Taking the Pulse of Historically Black Colleges

The federal Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines a “historically” black institution of higher education as “any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principle mission was, and is, the education of black Americans.” They are usually referred to as HBCUs. Most private black colleges originated in the nineteen southern and border states after the Civil War during and after Reconstruction (1867–1890). They were started by white northern missionaries and white and black church groups, aided in the early years by the Freedmen’s Bureau, and in the later years by white philanthropic foundations funded by Nelson Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Julius Rosenwald, and others. Most public black colleges, with the exception of federally funded Howard University, were started after passage of the Second Morrill Act in 1890 that provided federal funds for land grant colleges. Over time many black colleges closed or changed their mission and curricula, and others were established. In 1900 only about 4,000 black college students were enrolled in HBCUs, the great majority in the South. Because of the prohibition against educating slaves before 1865 and the meager resources provided for black education during Reconstruction, by 1900 only fifty-eight of the ninety-nine HBCUs had college-level curricula, Acad. Quest. (2009) 22:327–339 DOI 10.1007/s12129-009-9116-8

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