Speaker 1: Right now it is time for the Way Black History Fact,
Speaker 1: and for today's Way Black History Fact, We're going to discuss.
Speaker 2: The history of HBCUs.
Speaker 1: For folks that are unfamiliar, HBCU stands for historically Black
Speaker 1: college and university. And if you only get your news
Speaker 1: from Fox News, you might be thinking, why do they
Speaker 1: have those?
Speaker 2: Well, we're about to explain it to you. All right.
Speaker 1: This comes from Thurgood Marshall College Funds website and if
Speaker 1: you want to check it out, it's TMCF dot org.
Speaker 2: We've deemed that to be a reputable source.
Speaker 1: So historically, Black colleges and universities or HBCUs were established
Speaker 1: in the United States early in the nineteenth century to
Speaker 1: provide undergraduate and graduate level education opportunities to.
Speaker 2: People of African descent.
Speaker 1: Black students were unwelcome at existing public and private uni
Speaker 1: institutions of higher education even after passing specific legislation, resulting
Speaker 1: in a lack of higher education opportunities. Got a bear
Speaker 1: in mind resegregation at the time, and you need black
Speaker 1: doctors and white doctors, right, and black doctors can't go
Speaker 1: to the white schools.
Speaker 2: They need to make their own schools. So this is
Speaker 2: kind of the origin story here all right.
Speaker 1: In seventeen ninety nine, Washington Lee University admitted John Javis,
Speaker 1: who was noted as the first African American on record
Speaker 1: to attend college. However, the first African American to have
Speaker 1: earned a bachelor's degree from an American university, Alexander Lucia's Twilight,
Speaker 1: graduated from Middlesbury College in eighteen twenty three. Three decades later,
Speaker 1: Mary Jane Patterson was the first African American woman to
Speaker 1: earn a bachelor's degree, graduating from the abolitionist centered Oberlin
Speaker 1: College in eighteen sixty two. These individuals were singular in
Speaker 1: accessing higher education. Richard Humphries established the African Institute in Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: making it the oldest HBCU.
Speaker 2: In the United States. It's now called Cheney University.
Speaker 1: Its mission was to teach free African American skills for
Speaker 1: gainful employment. Students were taught reading, writing, and basic math,
Speaker 1: alongside religion and industrial arts. During the eighteen fifties, three
Speaker 1: more HBCUs were founded Minor Normal School in eighteen fifty
Speaker 1: one in Washington, d C. Lincoln University in eighteen fifty
Speaker 1: four in Pennsylvania, and Wilberforce In eighteen fifty six in Ohigh,
Speaker 1: the Ame Church established Wilberfirst University, the first HBCU operated
Speaker 1: by African Americans. The provision of education for people of
Speaker 1: African descent and early America was recognized by some as
Speaker 1: unnecessary and criminal, while others saw it as essential and vital.
Speaker 2: Sound familiar all right.
Speaker 1: The majority of HBCUs originated from eighteen sixty five to
Speaker 1: nineteen hundred, with the greatest number of HBUs started in
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty seven, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and
Speaker 1: approximately eighty nine percent of all HBCUs are in the
Speaker 1: southern region of the United States, although they can be
Speaker 1: found in Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and
Speaker 1: West Virginia. North Carolina hosts eleven HBCUs, Louisiana has seven,
Speaker 1: and Alabama has twelve. While many consider HBCUs to be
Speaker 1: a homogeneous group, there are levels of diversity within this
Speaker 1: unique classification of institutions, not only by academic distinction and
Speaker 1: socioeconomic status, but also in student demographics. In addition, HBCUs
Speaker 1: have diverse classifications public, private, denominational, liberal arts, land grant
Speaker 1: independent university system, single gender serving research based large and small,
Speaker 1: with enrollment numbers that range from less than three hundred
Speaker 1: to over eleven thousand students.
Speaker 2: And the reason we wanted.
Speaker 1: To share this one, of course, is because it's consistent
Speaker 1: with our guests and their plight, but also so that
Speaker 1: you understand that education is not, nor has it been
Speaker 1: the same for people around the country, and for those
Speaker 1: of you who count yourselves allies that may not have
Speaker 1: had anyone explain why things.
Speaker 2: Look a little different.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of factors that go into
Speaker 1: education that are unique, that manifest in education before they
Speaker 1: manifest in the workforce or and you know, other types
Speaker 1: of data, and there is indeed an origin story that
Speaker 1: you may not be aware of, and so we wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure to illuminate this. Of course, there's more
Speaker 1: research for you to do, and we invite you to
Speaker 1: do that at your leisure, but hopefully we've given you
Speaker 1: a starting point