Stop the Insanity: Give to a Historically Good Cause

Stop the Insanity
A Historically Good Cause

Last August, I visited our nation’s capital and met with the president.

No, not that one.

I was meeting with the impressive Dr. Ben Vinson III, president of Howard University.

I also met with several impressive Howard students.

They were all very smart, and all wanted to become writers. (Not a smart career choice, if you ask me, but I won’t hold that against them.)

The reason for my visit was that last year, I sponsored twelve scholarships at Howard.

At the end of the meeting, after listening to these brilliant students for over an hour, I decided to increase that number to twenty-two.

For those who might not know, Howard is one of over a hundred institutions of higher education across the country known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs.

The “historically” part is… complicated. Most of these schools were created during America’s shameful segregated past.

Today, they welcome over 300,000 students every year. And they’ve educated some of the most successful and influential Black Americans of the last century. Like Oprah Winfrey and Langston Hughes. Toni Morrison and Samuel L. Jackson. Vice President Kamala Harris and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This year, I’ve sponsored 171 scholarships at over a dozen different HBCUs.

By this time next year, that number will be 271.

Now, I’m not sharing this for any slaps on the back or attaboys. There’s absolutely no need for that.

I’m sharing it because I’m so impressed with HBCUs and the incredible work they do. They—not me—deserve all the praise and attention they can get.

I’ll prove it with a stunning statistic.

60% of all Black doctors in this country come from HBCUs. So do 50% of all Black lawyers. (Not that the world needs any more lawyers…)

I find those numbers a cause for joy. And despair.

It’s amazing how many Black professionals are educated at HBCUs. But it does make you wonder how effective other colleges’ and universities’ celebrated diversity programs are. Why aren’t more Black doctors and lawyers coming out of those schools? That’s insane.

Here’s another reason I love to help HBCUs as much as I can.

Most have endowments of around $200 million. That might seem like a lot. But in the world of higher ed, it’s pennies.

To put it in perspective, Harvard’s endowment is $50 billion.

Because HBCUs have smaller endowments, they don’t have as much scholarship funds to distribute. That means most HBCU students graduate with serious debt. Worse, many who get accepted can’t afford to go at all.

If you’re reading this and have any money available to donate to a worthy cause, please consider giving to an HBCU.

Donations are more needed. They go a lot further. And they have a more direct impact on thousands of students’ lives. Especially students with big, crazy dreams—like becoming writers.

Below, I’ve listed some of the schools I’m giving to. Their contact information should be easy to find, but I’ve included the addresses of five of them if you want to help out yourself.

I really encourage it.

It’s one small thing you can do to help Stop the Insanity.

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—James Patterson

For more of my “Stop the Insanity” essays, please visit my Substack.