Essay On Hbcu

There are 105 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across the nation. In 1965, in Title III of the Higher Education Act of 1965, Congress officially defined an HBCU as an institution whose principal mission was and is the education of black Americans, was accredited and was established before 1964. The first HBCU, CHEYNEY University in Pennsylvania was founded in 1837. All HBCUs play a critical role in the American higher education system. For most of America's history, African Americans who received a college education could only get it from an HBCU. Today, HBCUs remain one of the surest ways for an African American, or student of any race, to receive a quality education. While the 105 HBCUs represent just three percent of the nation's institutions of higher learning, they graduate nearly 20 percent of African …show more content…
Indeed, some have suggested that progress made to date on race-related social justice issues leads to the natural conclusion that we are past the point of needing institutions that have successfully served African American students as their primary focus. The term “post racial” is often used to characterize the status of African American progress on this front. Many consider the fact that the United States overwhelmingly elected an African American president as proof positive that we have arrived at a place where we can look past race. While the country has certainly progressed in terms of its attitudes toward minorities, especially African Americans, the reality is that every day experiences of individuals continue to drive how they perceive and act on those perceptions when it comes to making major life decisions, including where they will seek a college education. And those everyday experiences often reveal that issues of race