Historically black colleges and universities
Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Most of these institutions were founded in the years after the American Civil War and are concentrated in the Southern United States. During the period of segregation in the United States prior to the Civil Rights Act, the overwhelming majority of higher education institutions were predominantly white and completely disqualified or limited African-American enrollment. For a century after the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, most colleges and universities in the Southern United States prohibited all African Americans from attending, while institutions in other parts of the country regularly employed quotas to limit admissions of blacks.
There are 101 HBCUs in the United States, including both public and private institutions. Of these remaining HBCU institutions in the United States, 27 offer doctoral programs, 52 offer master's programs, 83 offer bachelor's degree programs, and 38 offer associate degrees.
History
Private institutions
Most HBCUs were established in the South after the American Civil War, often with the assistance of religious missionary organizations based in the northern United States. HBCUs established prior to the American Civil War include Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1837 and Lincoln University in 1854. Wilberforce University was also established prior to the American Civil War; it was founded in 1856 via a collaboration between the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Ohio and the Methodist Episcopal Church. Wilberforce was the third college to be established in the state of Ohio.Exactly three months after the end of the Civil War, Atlanta University - now Clark Atlanta University - was founded on September 19, 1865, as the first HBCU in the Southern United States. Atlanta University was the nation's first graduate institution to award degrees to African Americans in the Nation and the first to award bachelors degrees to African Americans in the South; Clark College was the nation's first four-year liberal arts college to serve African-American students. The two consolidated in 1988 to form Clark Atlanta University. Shaw University, founded December 1, 1865, is the second HBCU to be established in the South. The year 1865 also saw the foundation of Storer College in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Storer's former campus and buildings have since been incorporated into Harper's Ferry National Park.
Public institutions
In 1862, the federal government's Morrill Act provided for land grant colleges in each state. Some educational institutions established under the Morrill Act in the North and West were open to blacks. But 17 states, mostly in the South, required their systems to be segregated and generally excluded black students from their land grant colleges. In response, Congress passed the second Morrill Act of 1890, also known as the Agricultural College Act of 1890, requiring states to establish a separate land grant college for blacks if blacks were being excluded from the existing land grant college. Many of the HBCUs were founded by states to satisfy the Second Morrill Act. These land grant schools continue to receive annual federal funding for their research, extension, and outreach activities.Sports
In the 1920s and 1930s, historically Black colleges developed a strong interest in athletics. Sports were expanding rapidly at state universities, but very few black stars were recruited there. Race newspapers hailed athletic success as a demonstration of racial progress. Black schools hired coaches, recruited and featured stellar athletes, and set up their own leagues.Jewish refugees
In the 1930s, many Jewish intellectuals fleeing Europe after the rise of Hitler and anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany following Hitler's elevation to power emigrated to the United States and found work teaching in historically black colleges. Many academics who left Germany and Poland and sought asylum in Britain found limited opportunities and turned their attention to the United States.There, they hoped to continue their academic careers, but barring a scant few, they found little acceptance in elite institutions in Depression-era America, which also had their own undercurrent of antisemitism. Many found work at historically black colleges and universities. HBCUs believed the Jewish professors were valuable faculty that would help strengthen their institutions' credibility.
When Adolf Hitler rose to power, many Jews left Germany for fear of persecution. In particular, 1933 was a challenging year for many Jewish academics who tried to escape increasingly oppressive Nazi policies, particularly after legislation was passed stripping them of their positions at universities. Jews looking outside of Germany could not find work in other European countries because of calamities like the Spanish Civil War and general antisemitism in Europe. When Jewish academics arrived in the US, they found much of the same antisemitic sentiment at elite American institutions, but historically black colleges and universities were willing to hire them.
As a result of these phenomena, more than two-thirds of the faculty hired at many HBCUs from 1933 to 1945 had come to the United States to escape from Nazi Germany. HBCUs had a firm belief in diversity and giving opportunity no matter the race, religion, or country of origin. HBCUs were open to Jews because of their ideas of equal learning spaces. They sought to create an environment where all people felt welcome to study, including women.
Notable professors
Claus-Dieter Korn got his first teaching job at Howard University. His testimony was published in a paper editorial in the New York Times in 1994. He says," Thus I got my first teaching job at Howard University through Ralph Bunche, then chairman of political science at Howard. Similarly, at his recommendation, a young fellow political scientist, Ossip Flechtheim, obtained his first academic employment at Atlanta University."Ernst Borinski moved to Jackson, Mississippi during the Holocaust to begin a job as a professor at Tougaloo College. Borinski was a judge and a lawyer when he left Germany and hoped to find refuge in an HBCU due to their acceptance of those who were not yet considered white in the United States. He eventually became a leading sociologist at Tougaloo College and is remembered for his impact on creating a well-integrated community for academics from all backgrounds.
:de:Ernst Moritz Manasse|Ernst Manasse was a philosopher and close friend of Ernst Borinski who also got a job at an HBCU. His first position in the United States was at North Carolina Central University.
World War II
HBCUs made great contributions to the US war effort. One example is Tuskegee University in Alabama, where the Tuskegee Airmen trained and attended classes.Florida's black junior colleges
After the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954, the legislature of Florida, with support from various counties, started a series of eleven junior colleges serving the African-American population. The purpose was to show that separate but equal education was working in Florida. Prior to this, there had been only one junior college in Florida serving African Americans, Booker T. Washington Junior College, in Pensacola. The new ones, with their year of founding, are- Gibbs Junior College
- Roosevelt Junior College
- Volusia County Junior College
- Hampton Junior College
- Rosenwald Junior College
- Suwannee River Junior College
- Carver Junior College
- Collier-Blocker Junior College
- Lincoln Junior College
- Jackson Junior College
- Johnson Junior College
Since 1965
A reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 established a program for direct federal grants to HBCUs, to support their academic, financial, and administrative capabilities. Part B specifically provides for formula-based grants, calculated based on each institution's Pell grant eligible enrollment, graduation rate, and percentage of graduates who continue post baccalaureate education in fields where African Americans are underrepresented. Some colleges with a predominantly black student body are not classified as HBCUs because they were founded after the implementation of the Sweatt v. Painter and Brown v. Board of Education rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Higher Education Act of 1965.In 1980, Jimmy Carter signed an executive order to distribute adequate resources and funds to strengthen the nation's public and private HBCUs. His executive order created the White House Initiative on historically black colleges and universities, which is a federally funded program that operates within the U.S. Department of Education. In 1989, George H. W. Bush continued Carter's pioneering spirit by signing Executive Order 12677, which created the presidential advisory board on HBCUs, to counsel the government and the secretary on the future development of these organizations.
Starting in 2001, directors of libraries of several HBCUs began discussions about ways to pool their resources and work collaboratively. In 2003, this partnership was formalized as the HBCU Library Alliance, "a consortium that supports the collaboration of information professionals dedicated to providing an array of resources designed to strengthen historically black colleges and Universities and their constituents."
In 2015, the Bipartisan Congressional Historically Black Colleges and Universities Caucus was established by U.S. Representatives Alma S. Adams and Bradley Byrne. The caucus advocates for HBCUs on Capitol Hill. As of September 2019, there are 94 elected politicians as members of the caucus.
Every year, the U.S. Department of Education deems one week in the Fall as "National HBCU Week". During this week, several conferences and events are held in Washington, D.C. discussing and celebrating HBCUs, as well as acknowledge select scholars and alumni from the HBCU community.
Current status
In 2015, the share of black students attending HBCUs had dropped to 8.5% of the total number of black students enrolled in degree-granting institutions nationwide. This figure is a decline from the 13% of black students that enrolled in an HBCU in the year 2000 and the 17% that enrolled in 1980. This is a result of desegregation, rising incomes and increased access to financial aid, which has created more college options for black students.at North Carolina A&T State University, the largest HBCU in the nation.
The percentages of bachelor's and master's degrees awarded to black students by HBCUs has decreased over time. HBCUs awarded 35% of the bachelor's degrees and 21% of the master's degrees earned by blacks in 1976–77, compared with the 14% and 6% respectively of bachelor's and master's degrees earned by blacks in 2014–15. Additionally, the percentage of black doctoral degree recipients who received their degrees from HBCUs was lower in 2014–15 than in 1976–77.
The number of total students enrolled at an HBCU rose by 32% between 1976 and 2015, from 223,000 to 293,000. In comparison, total enrollment in degree-granting institutions nationwide increased by 81%, from 11 million to 20 million, during the same period.
Although HBCUs were originally founded to educate black students, their diversity has increased over time. In 2015, students who were either white, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, or Native American made up 22% of total enrollment at HBCUs, compared with 15% in 1976.
In 2007, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund published a study of minority recruiting practices by Fortune 400 companies and by government agencies that found that 13% of minority college graduates were recruited from HBCUs while 87% of minority college students were recruited from non-HBCU institutions.
In 2006, the National Center for Education Statistics released a study showing that HBCUs had a $10.2 billion positive impact on the nation's economy with 35% coming from the multiplier effect.
Racial diversity post-2000
Following the enactment of Civil Rights laws in the 1960s, many educational institutions in the United States that receive federal funding have undertaken affirmative action to increase their racial diversity. Some historically black colleges and universities now have non-black majorities, including West Virginia State University and Bluefield State College, whose student bodies have had large white majorities since the mid-1960s.Because many HBCUs have made a concerted effort to maintain enrollment levels and because they often offer relatively affordable tuition, the percentage of non–African American enrollment has risen. The following table highlights HBCUs with high non–African American enrollments:
Other HBCUs with relatively high non–African American student populations
The percentage of white student populations currently attending historically black colleges and universities according to statistical profiles compiled by the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2011 edition are Langston University ; Shaw University ; Tennessee State University ; University of Maryland Eastern Shore ; and North Carolina Central University. The U.S. News & World Reports statistical profiles indicate that several other HBCUs have relatively significant percentages of non–African American student populations consisting of Asian, Hispanic, international, and white American students.
Special academic programs
HBCU libraries have formed the HBCU Library Alliance. That alliance, together with Cornell University, have a joint program to digitize HBCU collections. The project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.Additionally, more historically black colleges and universities are offering online education programs. As of November 23, 2010, nineteen historically black colleges and universities offer online degree programs. The growth in these programs is driven by partnerships with online educational entrepreneurs like Ezell Brown.
Intercollegiate sports
has two historically black athletic conferences: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference. The top football teams from the conferences have played each other in postseason bowl games: the Pelican Bowl, the Heritage Bowl, and the Celebration Bowl. These conferences are home to all Division I HBCUs except for Hampton University and Tennessee State University. Tennessee State has been a member of the Ohio Valley Conference since 1986, while Hampton left the MEAC in 2018 for the Big South Conference. In 2021, North Carolina A&T State University will make the same conference move that Hampton made three years earlier.The mostly HBCU Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference are part of the NCAA Division II, whereas the HBCU Gulf Coast Athletic Conference is part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.