HBCUs as relics or reminders race remains relevant in a ‘Post-Racial’ society? Exploring and expanding the role of memory in public relations

Abstract

In this article, the authors broaden the scope of the communication, public relations, and memory research by both critically analyzing the post-racial society collective memory narrative and postulating the public relations–oriented defensive strategies, which racially stigmatized organizations contesting the same narrative might employ. To make this argument, we choose Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as cases for analysis. This study contributes to the post-racial society discussions by highlighting the ways in which HBCUs are not antiquated relics of a period gone by in the history of the United States but rather serve as a standing institutional reminder that racial injustices exist and persist in contemporary United States.

Keywords

Historically Black Colleges and Universities memory post-racial society public relations race

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abrams

Goodman

(1988) End of an era? The decline of student press rights in the wake of Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier. Duke Law Journal 1988(4): 706–732. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1372571

Allen

(2007) Theorizing communication and race. Communication Monographs 74: 259–264.

Ashcraft

Allen

(2003) The racial foundations of organizational communication. Communication Theory 13: 3–38.

Bal

(1999) Introduction. In: Bal

Crewe

Spitzer

(eds) Acts of Memory. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, pp.vii–xvii.

Baszille

(2006) Rage in the interests of black self: Curriculum theorizing as dangerous knowledge. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing 22: 89–98.

Botan

Soto

(1998) A semiotic approach to the internal functioning of publics: Implications for strategic communication and public relations. Public Relations 24: 21–44.

Boyd

Waymer

(2011) Organizational rhetoric: A subject of interest(s). Management Communication Quarterly 25: 474–493.

Brown

II Freeman

(2004) The state of research on black colleges: An introduction. In: Brown

Freeman

(eds) Black Colleges: New Perspectives on Policy and Practice. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp.xi–xiv.

Carter

(2012) Two unreconciled strivings: Racial constructionism and racial eliminitivism in the critical philosophy of race. In: Waymer

(ed.) Culture, Social Class, and Race in Public Relations. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, pp.79–95.

10.

Edwards

(2014) Power, Diversity and Public Relations. NY: Routledge.

11.

Eyerman

(2004) The past in the present: Culture and the transmission of memory. Acta Sociologica 47: 159–169.

12.

Foner

Taylor

(2000) Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.

13.

Giroux

(2003) Spectacles of race and pedagogies of denial: Anti-black racist pedagogy under the reign of neoliberalism. Communication Education 52: 191–211.

14.

Goode

(2011) The HBCU Debate: Are Black colleges & universities still needed? Black Enterprise, 15 February. Available at: http://www.blackenterprise.com/lifestyle/are-hbcus-still-relevant/ (accessed 22 May 2015).

15.

Hallahan

(2004) ‘Community’ as the framework for public relations theory and research. In Kalbfleisch

P. J.

(ed.) Communication Yearbook 28. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 233–279.

16.

Harris

(1999) Racism. Amherst, NY: Humanity Books.

17.

Hayes

(2001) Changing with the times: Historically black Lincoln University turns majority white. CNN Student Bureau, 15 February. Available at: http://www.cnn.com/fyi/interactive/specials/bhm/story/lincoln.univ.html (accessed 22 May 2015).

18.

Heath

(2006) Onward into more fog: Thoughts on public relations’ research directions. Journal of Public Relations Research 18: 93-114.

19.

Heath

Waymer

(2009).Activist public relations and the paradox of the positive: A case study of Frederick Douglass’ “Fourth of July Address.” In Heath

R. L.

Toth

E. L.

Waymer

(eds.), Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations II (pp. 195-215). New York: Routledge.

20.

Hon

(1997) ‘To redeem the soul of America’: Public relations and the Civil Rights Movement. Journal of Public Relations Research 9: 163–212.

21.

Janssen

(2013) Corporate historical responsibility (CHR): Addressing a corporate past of forced labor at Volkswagen. Journal of Applied Communication Research 41: 64–83.

22.

Kansteiner

(2002) Finding meaning in memory: A methodological critique of collective memory studies. History and Theory 41(2): 179–197.

23.

Keightley

(2010) Remembering research: Memory and methodology in the social sciences. International Journal of Social Research Methodology 13(1): 55–70.

24.

Klein

(2000) On the emergence of memory in historical discourse. Representations 69: 127–150.

25.

Ladson-Billings

Tate

(1995) Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record 97: 47–68.

26.

L’Etang

(2010) ‘Making it real’: Anthropological reflections on public relations, diplomacy, and rhetoric. In: Heath

(ed.) The SAGE Handbook of Public Relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp.145–162.

27.

Lovett

(2011) America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Narrative History from the Nineteenth Century into the Twenty-First Century. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.

28.

Macdonald

(1999) Judging jurisdictions: Geography and race in slave law and literature of the 1830s. American Literature 71: 625–656.

29.

Mbajekwe

COW

(ed.) (2006) The Future of Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Ten Presidents Speak Out. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.

30.

Misztal

(2003) Theories of Social Remembering. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

31.

Munshi

Edwards

(2011) Understanding ‘race’ in/and public relations: Where do we start and where should we go? Journal of Public Relations Research 23: 349–367.

32.

Murphee

(2006) The Selling of Civil Rights: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Use of Public Relations. New York: Routledge.

33.

Olick

Robbins

(1998) Social memory studies: From ‘collective memory’ to the historical sociology of mnemonic practices. Annual Review of Sociology 105–140.

34.

Orbe

Allen

(2008) ‘Race matters’ in the Journal of Applied Communication Research. Howard Journal of Communications 19: 201–220.

35.

Orbe

(2011) Communication Realities in a ‘Post-Racial’ Society: What the U.S. Public Really Thinks of President Barack Obama. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

36.

PBS (2014) From swastika to Jim Crow: Historically black college and universities. Available at: http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fromswastikatojimcrow/blackcolleges.html

37.

Pompper

(2004) Linking ethnic diversity & two-way symmetry: Modeling female African-American practitioners’ roles. Journal of Public Relations Research 16: 269-299.

38.

Pompper

(2011) Fifty years later: Mid-career women of color against the glass ceiling in communication organizations. Journal of Organizational Change Management 24: 464-486.

39.

Radstone

(2008) Memory studies: For and against. Memory Studies 1(1): 31–39.

40.

Redd

(1998) Historically black colleges and universities: Making a comeback. New Directions for Higher Education 102: 33–43.

41.

Reynolds

(2005) John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

42.

Roediger

Wertsch

(2008) Creating a new discipline of memory studies. Memory Studies 1(1): 9–22.

43.

Sabry

Levy

(2009) HBCUs drawing scrutiny. Inside Higher Education, 30 January. Available at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/01/30/hbcu

44.

Schwartz

(2000) Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

45.

Scupin

(2006) Cultural Anthropology: A Global Perspective (6th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

46.

Simpson

Causey

Williams

(2007) ‘‘I would want you to understand it:’’ Student perspectives on addressing race in the classroom. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research 36: 33–50.

47.

Stancill

(2014) NC’s historically black colleges battle for students, money. 25 January. Available at: http://nccueagles.yuku.com/topic/8704/NCs-historically-black-colleges-battle-students-money#.VV-buNLBzRY (accessed 22 May 2015).

48.

Stowe

(1852) Uncle Tom’s Cabin Boston, MA: John P. Jewett & Co., 1852.

49.

Tajfel

Turner

(1985) The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In: Worchel

Austin

(eds) Psychology of Intergroup Relations (2nd edition). Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall, pp.7–24.

50.

Taylor

(2004) Race: A Philosophical Introduction. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

51.

Tindall

NTJ

(2009) Working on the ‘short grass’: Fund-raiser roles and experiences at historically Black colleges and universities. International Journal of Educational Advancement 9: 3–15.

52.

TSU (2011) History. Available at: http://www.tsu.edu/About/History.php (accessed 22 May 2015).

53.

Van Leuven

Slater

(1991) How publics, public relations, and the media shape the public opinion process. Journal of Public Relations Research 3: 165–178.

54.

Vasquez

(1994) A homo narrans paradigm for public relations: Combining Bormann’s symbolic convergence theory and Grunig’s situation theory of publics. Journal of Public Relations Research 5: 201–216.

55.

Waymer

(2009) Liberty and justice for all? The paradox of governmental rhetoric. Communication Quarterly 57: 334–351.

56.

Waymer

(2010) Does public relations scholarship have a place in race? In: Heath

(ed.) The SAGE Handbook of Public Relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp.237–246.

57.

Waymer

(2012) Culture, social class, and race in public relations: An introduction. In: Waymer

(ed.) Culture, Social Class, and Race in Public Relations. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, pp.1–11.

58.

Waymer

(2013a) Democracy and government public relations: Expanding the scope of ‘Relationship’ in public relations research. Public Relations Review 39: 320–331.

59.

Waymer

(2013b) Minorities in public relations. In: Heath

(ed.) Encyclopedia of Public Relations (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp.638–639.

60.

Waymer

Heath

(2007) Emergent agents: The forgotten publics in crisis communication and issues management research. Journal of Applied Communication Research 35: 88-108.

61.

Wilson

(1978) The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

62.

Wilson

(1987) The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

63.

Wilson

(1996) When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York: Albert A. Knopf.

64.

Wilson

Quane

Rankin

(1998) The new urban poverty: Consequences of the economic and social decline of inner-city neighborhoods. In: Harris

Curtis

(eds) Locked in the Poorhouse: Cities, Race, and Poverty in the United States. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp.57–94.

65.

Zack

(2005) Thinking about Race (2nd edition). New York: Wadsworth Publishing.

66.

Zhu

(2010, Feb 27) HBCU merger arguments filled with faulty logic. Rattler. Available at: http://rattlernation.blogspot.com/2010/02/hbcu-merger-arguments-filled-with.html (accessed 22 May 2015).