EDUCATION OF COLORED CHILDREN

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. During the period of segregation in the United States prior to the Civil Rights Act, the overwhelming majority of higher education institutions were predominantly white and completely disqualified or limited African-American enrollment.[1][2] For a century after the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, most colleges and universities in the Southern United States prohibited all African Americans from attending, while institutions in other parts of the country regularly employed quotas to limit admissions of blacks.[3] 

There are 101 Historically black colleges and universities in the United States, including both public and private institutions (down from the 121 institutions that existed during the 1930s).[4] Of these remaining HBCU institutions in the United States, 27 offer doctoral programs, 52 offer master’s programs, 83 offer bachelor’s degree programs, and 38 offer associate degrees.

 

A LOOK AT HBCUs

Historically Black Colleges & Universities (from Wikipedia)

 

PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS 

Most Historically black colleges and universities were established in the South after the American Civil War, often with the assistance of religious missionary organizations based in the northern United States. HBCUs established prior to the American Civil War include Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1837 and Lincoln University in 1854. Wilberforce University was also established prior to the American Civil War; it was founded in 1856 via a collaboration between the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Ohio and the Methodist Episcopal Church (the latter a predominantly white denomination). Wilberforce was the third college to be established in the state of Ohio. 

After the end of the Civil War, Shaw University, founded in 1865, was the first HBCU to be established in the South. The year 1865 also saw the foundation of Storer College (1865–1955) in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. Storer’s former campus and buildings have since been incorporated into Harper’s Ferry National Park. 

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

In 1862, the federal government’s Morrill Act provided for land grant colleges in each state. Some educational institutions established under the Morrill Act in the North and West were open to blacks. But 17 states, mostly in the South, required their systems to be segregated and generally excluded black students from their land grant colleges. In response, Congress passed the second Morrill Act of 1890, also known as the Agricultural College Act of 1890, requiring states to establish a separate land grant college for blacks if blacks were being excluded from the existing land grant college. Many of the HBCUs were founded by states to satisfy the Second Morrill Act. These land grant schools continue to receive annual federal funding for their research, extension, and outreach activities. (Read More)

 

 

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