Hope & Healing:
Black Colleges and the Future of American Democracy
By John Wilson Silvanus Jr.
Published by Harvard Education Press
About the Book
In Hope and Healing, former Morehouse College president John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. looks to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to examine what it takes not only to survive as a relevant institution of higher education, but to thrive. Wilson draws on pivotal moments in the timelines of HBCUs and the work of past visionaries such as W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington to yield important perspectives on the future of higher education and the role of HBCUs within it. Suffused with optimism, the book credits HBCUs as exemplars that consistently demonstrate how all colleges and universities can marshal their institutional resources to shape better citizens, foster civic literacy, and work toward a better tomorrow.
Ayi Kwei Armah
The Healers, Chapter 10: The String Shooters
“Instead of shooting the bird,
he deliberately shot the string that freed the bird;
Instead of preserving control,
he released it;
Instead of taking a life,
he liberated one.”
String Shooter Mindset
About the Author
John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. has been a career-long advocate of HBCUs. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1979 and later served as its eleventh president (2013-2017). He has also worked to advance HBCUs on the national stage by serving as the executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs in the Obama Administration.
John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. now serves as the managing director of the Open Leadership Program in collaboration with MIT, and chairman of The Open Leadership Council.
Book Reviews
"In Hope and Healing, Wilson asks us to consider the future of HBCUs and their impact on humanity—but more than that, he asks us to consider how these institutions can create better citizens and offer African Americans an opportunity for ‘self-reformation’ by adopting a ‘growth mindset.’ Wilson walks us through the complicated history of HBCUs, but also pushes us to grapple with their destiny. In doing so, he has an insider view that no other can claim—he is a graduate of Morehouse College and served as the venerable institution’s president, as well as the executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs in President Obama’s administration."
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Marybeth Gasman, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in Education and University Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University