The history of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) doesn’t begin with the founding of what is now Cheney University in 1837, twenty-eight years before the Civil War ended. To understand HBCUs, you must understand the environment in which they were founded, whether it be The University of the District of Columbia in 1851, Lincoln University -Pennsylvania in 1854, Wilberforce University in 1856, Lemoyne-Owen in 1862, Virginia Union in 1864, Bowie State, Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University, or Shaw University in 1865 after the Civil War ended and a number of Black colleges in 1866, including Fisk University, Lincoln University of Missouri, and Rust College.
America then, with few exceptions among religious groups feared the education of enslaved people. The fears were twofold; escape and rebellion. A Black person who could read and write could forge travel passes; Black leaders could organize a revolution. On September 9, 1739, a literate enslaved person named Jemmy led what was called the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, which resulted in the deaths of twenty-five colonists and between thirty-five and fifty enslaved Black people. South Carolina reacted with the Negro Act of 1740, which made it illegal for enslaved Africans to assemble in groups, earn money, or learn to write. This Act was copied by many other states, including some Northern ones. Every colony or state after the Revolutionary War had some form of Slave Code or Black Code preventing Black enslaved children from attending public school. HBCUs and schools at every other level of education for Black children formed because there was no place else for them to go.
The first students at these institutions were formerly enslaved people, many illiterate. The schools were designed to provide the job skills appropriate for the times and to produce teachers. Various church denominations, mainly white ones, helped found most of the early HBCUs. The United Church of Christ, Presbyterian, and American Baptist Church, and the American Missionary Association were instrumental in the founding of several HBCUs. The Catholic church got in the game in 1925 with its founding of Xavier in New Orleans. The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church helped establish several schools, including Wilberforce in 1856, which was the first school owned and operated by African Americans. The AME Church also established what is now Edward Waters College, Morris Brown College, and Paul Quinn College, among others.
There was almost an earlier HBCU established in New Haven, Connecticut. White abolitionists Simeon Jocelyn, William Lloyd Garrison, and Arthur Tappan proposed a plan to form an African American college on September 7, 1831. This was just two weeks after the end of the Nat Turner Rebellion which gripped white America with fear. New Haven newspapers ran stories of the proposed college and the uprising side by side. The vote against the college was 700–4 but the disapproval didn’t end there. Jocelyn was forced to resign his position as pastor of Temple Street Church which had a Black congregation. His home was attacked by a white mob that also destroyed some Black-owned businesses, a Black-owned hotel, and philanthropist and abolitionist Arthur Tappan’s summer home.
The Black institutions that got off the ground were subject to violence as well. In Virginia, St. Paul’s College fought off attacks from the Klan. Part of the Wilberforce University campus was destroyed by arson. Every HBCU has had to deal with threats whether they be racial, financial, or political. Some fifteen HBCUs have closed since 1997, pressured by those who no longer think them relevant, refused to fund them, or placed arbitrary barriers in granting them accreditation.
At one time, there was significant government support for HBCUs. The Second Morrill Act of 1890 provided funds to land grant colleges and demanded there be no racial discrimination in admission policies for colleges receiving federal funds. The Act required that if a state received funds, at least one land-grant college for African Americans had to be established. The Second Morrill Act resulted in seventeen new HBCUs including; Alabama A&M University, Tennessee State University, Fort Valley State University, Tuskegee University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and a dozen others. It also created much larger predominantly white institutions (PWIs) like Ohio State and the University of Florida, which had previously received funding under the 1862 Morrill Act, whereas no HBCUs received any benefit the first time around. The later 1890 Act called for a “just distribution” when separate Black colleges were established, but that didn’t mean equal. State-controlled HBCUs remain at the mercy of state legislators and governors who significantly impact what funds they have available to work with.
Private HBCUs, in general, have faced an even harder financial struggle. Many have had times in their history where they faced closure due to a lack of funds. The Fisk University Jubilee Singers toured the nation and Europe singing mostly traditional spirituals to raise money for the University. During their tours, they performed before presidents and royalty, including Queen Victoria. Their 1873 tour raised $150,000, which was used to build Jubilee Hall, the first permanent structure at Fisk University. Their efforts helped Fisk avert bankruptcy and closure. For most HBCUs, the battle to stay afloat financially has been a part of the struggle to exist in an often hostile environment.
Despite being underfunded and sometimes under assault, HBCUs have produced outstanding students. In their earliest years, they were the source of Black scholars, doctors, and lawyers. They were the feeder schools, not only to Black medical schools like Meharry and Howard but also to the most renowned medical schools in the nation. The best graduates of HBCUs were at least equivalent to students from PWIs across the country. HBCUs distinguished alumni include Martin Luther King, Jr. (Morehouse College), Thurgood Marshall (Lincoln University -PA), Langston Hughes (Lincoln University -PA), Ralph Ellison (Tuskegee University), Zora Neale Hurston Howard University), John Lewis (Fisk University), Booker T. Washington Hampton University), Katherine Johnson (West Virginia State University), and John Hope Franklin (Fisk University).
Lest you think the contributions of HBCUs are relegated to the past, more recent graduates include Spike Lee (Morehouse College), Alice Walker (Spelman College), Toni Morrison (Howard University), Nikki Giovanni Fisk University), Samuel L Jackson Morehouse College), Jesse Jackson (North Carolina A&T), and the first Black woman nominated by a major party for Vice President of the United States — Kamala Harris (Howard University).
Since segregation and racial discrimination are arguably prohibited under law and all American colleges and universities are integrated to some degree, the question is being raised, “Why are HBCUs still necessary?” The results speak for themselves. The nation’s HBCUs make up just 3% of America’s colleges and universities yet produce 20% of African American graduates and 25% of African American graduates in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. They generally cost up to 30% less than comparable PWI’s and they serve a population who might otherwise be unable to afford college. Almost 80% of HBCU students receive federal loans.
While HBCUs attract some of America’s best scholars, they also provide opportunities for first-generation and low-income students, some of whom may arrive unprepared for college. Instead of rejecting them, HBCUs provide a nurturing environment and ultimately help reduce the wealth gap that exists throughout the country. I posed the question on an open forum as to why HBCUs are relevant today and these are some of the responses I received:
“My son graduated from Morehouse College. We are from the ‘liberal’ Bay Area. Although he didn’t feel the weight of racism growing up, he didn’t understand it was because I was carrying that load to keep it off him. But after being at Morehouse, he told me it was like a weight he didn’t know he carried was lifted from his shoulders.” —Gwen, Oakland, California
“This was in all likelihood the first time that many of our classmates had the chance to interact with students and faculty that looked like them. The first time they were afforded the opportunity to dispel many of the stereotypes that were associated with our people, and also an opportunity to actually find what Black love and Pride are.” —Eric, Houston, Texas
“I had the privilege of graduating from two HBCUs and a PWI. All three were quality proponents of American Higher Education. However, implicitly Fisk and Howard said this to me and others. “You can produce, we expect you to produce and we will help you succeed.” The PWI I attended inferred this. “If you prove to us that you’re worthy, we’ll show you something.” HBCUs are primarily teaching and nurturing institutions.” —Sherman, Burlington, North Carolina
“The experience of the black college is still relevant because our children have been raised and educated without the true knowledge of who we are and the amazing strides we’ve had as a people. case in point, a young black man in a college lecture being told about the 1921 race riot in Tulsa Ok, that he knew NOTHING about and the kicker is, he was from Tulsa and had attended school on Greenwood St, in the neighborhood that was destroyed.” — Ronnie, Nashville, Tennessee
“There is no other place that you will learn of your history, culture, and the creativity and greatness we come from. It also prepares you to understand the workplace you are headed into. It teaches you to survive and thrive.” — Deborah, Nashville, Tennessee
“Fisk was the first time I’d been to school and not been the minority, many times the only one. For the first time in my life, I could concentrate on life and development thereof and not worry about where I fit day to day.” —Victor, Dallas, Texas
My own experience with a historically Black college and university begins in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I attended Black churches and white schools. I scored well on the PSAT standardized test and started receiving mail and offers from colleges and universities from across the nation. Many I recognized because of their athletic programs; others sounded like they were from exotic places like Coral Gables, Florida, and Pasadena, California. I’d been to La Grange, Georgia visiting relatives, but my only other time out of Minnesota was a church-sponsored bike trip to St. Louis, Missouri. One of those letters was from Fisk University and my parents and grandparents knew something I didn’t, directing me to put Fisk at the head of my list.
I was fortunate in that being a member of the Fisk basketball team, I got to travel and see other HBCUs all across the South. There was a sense of unity, even among fierce athletic rivals. When we went to Atlanta, we stayed at Paschal’s Motor Hotel and Restaurant. We ate in their dining room where photos of Martin Luther King, Jr., and other leaders of the civil rights movement hung on the walls. At the time, HBCUs featured some of the best athletes and definitely the best marching bands.
A story I hear repeated from graduates of any HBCU is about that professor who made a difference in their lives. Mine is of an English professor ( I was an Economics major) who encouraged me to write and eventually enter a university-wide essay contest which I won. Dr. Collins was happier for me than I was for myself. I was a first-generation college student and could easily have gotten lost in all the distractions had it not been for those instructors that made an extra effort to ensure that I and others succeeded.
Integration has weakened HBCU athletic programs, with the best athletes having more options than were once available. Still, HBCUs are perhaps more relevant today than ever before. There are no better places for students of color to learn a history that might be distorted or excluded elsewhere. HBCUs instill the responsibility of giving back — they produce leaders. They are safe havens where you can discover who you are as opposed to having to fit in where you may not be welcome. There are those who have convinced themselves that HBCUs’ very existence is racist. The opposite is true. They are the response to racism and their legacy must live on.
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This post was previously published on Medium.com.
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Photo credit: Clay Banks on Unsplash