The introduction familiarizes the reader with the concept of the second curriculum – a pedagogy of idealism, race consciousness, and cultural nationalism that flowed through all black colleges and made them formidable epicenters of black militancy and activism. The case for constructing a longitudinal history of seven different institutions is made. The author repurposes the theory of communitas, first introduced by anthropologist Victor Turner, and uses this concept to define black colleges as dedicated, racialized spaces that countered the ideology of white supremacy that permeated American society and sought to crush the social, political, and economic advancement of African Americans. In doing so, HBCUs served as a vital cornerstone of the black freedom movement in America.
