USA Africa Dialogue Series - africans vs african americans at harvard

In 2004, Henry Louis Gates Jr. estimated that between two-thirds and one-half of Black students at Harvard were immigrants or the children of immigrants, rather than the descendants of American slaves. Apparently, little has changed since then: "To be a descendant of slavery is to be an 'other' within the Black community at Harvard," one student wrote in a February Crimson column. The writer noted that in 2015, the median income of U.S.-born Black households was about 30% lower than that of Black immigrant households. Harvard figured out that it could appear to be helping the primary victims of American racism by accepting the high-achieving children of relatively wealthy African professionals.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/ivy-league-exodus

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu