Book Reviewed: Upending the Ivory Tower: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Ivy League by Stefan M. Bradley

The black experience at Ivy League; from historical perspectives

The admission of black students into the Ivy League wasn’t an idealistic response to the civil rights movement, but the realization of a need for social and economic justice at institutions of higher learning that would be a model for the American society. Ivy League schools became part of a movement led largely by black students. They fought the division between less-fortunate and privileged Americans in institutions of higher learning. Historically, Ivy League or the Ancient Eight, as the author refers to, were constructed and maintained to advance certain demographics. They favored wealthy students with lesser credentials—children of alumni, politicians, big donors, entertainers and celebrities who were largely white.

Professor Stefan Bradley of Loyola Marymount University illuminates on the ever-changing definition of privilege of being at elite colleges like Harvard and Yale. This is a century-long battle that became intense during civil rights era for opportunities in American society. This book offers a new perspective on American history, especially from the point of contributions made by African American students who defiantly resisted unfairness on college campuses, and fought to bring inclusion and social justice. In the century between the Civil War and the civil rights movement, a critical increase in black student’s educational attainment mirrored national growth. Black students demanded space, and asserted their voices as educators, despite such barriers as violence, discrimination, and oppressive campus policies. Life was complex for these students, from Martin Delaney to Cornell West to Obama’s. In the process, they enriched the American experience and its leadership in the decades after WWII. It highlighted the issue of race in the most elite environments, and the struggles to defeat bigotry and prejudice.

Separate chapters have been devoted for the black movements at each of the eight Ivy League schools that included; how Princeton continued to support Jim Crow laws on its campus until WWII. Brown University’s complex relationship with black freedom and education; Dartmouth College’s efforts to assimilate black students and creating a healthy environment for education and scholarship on its campus; The expansion of Columbia University and University of Pennsylvania in largely black neighborhoods of New York and Philadelphia respectively, and its slow and steady realization of its obligations and responsibilities for their neighbors who were long ignored because of their race; the role of black students and faculty members at Yale University in creating the field of Black Studies program; and the last two chapters looks into a more militant style struggle to establish African American studies program at Harvard and Cornell Universities. Now Black studies program remains one of the enduring and outstanding legacies of the black power movement. Harvard alumni, W.E.B DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, and William Leo Hansberry paved the way for thousands for aspiring African Americans. Beyond Black Studies program, black students struggled to create opportunities for the rest black population in the country.

This book is highly engaging and a very readable. I recommend this to readers interested in American history, African-American history, the shaping of African-American Studies programs on college campuses and the history of Ivy League schools.