Access, School Choice, and Independent Black Institutions

Abstract

This theoretical piece explores the potential affect of school choice on independent Black institutions (IBIs). The article struggles with and engages the following question: Do charter schools and school vouchers preserve, expand, or impair IBIs? The analysis is mostly situated in the historical context and developments of IBIs and the schooling of African Americans in general to demystify and inform topical conclusions and prospective outcomes with respect to these institutions. It is concluded that access, in the form of universal education in the South, was a factor in the deterioration of IBIs during the latter part of the 19th century. Similarly, access in the form of school desegregation efforts caused the end of quasi-IBIs and cost many African American educators their jobs. Thus, we must consider that access, in the form of school-choice programs, poses some threat to the future of IBIs.