HBCUs Provide Only Path to Higher Education Amid Widespread Exclusion

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, historically Black colleges and universities were the only realistic path to higher education for Black Americans. The majority of white universities in the South excluded Black students entirely; Northern universities enrolled a small number but with severe restrictions. Howard University (D.C.), Fisk (TN), Spelman (GA), Morehouse (GA), Hampton (VA), Tuskegee (AL), and Lincoln (PA) educated virtually all Black doctors, lawyers, teachers, and clergy. These institutions were chronically underfunded compared to white state universities; in Southern states, Black land-grant colleges received only token portions of the federal Morrill Act funds.