AUSTIN, Texas — Kamala Harris has officially been nominated as the Democratic vice presidential pick.
The California Senator is not only the first Black and Indian-American woman to be on a major party ticket, but she is also the first graduate of a historically Black college or university (HBCU) to be selected to run for America’s second-highest office. Alumni of Texas HBCUs hope her nomination helps others acknowledge the longtime contributions of these institutions.
“It shows that we are producing powerful products out of our university. We're sending people out into the world that actually have effects on society,” Thedencia Horne, a Huston-Tillotson University alumna, said.
Horne may have graduated from the Austin historically Black university in 2006, but the university president is still encouraging her to conquer her apprehension over public speaking. Horne is now the Austin chapter president of the Huston-Tillotson International Alumni Association.
“It just continues. You still have those family ties, so I'm still being pushed from my HBCU. I graduated 2006, so I'm like, ‘I’m grown,’” Horne told Spectrum News laughing.
Growing up in Austin and attending a magnet school, Horne did not get to interact with many students who looked like her. She knew her education was missing something and she found it at a historically Black university.
“It was clear that more was expected of you. There was no one there like, ‘Oh no, I know you can't do it, because you're Black.’ It was like, ‘No, you're going to do it, because you're Black, you're at an HBCU and we expect excellence. We're giving that to you, so we expect it in return,’” Horne said.
Horne believes that excellence is reflected in Harris. She is graduate of Howard University and the first graduate of an HBCU to be such a national candidate.
“Her mother told her, you may be the first one, but make sure that you're not the last. She's going make sure that there is another little girl or little boy going to the HBCU that knows, ‘OK, I can look at a Kamala and know that I can get up there,” Horne said.
Dr. Theodore Francis, assistant professor of history at Huston-Tillotson, said when it comes to HBCUs in the United States, there is what he calls a “prestige deficit.”
“We've also got to think about the longer history out there, because Senator Harris is not necessarily the first black person, or the first black woman by any means to put HBCU’s into the national spotlight,” Francis said.
There are about 100 HBCUs across the country, and they have been historically underfunded and they struggle to grow endowments.
“When we think about what needs to happen at HBCUs it's largely what needs to happen to Black communities by and large throughout the United States, places that are filled with individuals who make concrete contributions,” Francis said.
For Horne, neither ethnicity nor alma mater should be a barrier to achievement.
“Don't judge somebody based on where they received their education, especially an HBCU because we're known for excellence within our own community. We just need to get that out into the world,” Horne said.
Some HCBU graduates say Harris as Vice President may be the ticket to get these institutions more attention.