HBCUs: Institutions for Past, Present & Future

Two months before my 14th birthday, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in our public schools. This landmark case, Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, embodied five cases, the first of which, Briggs v. Elliott, began in Clarendon County, South Carolina just 20 miles from my hometown of Sumter. On May 17th the nation will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Brown. Its impact has been both astounding and confounding.

Despite the court's ruling it would be almost 20 years later before any serious efforts were undertaken by South Carolina's authorities to integrate the state's public schools, including its colleges and universities. So when I graduated high school in 1957, the only state institution open to me was South Carolina State. And although the rigid segregation that gave birth to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) like my alma mater is no longer the law, the missions of these institutions remain relevant and valuable. And some would argue more so than ever before.

Before desegregation, HBCUs were responsible for educating 90% of African Americans receiving post secondary education in the nation. Today, 15% of blacks attend the nation's 103 HBCUs. Those institutions, however, are responsible for 30% of African American students who earn undergraduate degrees. HBCU graduates now comprise 65% of all black doctors, 50% of all black engineers and 35% of all black lawyers.

Many of the benefits of HBCUs are intangible like the sense of empowerment and self confidence students report they gain on these campuses. And, because many HBCU students come from low income families, and are the first in their families to attend college, they find a sense of camaraderie and support on these campuses they might not enjoy at non HBCU institutions. The socio-economic conditions of these students, however, create significant challenges for HBCUs like North Carolina's Bennett and St. Augustine Colleges. Bennett recently regained full accreditation after being on probation due to mounting debt. St. Augustine is currently on probation for the same reason. The next step - losing accreditation - means losing access to federal grant programs, another crushing blow to an institution already in financial trouble.

Unfortunately, HBCUs do not receive the same level of financial support from the federal government that other schools enjoy. In fact, the 18 historically black land-grant colleges are currently owed as much as $18.8 million by the federal government. The 2002 Farm Bill mandated the lowest threshold that must be allocated annually to HBCU land grant institutions. I find it confounding that the Republican-controlled Congress refuses to meet that minimum level.

I shutter to think of what our world would be without the astounding contributions of HBCU graduates such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison, W.E.B. DuBois, Wilma Rudolph, and many of my colleagues here in the Congress. And, we will continue our fight to insure that HBCUs continue to provide a nurturing and affordable high quality of education to those destined to succeed us and the likes of the others mentioned above.