The Caucus emerges from the efforts of students, faculty, and staff of Texas HBCUs and their community partners and supporters across Texas who came together, starting the spring of 2022, to bring attention to the deep, largely unknown democratic legacy of Black education in Texas’ and America’s HBCUs, and the institutions for which HBCUs serve as a hub, and to work with lawmakers and others to address disparities in Texas higher education funding that challenge Texas HBCUs. The network of stakeholders has come to be known as the Democracy Schools Alliance of Texas HBCUs (Alliance).

 

The roots of the Alliance (and the Caucus) reach back to the classroom, to experiences of leadership development in the tradition of strong meaningful citizenship that faculty and staff at Huston-Tillotson University (HT) sought to create for interested students and others to learn about, engage, and enjoy. HT faculty and staff wanted to create opportunities for students and others to connect their campus experience with the passion and energy that politics in the tradition of strong meaningful citizenship has to offer. Leadership defined as strong meaningful citizenship is non-partisan, public work that is possible when people come together through community traditions and institutions across differences (of race/ethnic, class, political party) that tend, to divide to build a world they believe in.

 

HT students and their supporters responded to the opportunity with enthusiasm. Building on their experiences they reached out beyond campus to other HBCU students and supporters across Texas to explore ways of coming together to speak as one on behalf of the values and interests of the community and the common good. The Texas HBCU Democracy Schools Conference Series was born from their efforts. The conference series is a way for students and stakeholders to share stories and get connected, to reflect on the ongoing work they are doing across the state to strengthen the civic traditions and practices of HBCUs, to plan new initiatives, and to gather material for the new Freedom Schools journal, which the University of Texas Press publishes in association with HT. Freedom Schools, like the Caucus, is another initiative that emerges from stakeholders’ efforts.

 

To date three Democracy Schools conferences have been held (2022, 2023, 2024) and the results have been remarkable. At the year three conference (2024), state lawmakers announced the formal creation of a new legislative caucus, the Texas HBCU Legislative Caucus, devoted specifically to addressing challenges Texas HBCUs face, including disparities in higher education funding of Texas HBCUs. No such legislative caucus exists in any state anywhere in America. Until now.

 

The Caucus is a direct result of the Democracy Schools conferences that stakeholders organize and host through the Alliance. Stakeholders see the caucus as a vehicle for working with lawmakers to help bring attention to the deep, largely unknown democratic legacy of Black education in Texas’ and America’s HBCUs, and the institutions for which HBCUs serve as a hub.