Black women on Albion College’s campus, both students and alumni, have been doing phenomenal work to create a more inclusive space for marginalized students.
From Ida B. Wells to Angela Davis to Laverne Cox, Black women have historically been on the front lines as trail blazers for change while simultaneously being one of the most disrespected, unprotected and neglected women in this country and around the world. Despite being constantly struck down by society, Black women continually rise up.
Black women on Albion’s campus are no different. Despite all the trials and tribulations they have to face on an everyday basis, Black women at Albion continue to take charge in leadership roles and make campus a place for the better. And they deserve their credit.
The Pleiad’s “Black Women Winning” series aims to highlight Black women on campus and all they have achieved and continue to achieve.
Ajani Wilson
Ajani Wilson, a senior from Albion, who’s majoring an anthropologic business major. She has big goals for the wallets and bank accounts of Albion College students.
“My dream is to form a financial literacy course or curriculum for students to take here [at Albion College],” said Wilson.
Wilson has had a couple of internships with student financial services that have helped her toward bringing Albion College students a financial literacy curriculum.
Wilson believes taking advantage of financial literacy is no disadvantage to anyone.
“The knowledge and availability of financial literacy could really benefit Black communities all over, especially here in Albion. Growing up I’m like, ‘Okay, how can I stop the stereotype and new generational curses in the Black community?’”
With these goals in mind, Wilson’s first step is to start with the youth since attitudes toward money really start to form during adolescence. Wilson said if people have a good system or structure with managing their money, it will create generational wealth.
“I feel like sometimes having the knowledge of, ‘Okay, if I am going to take out this amount of loans, how much interest is that?’ is important to know,” said Wilson. “And students didn’t know about that, and students would eventually leave campus because of financial reasons.”
In addition to her internships, Wilson has done a FURSCA project surrounding her future career in financial literacy. Wilson discovered from her study that her efforts to teach financial literacy throughout the education system were much needed. By the time Wilson graduates, she hopes to have created a course on campus that will do the job.
“My goal for this study was to find if they learned financial literacy in early education,” said Wilson. “What I found was that a lot of participants learned financial literacy through relatives and through the internet and books and magazines. One of the lowest scores out of my data was teachers and professors and in-class activities pertaining to financial literacy. This validated my opinion about financial literacy lacking in the education system.”
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