Historically Black colleges and universities
Encyclopedia : H : HI : HIS : Historically Black colleges and universities
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In the United States, Historically Black Colleges And Universities (HBCU) (a type of minority-serving institution or MSI) are colleges or universities that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the African American community. Prior to 1864, African-Americans were almost always excluded from higher education opportunities at the predominantly white colleges and universities—with notable exceptions such as the integrated Hillsdale College in Michigan and Oberlin College in Ohio.
There are more than 100 historically black colleges in the United States, located almost exclusively in the southern and eastern states. Four HBCUs are located in the midwestern states (two each in Missouri and Ohio), while one is in the Virgin Islands.
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Federal support and wider recognition
In 1980, Executive Order 12232 was promulgated by President Jimmy Carter, creating a federal program that would strengthen HBCUs and support equal opportunity in education. Expanding on Carter's program, the following year President Ronald Reagan created the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which encourages federal support for HBCUs. Indeed, historically black colleges and universities also enjoyed a higher public profile since the 1980s.Today
According to the White House Initiative on HBCUs, 14 percent of all African American students in higher education attend a historically black institution. Twenty-four percent of all baccalaureate degrees earned by African Americans in 1999 were awarded by a HBCU. Historically, black colleges and universities also awarded one out of every six masters degrees or first time professional degrees earned by African Americans.Today, historically black colleges are not necessarily predominantly black. One classic example is found in West Virginia, whose population is nearly 95 percent white—higher than any other state outside of the three northern New England states. By 1964, the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, West Virginia State College (now West Virginia State University) had become primarily a commuter college with a student body well over 80 percent white, which it remains to this day. Throughout this time, the school's administration has been primarily African-American.
Conversely, many institutions that were founded (or opened their doors to African Americans) after Brown now count African Americans as a large part of their student body; however, by definition they are not historically black colleges. Chicago State University is a good example of this phenomenon.
Popular culture
- The Cosby Show: The top-rated Cosby Show from the 1980s mentioned Spelman College in several of its television episodes, with star and prominent donor Bill Cosby often seen wearing a Spelman College sweatshirt.
- A Different World: The Cosby Show's Lisa Bonet was spun off into another popular television series, A Different World (which dealt with the life of students at the fictional historically Black college, Hillman, and ran for six seasons on NBC). According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, when Debbie Allen became the director-producer the show, Allen herself,
- a graduate of historically black Howard University, drew from her college experiences in an effort to accurately reflect in the show the social and political life on black campuses. Moreover, Allen instituted a yearly spring trip to Atlanta where series writers visited two of the nation's leading black colleges, Morehouse and Spelman. During these visits, ideas for several of the episodes emerged from meetings with students and faculty" [link].
Notable schools
- Howard University is the most comprehensive historically black higher-education institution in the United States. It has schools/colleges in the traditional arts and sciences and in most other major disciplines, including architecture, business, dentistry, divinity, engineering, law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy and social work.
- Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) has been described as the Princeton University of historically black higher-education institutions in the United States.
- Morehouse College has been described as the Harvard College of historically black higher-education institutions in the United States.
- Bennett College has been described as the Vassar of the South, of historically black higher-education institutions in the United States.
- Spelman College has been described as the Radcliffe College of historically black higher-education institutions in the United States.
Other significant HBCUs
- Alabama A&M University
- Alabama State University
- Alcorn State University
- Central State University
- Clark Atlanta University
- Florida A&M University
- Hampton University
- Johnson C. Smith University
- Morgan State University
- Norfolk State University
- North Carolina A&T State University
- North Carolina Central University
- Prairie View A&M University
- Texas College
- Texas Southern University
- Tuskegee University
- University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (historically known as Arkansas AM&N)
- Virginia State University
- Virginia Union University
- Wilberforce University
- Winston-Salem State University
- Xavier University of Louisiana
- University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Famous alumni of HBCUs
Famous alumni of historically Black colleges include:
- Debbie Allen (Howard University)
- Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (Lincoln University, PA)
- Mary McLeod Bethune (Barber-Scotia College)
- Horace Mann Bond (Lincoln University, PA)
- Julian Bond (Morehouse College)
- Ed Bradley (Cheyney University of Pennsylvania)
- Toni Braxton (Bowie State University)
- Edward Brooke (Howard University)
- Oscar Brown, Jr. (Lincoln University, PA}
- Roscoe Lee Browne (Lincoln University, PA)
- Cab Calloway (Lincoln University, PA)
- J.R. Clifford (Storer College, WV)
- Ossie Davis (Howard University)
- W.E.B. DuBois (Fisk University)
- Stokely Carmichael (Howard University)
- Ralph Ellison (Tuskegee University)
- Medgar Evers (Alcorn State University)
- James L. Farmer Jr. (Wiley College)
- Floyd Flake (Wilberforce University)
- Nikki Giovanni (Fisk University)
- Archibald Grimke
- Fletcher Henderson (Atlanta University)
- Alexis Herman (Xavier University of Louisiana)
- Gil Scott-Heron (Lincoln University, PA)
- Maurice Hicks (North Carolina A&T University)
- Langston Hughes (Lincoln University, PA)
- Jesse Jackson (North Carolina A&T University)
- Jesse Jackson, Jr. (North Carolina A&T University)
- Samuel L. Jackson (Morehouse College)
- Samuel "Sam" Jones (North Carolina Central University)
- James Weldon Johnson (Clark Atlanta University)
- Barbara Jordan (Texas Southern University)
- Tom Joyner (Tuskegee Institute)
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (Morehouse College)
- Spike Lee (Morehouse College)
- John Lewis (Fisk University)
- The Lords of the Underground (Shaw University)
- Thurgood Marshall (Lincoln University, PA)
- Christa McAuliffe (Bowie State University) — notable White graduate of an HBCU
- Ronald McNair (North Carolina A&T University)
- Steve McNair (Alcorn State University)
- Kweisi Mfume (Morgan State University)
- Earl Monroe (Winston-Salem State University)
- Toni Morrison (Howard University)
- Kwame Nkrumah (Lincoln University, PA)
- Hazel R. O'Leary (Fisk University)
- Walter Payton (Jackson State University)
- Hildrus Poindexter (Lincoln University, PA)
- Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State University)
- Phylicia Rashad (Howard University)
- Lionel Richie (Tuskegee University)
- David Satcher (Morehouse College)
- Shannon Sharpe (Savannah State University)
- Ruben Studdard (Alabama A&M University)
- Melvin B. Tolson (Lincoln University, PA)
- LeRoy T. Walker (Benedict College)
- L. Douglas Wilder (Virginia Union University)
- Ben Wallace (Virginia Union University)
- Booker T. Washington (Hampton University)
- Essie Mae Washington-Williams (South Carolina State University)
- Doug Williams (Grambling State University)
- Oprah Winfrey (Tennessee State University)
- Andrew Young, Jr. (Dillard University and Howard University)
- Louis Farrakhan (Winston-Salem State University)
See also
- List of historically black colleges of the United States
- College Hill—A reality television series based on college life at historically black colleges
- A Different World—A sitcom set at Hillman, a fictitious historically black college
- Drumline—2002 film based on an historically black college's marching band
- Grambling's White Tiger—A 1981 TV movie about Grambling State University's first White football player
- School Daze—1988 film about fraternities and sororities at a fictitious historically black college
- Season of the Tiger—A reality television series that follows members of the marching band and football team at Grambling State.
External links
- http://www.HBCUnetwork.com The HBCU Network: The most powerful gathering of the Talented Tenth from
Historically Black Colleges & Universities
- [Historically Black Colleges and Universities]
- [Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Their Aspirations & Accomplishments]
- [Twilight and Reason: Higher Education and the African American Experience]
- [White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities] - details about this federal initiative, including its history and recent achievements.
- [National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education] - organization representing and supporting historically and predominantly black colleges and universities.
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