Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Think Tank Resource for Africa.

Abstract In the years since post-European colonial independence, African countries have tried to improve their economic condition with the help of European, IMF, and/or World Bank sponsored aid packages. These assistance programs, though promoted as benevolent, have actually, by-and-large, exacerbated national poverty and infrastructure decay because of their structure, design, and associated stipulations. From these experiences, it is clear that Africa must be ingenious in designing solutions for economic and technology uplift that depend, with greatest weight, upon use of its own human and natural resources. In the Pan-African sense, HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in the United States, with use of their graduates, faculty, and/or facilities, can provide economic/policy management advice and technology transfer to African nations and other Black countries. Thus this paper explores the parameters in which Black institutions of higher learning can facilitate Africa's development on multiple fronts.