Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States total more than one hundred, including public and private institutions, two-year and four-year schools, medical schools, law schools, and community colleges. These institutions provided educational opportunities to black students during the era of legal segregation when southern white institutions prohibited black students and northern white institutions admitted only a few black students, if any at all. The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as “any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association.” The first HBCU, now called Cheyney University, was founded in Pennsylvania in 1837, although most black colleges were founded after the Civil War and are located in the South. Many HBCUs have religious affiliations. The African Methodist Episcopal Church established several schools, including Morris Brown College, Paul Quinn College, Wilberforce University, and Edward Waters College. The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church (renamed the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in the 1950s) and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church set up black colleges as well. Northern white benevolent groups, including the American Missionary Association and the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen, also founded black colleges. Black colleges stand out for the social, cultural, political, and economic contributions they have made to the world. Some of the most well-known writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson received their training at HBCUs. Six historically black Greek-lettered organizations were founded on black college campuses. A host of the most successful coaches and athletes in American history developed their skills and set records at these institutions. Despite these successes, many HBCUs faced extreme financial hardship and declining enrollment beginning in the 1970s because of desegregation in higher education. Interestingly, black students began to enroll at white institutions in large numbers during this period because of the successful efforts of HBCU graduates to dismantle Jim Crow. In the 21st century, HBCUs enroll students of every ethnicity and nationality. The list of HBCU alumni who have made significant contributions to the United States and to the world is long. Notable graduates include US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Toni Morrison, US Senator Kamala Harris, and Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first president.