Let’s get to the point straight away. Trust Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Black History at your peril. Greater intelligence does not equal greater wisdom or understanding of Black History. Wrong facts are asserted with upmost confidence. As a result, users are vulnerable to false portrayals of our past. Whether the distortions are a feature or a bug remain to be seen.
Last night while writing an essay for the Equiano Project, I did a quick search for black students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). I wanted to know what percentage of black college students attended predominantly black schools as opposed to predominantly white schools. I am a curious person. Research as a Leisure Activity
An answer popped up at the top of the page courtesy of AI —
Consider this quote from AI -- As of 2022, Black students made up 70% of the students enrolled at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This is down from 18% in 1976, when HBCUs were the only option for Black students to get a college education. (bold lettering added for emphasis) However, the percentage of Black students at HBCUs has remained around 9% since 2014. https://www.google.com/search?q=what+percentage+of+black+students+attend+hbcus&oq=what+percentage+of+black+students+attend+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEAAYgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiABDIHCAIQABiABDIICAMQABgWGB4yCAgEEAAYFhgeMggIBRAAGBYYHjIICAYQABgWGB4yCAgHEAAYFhgeMggICBAAGBYYHjIICAkQABgWGB7SAQkyMDg2MmowajeoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
I draw your attention to the language “…in 1976, when HBCUs were the only option for Black students to get a college education.” This information is as wrong as the day is long. What the heck? I do not hold a PhD in Black History but my curiosity protected me from the falsehoods of AI.
The Reality of Black Students and College Education.
Here are the facts, no spin and no narrative bias.
Since the year 1823, black students have attended predominantly white colleges and universities in this country. The accomplished and distinguished Alexander Lucius Twilight (1795 - 1857) graduated from Middlebury College in 1823. The first black college graduate whose name should be known by all American students, Alexander Twilight would build one of the finest boarding schools in Vermont and serve in the Vermont State House of Representatives. Those who are reading my novel Gotterdammerung will recognize Twilight as the fictional brother of Mary Twilight Scott.
Why do we live in a world where people know the name Harriet Tubman but not Alexander L. Twilight?
Shall we continue with the long, long line of black Americans who attended predominantly white colleges and universities before 1976?
Edward A. Jones, who received a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in 1826, was Black. John B. Russwurm, who received a degree from Bowdoin College in 1826, was Black. George B. Vashon graduated from Oberlin College as its first black college graduate in 1844. John M. Langston graduated from Oberlin in 1849. Martin Henry Freeman graduated from Middlebury in 1849. Richard Henry Greene graduated from Yale in 1857. Mary Jane Patterson graduated from Oberlin in 1862.
After the Civil War, the number of black graduates increased from predominantly white colleges. Richard T. Greener graduated from Harvard in 1870. Edward Alexander Bouchet graduated from Yale in 1874. George Washington Henderson graduated first in his class at the University of Vermont in 1877. William H. Ferris received his AB. degree from Yale in 1895.
Although I have been on the outs with Harvard as of late, Harvard was no stranger to the black college student in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Blacks at Harvard Who can forget class orator Clement G. Morgan (1859 - 1929) who graduated from the college in 1890? W.E.B. DuBois who obtained his A.B. degree in 1890? William Monroe Trotter who graduated magna cum laude in 1895? Leslie Pinckney Hill who was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded his degree cum laude in 1903? Acclaimed scholar and writer Alain Locke who received his A.B. degree magna cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1907? Eva B. Dykes who received a B.A. degree in 1917 magna cum laude from Radcliffe? Caroline Bond Day who received a B.A. degree in 1919 from Radcliffe?Roscoe Conkling Bruce who graduated with an AB degree in 1902, magna cum laude, and became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society?…I could go on but the point has been made. And Harvard was one of many predominantly white colleges and universities where black students were enrolled before 1976.
I am reminded of Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., a graduate of Colgate University in 1930, and Harold Marsh, a graduate of the University of Virginia in the early 1960s. The AI amnesia about black college attendance at predominantly white schools before 1976 troubled me as I knew Harold well. Why would AI erase the memory of black college students at white schools before 1976? I have several family members, all black, who graduated from white colleges well before 1976. Once again, what gives with AI? Why leave a false impression about the human condition and black achievement for consumers?
Conclusion: We are witnessing the cognitive decline of AI when it comes to Black History. I am flummoxed as to why this would be the case. Greater intelligence and processing speed should produce greater wisdom about Black History, not less. Do not trust AI when it comes to insights into black people as individuals. Hundreds of thousands of people like my old mentor Harold Marsh deserve better than to be air brushed out of existence by AI.
Black schools were not the only option for black students to get a college education before 1976.
Alexander L. Twilight (1795 - 1857) First Black College Graduate Middlebury College (1823)