Predominantly white institutions in AP African American Studies

Predominantly white institutions (PWIs) are US colleges and universities where the majority of students, faculty, and administrators were white; Black students entered them in large numbers for the first time in the 1960s-70s, fueling the Black Campus movement and the creation of African American Studies (EK 1.1.B.1).

What is predominantly white institutions?

A predominantly white institution, or PWI, is a college or university where most of the students, professors, and administrators were white. For most of American history, that described nearly every college outside of HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities). Then, toward the end of the Civil Rights movement and during the Black Power movement, Black students entered PWIs in large numbers for the first time ever (EK 1.1.B.1).

Here's why the term matters in this course. Those students arrived on campuses where almost nothing reflected their history or experiences. No Black Studies courses, few Black faculty, little institutional support. Their response became the Black Campus movement (1965-1972), when hundreds of thousands of Black students, joined by Latino, Asian, and white supporters, protested at over 1,000 colleges demanding the right to study Black history and demanding more Black students, faculty, and administrators (EK 1.1.B.2). The first African American Studies departments were the direct result. So in AP African American Studies, "PWI" isn't just a demographic label. It's the setting where the discipline you're studying was born.

Why predominantly white institutions matters in AP® African American Studies

This term lives in Topic 1.1, What Is African American Studies? (Unit 1) and directly supports learning objective 1.1.B, which asks you to describe the developments that led to the incorporation of African American Studies into US colleges and universities in the 1960s and 1970s. You can't explain that origin story without PWIs. The chain of causation the CED wants you to trace goes like this. The Civil Rights and Black Power movements opened the doors of PWIs to Black students. Those students found a curriculum that ignored them. They organized the Black Campus movement, and universities responded by creating Black Studies programs. PWIs are the stage on which all of that happens, which makes this term the connective tissue between the political movements of the era and the academic discipline itself.

How predominantly white institutions connects across the course

Black Campus movement (Unit 1)

This is the most direct link. The Black Campus movement (1965-1972) happened AT predominantly white institutions. Black students who had just gained access to PWIs led protests at over 1,000 colleges demanding Black Studies courses and more Black faculty and administrators. PWIs are the location; the Black Campus movement is the action.

Black Power movement (Unit 1)

The Black Power movement supplied the timing and the ideology. Black students entered PWIs in large numbers during this era, and Black Power's emphasis on self-determination shaped what they demanded once there, namely the power to define and study their own history rather than accept a curriculum that erased it.

African American Studies as a discipline (Unit 1)

EK 1.1.A.2 says the field emerged from Black artistic, intellectual, and political endeavors that predate its formalization. PWIs are where formalization finally happened. Student activism inside these institutions turned a long tradition of Black scholarship into official departments, degrees, and eventually this AP course.

Is predominantly white institutions on the AP® African American Studies exam?

PWIs show up in multiple-choice questions about cause and effect in Topic 1.1. Expect stems like "Which development most directly contributed to the increase of Black students at predominantly white institutions in the late 1960s?" (answer: the Civil Rights and Black Power movements) or "What was a significant impact of Black students entering PWIs in the 1960s and 1970s?" (answer: the Black Campus movement and the creation of African American Studies programs). The skill being tested is causation. You need to place PWIs correctly in the chain from social movements to student protest to academic discipline, not just define the acronym. No released FRQ has used this term verbatim, but it's useful context for any question about how and why African American Studies became a formal field.

Predominantly white institutions vs HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities)

They're opposites, and mixing them up wrecks the Topic 1.1 narrative. HBCUs were founded specifically to educate Black students and had been doing so for generations. PWIs were majority-white institutions that Black students entered in large numbers only in the 1960s-70s. The Black Campus movement story the CED tells is about PWIs, because that's where Black students faced curricula and institutions that excluded them and demanded change.

Key things to remember about predominantly white institutions

• Predominantly white institutions (PWIs) are US colleges and universities where the majority of students, faculty, and administrators were white.

• Black students entered PWIs in large numbers for the first time in American history during the late Civil Rights movement and the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s (EK 1.1.B.1).

• Once at PWIs, Black students led the Black Campus movement (1965-1972), protesting at over 1,000 colleges to demand Black Studies courses and greater support for Black students, faculty, and administrators.

• The first African American Studies departments were created at PWIs as a direct result of this student activism, which is why the term anchors learning objective 1.1.B.

• On the exam, PWIs are tested as part of a causation chain: social movements opened PWI doors, students protested the exclusion they found inside, and universities responded by formalizing the discipline.

Frequently asked questions about predominantly white institutions

What is a predominantly white institution (PWI) in AP African American Studies?

A PWI is a US college or university where the majority of students, faculty, and administrators were white. In this course, the term matters because Black students entered PWIs in large numbers for the first time during the 1960s and 1970s, setting up the Black Campus movement.

Did African American Studies start at HBCUs or at PWIs?

The formal departments started at PWIs. Black intellectual and political work studying Black life predates the field's formalization (EK 1.1.A.2), but the first official African American Studies programs were won through student protests at predominantly white institutions during the Black Campus movement of 1965-1972.

How is a PWI different from an HBCU?

An HBCU was founded to educate Black students and had majority-Black enrollment for generations, while a PWI had a majority-white student body, faculty, and administration. The CED's Topic 1.1 story centers on PWIs because that's where Black students encountered curricula that ignored Black history and organized to change it.

Why did Black students start attending PWIs in the 1960s and 1970s?

The Civil Rights movement and the Black Power movement opened access to higher education that had long been closed off. EK 1.1.B.1 states that toward the end of the Civil Rights movement and during the Black Power movement, Black students entered PWIs in large numbers for the first time in American history.

What was the impact of Black students entering predominantly white institutions?

Their presence sparked the Black Campus movement (1965-1972), in which hundreds of thousands of Black students and their Latino, Asian, and white allies protested at over 1,000 colleges. Those protests led directly to the creation of African American Studies programs and increased hiring of Black faculty and administrators.