Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Historically Black Colleges and Universities HBCU’s with an Religious Affiliation

Background information about the Education of African Americans • 1800-1861 • Understood the value of an education • Most educated blacks lived in the north • Some educated in the south in secret • Early education done through the church • Various religious organizations created schools to educate blacks • 1827, seminary created for black women in Georgetown

Supporters behind the education • Very few black children were allowed to attend public schools • Various religious organizations • Most free blacks were apart of the church • Used this connection to help created schools for black children • Black churches a strong factor • Help build the schools and supply the teachers

Connection the creation of HBCU’s • The connection that you will see between these schools and HBCU’s is that these religious organizations would not only help fund some of the HBCU’s but also provide them with leadership and teachers both black and white.

Society 1896-1954 • Race relations • End of the Civil War • Reconstruction period • Southern Whites still angry over the war and seeing blacks in leadership positions • Aftermath of the Reconstruction period

Society 1896-1954 • Laws • Emancipation Proclamation • Morrill Land Grant Act 1862, 1890 • Separate but equal doctrine • Affected northern initiations as well • Southern institutions set up scholarships for black students • Missouri ex rel. Gaines vs. Canada (1938) • Force southern states to give more resources to HBCU

Society 1896-1954 • Effects on HBCU’s • Helped create additional HBCU’s • Provide an educational outlet for blacks • Highly intelligent black students were able to grow within a supportive environment • Lack of funds (buildings, research, etc)

HBCU’s • 1865-1877 • 106 2-4 year public and private institutions • Majority of HBCU’s created during this period • Individual, agencies such as the Freedman Aid, and religious organizations • Media coverage limited to black northern newspapers • Land grant • Booker T. Washington philosophy

HBCU’s The Missions and Goals • Determine by the individuals or groups funding the institution • Initiations funded by Northern industrial leaders • Agriculture • Skill labor work Mr. Washington idea of leadership is teaching others to be self sufficient. Developing the knowledge about being proficient in a specific type of work or activity

HBCU • Religious Affiliation • Involvement came from various religious organizations • Mostly Northern religious organizations • American Missionary Association • Southern Education Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church • Most blacks were educated at these private institutions

HBCU • Effect on student life • Usually surrounded by various churches • Sunday Morning • Very conservative • No coed housing (opposite sex no even allowed in the building at anytime) • No alcohol

Influence • Curriculum • W.E.B. DuBois (educated at Harvard) • Liberal, science, black leaders, culture • Classical liberal education (like most other institutions during this period) • Trained to be teachers, preachers and professionals • Some trained students solely to become clergymen • Morehouse

Funding • Investors • The church that it was affiliated with • Mostly northern religious organizations • Local black population • Provided free labor and other resources

Examples • Spellman College - 1881 • The school was founded by the Women’s American Baptist Home Mission Society. • The missionaries’ intent was to convert blacks to Christianity • The missionaries believed that black intellectuals could help achieve political and economic freedom for blacks • Liberal Arts curriculum

Example • Bennet College - 1873 • United Methodist Church Related • Founded by new free slaves • Funding mostly came from the black church members

Conclusion • Impact • Award 1/3 of all B.A. to African Americans • 42% of all blacks awarded PhD came from a HBCU • Lincoln University in Pennsylvania graduates 20% of black doctors and 10% of Lawyers in the U.S.

Life at a HBCU • Student Life • HBCU’s asked refugee scholars from Germany to teach at HBCU’s. • From Swastka to Jim Crow

Additional facts • Fisk University – 1st HBCU to be awarded university status in 1967 • Howard – chartered by the Federal government in 1867 • North Carolina Central University – first state supported liberal arts institution in 1923 • Tuskegee Univ – produce the most black engineers. • Cheyney Univ – 1st HBCU created in 1837 • Wilberfore Univ – 1st to have a black president.

HBCU Quiz • States • AL, AR, CA, DE, DC, FL, GA, IL, KY, LA, MD, MI, MS, MO, NY, NC, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VI, VA, WV All of them

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Historically Black Colleges and Universities