Education
History of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
Short Description: Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCSs) have played a major role in the USA. Learn its history and importance here.
The United States of America has several colleges and universities across the country. There are schools focused on engineering, agriculture and technology, liberal arts, and several other specializations.
However, education in the country was not always as diverse and accessible as it is today. Once, minorities struggled to receive educational opportunities, giving birth to alternative learning methods. One such alternative to education became HBCUs.
HBCU stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The Higher Education Act of 1965 that increased federal funding for universities and colleges coined the term HBCU.
HBCUs have played an important role in the African American community as institutions providing these students the opportunity to obtain higher education when no other college would. HBCUs are higher educational institutions that were established to provide education to African American students in the United States.
History of HBCUs
Before the Civil War, higher education for black people was almost non-existing. Newly freed slaves were being denied admission to traditional higher education colleges and universities. Individuals who managed to receive some education, such as Fredrick Douglass, regularly studied in lesser desirable and dangerous environments, while others had to resort to teaching themselves whatever they could.
Why Did the US Need HBCUs?
Historically Black Colleges and Universities were established to provide higher education to disenfranchised Black Americans in the US, who were initially prohibited from attending traditional American colleges and universities.
Richard Humphreys founded the first HBCU, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. During the times of slavery and segregation, most colleges and universities prohibited access to black Americans.
Under the Higher Education Act of 1965, HBCUs that were established and accredited before 1964 were officially declared as institutions of higher learning. The act also allocated federal financial assistance to these institutions. These institutions became responsible for the Black middle class constituting lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, and other professionals. HBCUs continued to harvest Black professionals, leaders, and celebrities.
Today, the two oldest medical HBCUs – Meharry Medical College and Howard University – are sources of more than 80% of the African American physicians and dentists practicing in the country.
How Did It All Start?
In 1764, when teen Richard Humphreys arrived in Philadelphia from the British Virgin Islands, he was disturbed by the conditions of African Americans in the country. Like most adherents to the Quaker principle, Humphrey opposed slavery and freely donated to abolitionist causes. He was convinced that education was the key to improving the lives of Black Americans.
At the age of 79, Humphreys modified his will, adding a bequeathment for the establishment of schools to instruct descendants of the African American race in various branches of agriculture, mechanics, arts, and trades to prepare and qualify them to work as teachers.
Humphreys passed away three years later, but his enormous philanthropic legacy continued. In 1837, 1/10 of his total estate, worth $10,000, was dedicated to developing the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia. The institute was the first to provide higher education to African Americans.
In 1904, the school was relocated to a farm owned by George Cheney, around 40 miles outside of Philadelphia. The institution was renamed as Cheney University and began to grant degrees to African American students. Today, Cheney University is the oldest African American institute, which is still operational.
Just as Richard Humphrey envisioned while making last-minute edits to his will, these educational institutions played a major role in helping African Americans get access to higher education, dismantling the difficulties for freedom.
There are several institutions founded after 1964 with rostering student bodies mostly comprising of people of color. These are not considered “historically’ Black colleges.
Although education in the HBCUs is open to students of all races, the need for designation of HBCUs can be traced back to American history in which African American students were denied access to traditional American colleges and universities. These institutions arose out of necessity and were the only resort Black Americans had to receive higher education or attain graduate and undergraduate degrees for many years.
Hence, these colleges and universities can be considered symbolic of the segregation and the slavery era of American history.
The Second Morrill Land Act
In 1890, the Second Morrill Land-Grant Act stated that the states that wanted to use the federal land-grant funds had to make their schools and colleges open for Blacks and Whites or the funds should be given to segregated Black colleges to operate properly as a substitute to White schools.
Sixteen Black educational institutions were given 1890 land-grant funds. At this point, several HBCUs were already established, including Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, Harris-Stowe University, University of the District of Columbia, and Howard University. However, the Second Morrill Land-Grant Act opened the doors for many HBCUs to establish with government funding.
Why Are HBCUs Still Relevant?
While the initial mission of these institutions was to educate side-lined and segregated African Americans, today, these institutions are comprised of students from all demographics. Currently, one-fourth of the total students enrolled in the HBCUs are of non-Black ethnicity.
Still, HBCUs are considered as the best option for African American students to get higher education. Many students at Howard University say that HBCUs are among the very few institutions that have surpassed racism, which is still prevalent in society. HBCU supporters say these institutions are not only important for African American students but also for the whole society.
A White student from Howard, Mark McCluskey, says he was considered a minority for the first time in his life but shares the sentiments of his peers about the value of preserving HBCUs. These institutions are relevant in the current society because they can spread knowledge about various cultures that the country has ignored over the past two centuries.
HBCUs serve society as an environment that encourages belonging, empowerment, and a sense of Black determination that African Americans often struggled to achieve in the US. This was particularly true during the abolition of slavery period to the Civil Rights outlawing segregation in all forms.
It will not be wrong to say that the importance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities is still as great as it was since their inception.
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