d be the key to their freedom (Gasman, Lundy-Wagner, Ransom & Bowman, 2010). As a result of being denied the opportunity to educate themselves openly in public, many slaves especially in the South, pursued alternative forms of education. There was an unfounded misconception among Whites that Blacks could not succeed academically in comparison to their white counterparts; however, many of them outperformed them in esteemed institutions (Irvine, 2010).
             As European immigrants came to the United States with a variety of different religious, social, political and economic beliefs, few universities existed. However, higher education began its root in the North with the founding of Harvard in 1636 (Lovett, 2011). Following the establishment of Harvard, nine other institutions were established before the American Revolutionary War which was fought between 1776 and 1783. These institutions primarily trained students to be in the clergy (Mann, 2010). Therefore religion played a key role in the establishment of colleges and universities in America. However, the foundation for higher education in the United States was based on the Oxbridge model of education.
             The Oxbridge model called for several different residential colleges located within a university structure, all within a pastoral environment (Shuh, Jones, and Harper, 2011). This vision inspired the colonial college-founders to pursue this same plan for the establishment of higher education in America (Thelin, 2011). Yale, Harvard, William and Mary and the College of New Jersey were to serve as the institutions that transformed white Christian gentleman into gentleman scholars. These colonial colleges were strictly for white, Christian, males.
             According to Thelin (2011), there was no commitment on behalf of the colonist to educate black students. During the colonial period in America, European settlers forbade Blacks from enrolling into any type of educational institution. During...