Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Historically Black colleges and universities are institutions created under the laws of segregation and prior to 1964 with the express purpose of educating African Americans. From their arrival on the shores of the United States, Black people have thirsted for knowledge and viewed education as the key to their freedom. These enslaved people pursued various forms of education despite rules, in all southern states, barring them from learning to read and write. A few Black colleges appeared immediately prior to the Civil War, such as Lincoln and Cheyney Universities in Pennsylvania and Wilberforce in Ohio. With the end of the Civil War the daunting task of providing education to [Page 1070]more than four million formerly enslaved people was shouldered by both the federal government, through ...