The Historical Black Colleges

Alabama's 15 HBCUs are the highest number of any state.

In pre-Civil War America, southern states prohibited the education of slaves. After emancipation and the war's end, most colleges and universities still refused to admit former slaves as students. Therefore, some former slaves established small colleges. Today, those schools are called the historically black colleges and universities (HBCU). For more than 100 years, HBCUs were the only route to a college education for most African Americans. Now, admission is open to members of all races.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

The 1965 Higher Education Act defines a historically black college or university as one founded before 1964, seeking or having attained national accreditation, whose mission is to educate black Americans. There are 105 HBCUs, located in: Alabama (15), Arkansas (4), Delaware (1), District of Columbia (2), Florida (4), Georgia (10), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (6), Maryland (4), Michigan (1), Mississippi (7), Missouri (2), North Carolina (11), Ohio (2), Oklahoma (1), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (8), Tennessee (6), Texas (9), Virginia (6), West Virginia (2) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (1). Most are four-year schools and served more than 300,000 students in 2010. Their annual tuition charges range from zero to about $22,000 in 2010.

Quality of the Schools

"U.S. News & World Report" ranked 34 of the HBCUs in its 2010 annual evaluation of all American colleges. The top five schools are Spelman College (Atlanta, Georgia), Howard University (Washington, D.C.), Morehouse College (Atlanta), Hampton University (Hampton, Virginia) and Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, Alabama). The UNCF, formerly the United Negro College Fund, directly supports 39 HBCUs through its programs. According to the UNCF, HBCUs graduate more than half of all African American professionals and public school teachers and 70 percent of African American dentists. Half of the African American HBCU graduates further their educations at graduate or professional schools. The U.S. Congress has designated only one college as a national historic site: Tuskegee University in Alabama.

White House Initiative

In 1980 President Jimmy Carter issued Executive Order 12232, which created a program within the U.S. Department of Education "to overcome the effects of discriminatory treatment and to strengthen and expand the capacity of historically black colleges and universities to provide quality education." Presidents Ronald Reagan, William Clinton and George W. Bush expanded the initiative throughout the next three decades. In 2010 President Barack Obama renewed that initiative as part of the White House effort to increase the American proportion of college graduates to the highest in the world by 2020.

HBCU Connect

HBCU Connect is a social networking website for HBCU students, alumnae, faculty and high school students interested in attending HBCUs. It serves more than 900,000 registered members with information about the schools, scholarships, jobs and internships and social connections.

References

• White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
• UNCF: Why Are the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Important?
• White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities: List of HBCUs
• HBCU Connect
• The White House: Presidential Executive Order:Promoting Excellence, Innovation, and Sustainability at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
• U.S. News and World Report: Education: Colleges: Historically Black Colleges and Universities Ranking