, promotion, access and appointments are made based on merit – talent, effort, and intelligence or education. The principles and procedures of a meritocracy should ideally affirm democratic values. With a meritocracy, racism should technically not exist because it is “anti-democratic.” (p. 81)
The article focuses on the fact that African American scholars who were kept out of institutions by not being offered faculty appointments or positions within administration. However, immediately after WWII, the GI Bill afforded most Americans, access to education. Higher education was no longer to be accessible to the upper class. Federal aid, loans, et cetera, made it easier for most people to access the “American Dream” – home ownership and higher education. Institutional racism remained strong, especially within universities.
Until 1941, no African American scholar had been hired as a faculty member at ANY predominantly white universities. A study was sponsored by the Julius Rosenwald Fund in 1945. The Fund’s director of education, Fred G. Wade, implemented the study.
Goal of study was to especially desegregate northern white facilities. Study ran from 1945-1947 (p. 81)
Letter writing campaign to 600 college presidents. Letters had a list of 150 extremely qualified African American Scholars from all academic disciplines.
- 400 college presidents never responded to Wade’s letter
- 200 answered when sent a follow-up correspondence which challenged college Presidents’ commitment to meritocratic principles more directly. (p. 83)
Factors of the study:
Black Mountain College
GI Bill
Colleges in the South versus the North
Jim Crow Laws
List of 150 African American Scholars - Langston Hughes (Literature), Fred Alsup (Biology), William Edward Burghardt DuBois (Sociology), David Blackwell (Math) – some examples of major scholars of their time – educated, published, experts in the field…
Possible Discussion Questions
In this day and age, do you believe that meritocracy is color-blind, as well as does not consider one’s ethnicity, religion or sex?
“meritocratic rhetoric which camouflaged traditional institutionalized practices of racial discrimination and exclusion…” (p. 88). Give past and present examples
Discuss the following factors of the study as well as their impact on higher education. Do we still see their impact today and if so, how or in what manner?
Black Mountain College
GI Bill
Colleges in the South versus the North
Jim Crow Laws
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