On October 19, 1996, Dr. Asa G. Hilliard, III addressed the 12th Annual McKnight Fellows Meeting. The McKnight Fellowship is a program originally founded in 1984 by the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Florida Education Fund, based in Tampa, Florida. The program was designed to increase opportunities and funding for African American and Hispanic students to earn doctoral degrees in publicly-supported universities in the state of Florida. In his presentation, Hilliard examines the history of African American education in the United States, arguing that many of the efforts have not sufficiently addressed African or African American history or culture. He illustrates his speech with reference to the early history of Hampton University, the 1890 Mohonk Conference on the Negro Question, and the rivalry between W. E. B. DuBois and Thomas Jesse Jones, among other examples. Dr. Hilliard also critically explores current efforts in the education of African Americans, arguing for an Afrocentric view of education.
