WSSU celebrates 130 years

By Elwood Robinson
Chancellor, Winston-Salem State University

WINSTON-SALEM (October 26, 2022) – The story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) is amazing with complexity, density, and variety, which recognizes the power of a dream and an extraordinary vision of possibilities. 

This incredible story has provided future generations with a framework, an archetype, a way to integrate their experiences into the tapestry of this ever-evolving story of education in America. The historical significance of education for African Americans in this country is that it stands as a testament to the dreams and hopes of a people who, though denied freedom in the American sphere, never succumb to denying the freedom principle that is at the very core of our being.

Dr. Simon Green Atkins, one of the foremost intellectuals of his day, someone with an incredible educational pedigree, is Winston-Salem State University’s founder. He was born into slavery. His mentor was Anna Julia Cooper, noted author, educator, and women’s rights activist at St. Augustine’s University. He worked under the tutelage of the great J.C. Price, President and Founder of Livingstone College, and was a friend of James E. Shepard, founder of North Carolina Central University.

It was clearly Dr. Atkins who critically captured the importance and significance of Black institutions. When asked what he would teach at a school for recently emancipated enslaved individuals, he answered, “What do they teach at Harvard and the world’s great universities?” Dr. Atkins’ grand educational vision was holistic in nature. His design was the education of the head, heart, and hands.

The education for African Americans in this country has always been the pursuit of liberation and freedom, creating the opportunity to become full participants in the American experience, thereby changing the narrative about who is deserving of high-quality education. 

We can no longer believe that education is for the few, the powerful, or the refuge of the wealthy. We must trust our deepest humanity about confidence, kindness, integrity, and all those essential truths which unfortunately our culturally conditioned cynicism leads us to dismiss as tired truisms or only reserved for the privileged. There is another pathway for us today. One for those who would build the tomorrow fueled by the dreams of yesterday.

We have a responsibility for the future of creating new spaces for fresh expressions of freedom for future generations. Addressing a distinguished audience assembled for the 75th anniversary celebration of Lincoln University in Missouri, the towering intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois stated:

“You have an extraordinary opportunity – for social invention, for planning and methods by which … you can show how a minority cannot simply repeat the accomplishments of a majority but show the majority the way of life.”

The individuals and founders of Black Colleges and Universities helped create a new reality for African Americans. One which reaffirmed that all people are created equal – that our dreams, desires, and hopes are not unique, but consistent with all the world’s citizens.

This created one of this country’s greatest movements, the Black College experience. It forged a new pathway to freedom, helping to liberate the story of Black life from the myths that have distorted its meaning, erased its nuances, and denied its joy.

Creating what Du Bois called “the way of life” is the foundation and the DNA of HBCUs. Members of this intellectual community have taken a vow to uphold the principles on which these institutions were created. 

Today, as HBCUs are experiencing a renaissance, it is important that their story is told in new and creative ways that speak to this moment in time. By establishing a new and fresh beginning for understanding the worth, value, and dignity of what it means to be human in the world.

HBCUs instantiated an ideal of a commitment to academic excellence by establishing and nurturing a living and learning community, where the life of the mind existed within a community dedicated to the audacious proposition that a life well lived is a life well thought and a life well thought is transformative of the world and human existence.

Today, we stand before the long future, and we must hold fast to freedom to enable future generations who join this special community and embark on an intellectual journey that will overcome any inertia that is delaying [us] from going forward together into the untraveled world.

In a time of a pandemic, racial and political division, in a moment of disruption and discord in our social, cultural, and economic worlds, we remember and are renewed by this story, firmly aware that our commitment will shape the lives and life chances of future generations.

This story of freedom is one that underscores that the way of life inaugurated in the founding of these institutions is not mere repetition or measured by degrees or by jobs, but by the quality of intellect, strength of character, and measure of dedication to which one pursues justice, charity, and love in the world.

The arc of history is longer than human vision. It bends. We abolished slavery, earned the right of all citizens to vote, fought, struggled, and died for civil rights, and granted universal suffrage. Sometimes we have forgotten that we have done hard things before. And every time it took a terrible fight between people who could not imagine changing the rules and those who said, “We already did.”

The hardest part today is convincing each person that they can be part of our amazing future. It is about convincing every person that no matter where they were born or where they live, they have the capacity for greatness. Today, more so than ever before, it is important to expand opportunities and create possibilities for all.

Winston-Salem State University’s new Strategic Plan boldly declares that we are unleashing genius in every student that attends. We courageously accept the premise that genius is equally distributed, but the opportunities to express it have been denied for too many and we are going to change that! 

Come to Winston-Salem State University to receive your education, but I also want you to know what kind of education you will get. It is in the spirit of James Baldwin that students come to WSSU not only to receive an education, but to claim something that they so rightfully deserve. 

One of the definitions of the verb “to claim” is: To take as the rightful owner, to assert in the face of contradictions. “To receive” is to come into possession of, to function as receptacle or containers, to accept as authoritative or true. The difference is between acting and being acted-upon, and for 130 years, people who have joined this community have been nurtured and empowered by the realization of this ideal, thus ensuring the future of the unique intellectual community that is Winston-Salem State University.

Few things in life limit us more profoundly than our belief about what we deserve or what we can become, and few things liberate us more powerfully than daring to broaden what is possible. 

We live in difficult and precarious times. We live in a divided nation and a world at war. However, it is during difficult times that we must challenge ourselves to think and act anew. Abraham Lincoln asked a nation at war to think and act differently. “The dogmas of the past are inadequate to the stormy present,” he said in this second State of the Union address.

The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. We must rise to the occasion of today with new thoughts and innovative ideas. 

This will propel us to create a new Winston-Salem and a new Winston-Salem State University. Expanding our thinking about what is possible is the new order of the day. Our new North Star will be that all people should have equal access to the future – a future that creates new pathways to overcome poverty, reduce the wealth gap between the Black and brown members of our family and our white siblings. We can eradicate racism, end discriminatory practices against women and our LGBTQ+ community.

The time is now to take on some of life’s most challenging issues. We will do this by challenging each other to engage in “intelligent imagination.” Our legacies, our contributions to this moment in time, will be evaluated favorably if we work to improve the quality of life of everyone.

At Winston-Salem State University, our new Strategic Plan is bold, audacious, and equitable. We are operating from the premise that a student is NOT defined by their ZIP code or life’s circumstance. We believe that brilliance and genius are equally distributed, but the opportunity to express them has been denied for so many for too long and we are going to change that.

There is a powerful essence to our work. Our work is about ancestry, about lineage and identity and yes, “unleashing the genius” in every single student. 

I leave you with the message that I give every student that I have had the honor and privilege to teach, mentor or lead: “You have a gift and let me help you take it further.” 

Dr. Elwood Robinson is the Chancellor of Winston-Salem State University.