HOW HBCU’S BEGAN

Prior to the Civil War, there were few institutions of higher education for African Americans in the United States. By the time the War ended, African American Missionary Associations and the Freedman’s Bureau started seven colleges between 1861-1870. Thirteen teaching schools were also formalized. Hence, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) began.

In 1802, Senator Justin Morrill mobilized a movement to improve higher education in America and at the same time, recognized the need for studies in Applied Science, Agriculture and Engineering. Morrill help enact legislation to allocate federal grants to open colleges and help educate farmers, teachers and scientists.

However, the premier African American degree granting institution of higher education, Ashmun Institute, was started by a Quaker couple in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1854. Its name was changed to Lincoln University in 1866, and now provides undergraduate/graduate coursework to approximately 2,000 students. Dr. Horace Mann Bond, alumnus and father of the late N.A.A.C. P. National President Julian Bond, led the university for twelve years and served among many esteem presidents during Ashmun’s rich history.

From 1854-1954 Lincoln University graduates accounted for 20 percent of black physicians and over 10 percent of black lawyers in the United States.

However, the initial legislation spearheaded by Senator Morrill led to the founding of Alcorn State University in Alcorn, Mississippi, in 1871. Twenty-eight years later, Senator Morrill implemented significant changes to the original land grand legislation and in 1890, the second Morrill Land Grand Act was enacted.

It specified that institutions using Federal Land Grants were required to either provide enrollment opportunities for blacks and whites or allocate funds for segregated Black Colleges to serve as an alternative to white schools. Around the same time, sixteen colleges received Land Grants and between 1870 and 1910 they were chartered.

IN HONOR, RECOGNITION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH, 2018, THE CHRONICLE NEWSPAPER WILL HIGHLIGHT THIRTY (30) HISTORICAL.LY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES FOR YOUR REVIEW AND INFORMATION. Included in these highlights, we will be sharing personal accounts and testimonies of graduates from some of these historic institutions.

The following HBCU”s will be showcased: 1) Walden University, 2) Southern New Hampshire University, 3) Howard University, 4) Spelman College, 5) Hampton University, 6) Tuskegee University, 7) Xavier University, 8) Florida (A & M) Agricultural and Mechanical University 9) North Carolina A & T (Agricultural and Technical) University, 10) Winston Salem University 11) Morehouse College, 12) Oakwood University, 13) Albany State University, 14) Central State University, 15) Clark Atlanta University, 16) North Carolina Central University, 17) Jackson State University, 18) Southern University and A&M College, 19) Delaware State University, 20) Elizabeth City State University, 21) Norfolk State University, 22) Prairie View A & M University, 23) Fisk University, 24) University of Maryland Eastern Shore, 25) Morgan State University, 26) Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, 27) Fayetteville State University, 28) Alabama A & M University, 29) Virginia State University, 30) Alcorn State University.

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