THE CHOICE II: How one student found an HBCU with a little help from her parents
Before she was #Hurtbae, Kourtney George was a high school senior trying to navigate her college choices.
A 2011 graduate of Woodward Academy, George’s Louisiana ties ran deep as both of her parents had gone to Southern University in Baton Rouge.
»MORE: The story behind the Atlanta native known as #Hurtbae
So she was headed to Louisiana State University – at least she thought she was.
“We value education, not just what’s learned in books and classrooms but the knowledge gained from the entire college experience,” said George’s mother Marci Chapman McKenna, a 1991 graduate of Southern.
“Nothing beats the experience of a HBCU and we wanted our daughter to have it. Lifelong friends, faculty and staff who know her as a person and not a number, pride of belonging and the pride of ownership. We know that HBCUs are ours.”
For college-bound African-Americans like George, choosing between a historically black college and a predominantly white one has become more complicated with each passing year.
As part of our continuing series on HBCUs, read about how George and her parents came together to make difficult decisions on where she would go to college. And what that means.
About the Author
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
