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Dr. Henderson Leading Clark To Futu
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Dr. Vivian Wilson Henderson
was never inaugurated as
president of Clark College
because he did not take the time
when he arrived on campus in
1965.
However, an official
“correction” will be made when
he is formally installed as 18th
president April 19 during a week
celebrating the college’s 100th
year.
Since he succeeded Dr. James
P. Brawley as president, the
well-known economist has been
cited for the role he has played in
Clark’s development and for his
many speeches and studies on the
economic status of Negroes, rural
poverty and race relations. Time
Magazine cited Dr. Henderson as
an example of the aggressive, new
breed of administrators at black
colleges.
Perhaps, he is best known for
the many speeches and papers he
has presented. In an address to
Southern mayors at Savannah, he
told the elected officials to be
color conscious and scolded them
for their past failures to assert the
kind of effective leadership that
could “have offset the impact
George Wallace had in the last
election.”
He told the mayors that it
might sound contradictory to call
for color consciousness since it
was color consciousness that
produced the abuses of a
segregated society, but the
reverse of this--color
blindness—could lead city leaders
not to do enough, fast enough to
head off a polarization of racial
attitudes.
In another widely quoted
speech, Dr. Henderson cited the
value of the predominantly Negro
institution. He said, “The
foremost question raised is what
is to be their role in the new era?
“Should they endeavor to
become institutions serving fully
integrated student bodies and
offering the best in liberal
education; or should they
continue as predominantly Negro
institutions endeavoring to meet
the particular needs of a
‘disadvantaged’ minority?
“Either role demands self
evaluation and changes in policies
and curricula on the part of the
colleges involved.”
Dr. Henderson attacked the
Jencks-Riesman report which
maintained that Negro colleges
are likely to remain academically
inferior institutions. He replied,
“ I feel rather strongly that they
distract from the more
fundamental question of ‘quality
education.’ It is rather
disconcerting to focus on the
attraction of white students as
being a major index of
educational quality in a society
where racial prejudice continues
to be a major force underlying
decisions involving human
interaction...”
Dr. Henderson also took a
hard look at Atlanta in a 1966
newspaper interview. “If you say
the potential for another Watts is
here, people think you’re an
alarmist and all sorts of things.”
“I would say this: Atlanta is a
big city . . . Atlanta has 400,000
Negroes in the metropolitan area
... I think the housing patterns,
job situations, the lack of
participation in the labor force
on the part of large numbers of
Negroes are very important in
considering the potential for
disruption and violence.
“ I do get concerned, in other
words. But I get even more
concerned when I hear some of
my friends say, ‘Oh, it couldn’t
happen in Atlanta.’ That’s
absurd.”
Dr. Vivian W. Henderson
In a speech at the University
of Wisconsin, the president
discussed the problem of unused
manpower in the ghettoes and in
the South.
“During the greater part of
the history the South has
functioned under the dual
hardship of a backward economic
structure and a system of race
relations based upon segregation
and discrimination. One outcome
of the situation is low investment
in manpower development as well
as a pattern of racial
discrimination in manpower use
much more severe than that
which exists in other sections of
the country.
“The South today suffers
from these burdens of history.”
Discussing the black university
and black studies, Dr. Henderson
said, “ I don’t know what people
are talking about when they
discuss the all-black college. It is
one thing to be a black college
and have the doors open to
anyone seeking a quality
education. It’s another thing to
be racially exclusive.
“The same thing goes for
black studies. People who need
black studies are not all Negro. If
we are going to dent white racism
and penetrate this nasty problem,
then black studies should be
encouraged for whites.
“The point is, America has
neglected the development of
instruction on problems of Negro
life and history, on the
contributions of blacks to world
and domestic civilization.”
Dr. Henderson continued,
“No one can deny the
overwhelming need for
instruction on the so-called black
experience. However, I am not
one who believes that instruction
in black studies should be
confined only to black
instructors.
“While I am quite sure that
black scholars bring an instinct
and understanding to black
studies because others have not
lived with the problem, I also
know that there are whites who
have become scholars on the
black experience and have much
to offer.”
Commenting on the future of
Clark Co liege, President
Henderson said, “I see it as a
Negro college for some time to
come, but I see it as a college
good enough for all-black and
white—who seek a quality
education. However, we will not
abandon our historic interest and
concern for the black student.”
Dr. Henderson came to Clark
College after serving as professor
and chairman of the Department
of Economics and Business
Administration at Fisk
University.
A native of Bristol, Tenn., he
graduated from high school there
and received a B.S.C. degree in
business administration and
economics at North Carolina
College at Durham.
He earned master’s and
doctor’s degrees in economics
from the State University of
Iowa.
His first teaching post was as
an instructor in economics at
Prairie View A & M College,
Texas. He also taught at his alma
mater and at North Carolina
State University.
Some of his many
publications are “The Economic
Status of Negroes,” “Race,
Regions and Jobs,” “Jobs and
Color: Negro Employment in
Tennessee State Government,”
“The Economic Imbalance,”
“The Role of the Predominantly
Negro Institutions” and “Negro
Manpower Use.”
The president has done
continuous research on the
economic status of Negroes,
Negro buying power and Negro
markets and manpower. He
presented an “economic analysis”
of factors underlying race
relations in the United States on
the NBC nationwide television
program, “White Paper,” in 1960.
The Wall Street Journal also
carried a profile on his
professional and civic
contributions in the fields of
economics and race relations.
Dr. Henderson also served as
chief consultant and director of
the jobs and economics section of
the 1965 planning session for the
White House Conference on Civil
Rights.
Despite his pressing schedule,
he serves on boards of church,
civil rights and economic
organizations.
Dr. Henderson is married to
the former Anna Powell. The
Hendersons have four children.
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DR MATTHEW S. DAVAGE front row, third left, who served as president of Clark College from 1924-41, watches as ground was broken
for the new campus in 1940. The campus is the present location of the college.