Historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, were born of necessity. During the late 18th and early 19th century, higher education belonged exclusively to white men, with only a scant handful of exceptions. Instead of waiting for more opportunities that might never materialize from established institutions, education advocates decided to create the opportunities themselves — and in 1837, the first HBCU was founded.
Richard Humphreys established the African Institute (known as Cheyney University today) in Pennsylvania to teach free African Americans necessary skills for gainful employment, including reading, writing, basic math, religion, and industrial arts. Three more HBCUs followed in the 1850s in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Washington, D.C. Most of these early HBCUs were established and operated by white administrators, and their creation was controversial.
The majority of HBCUs were established after the Civil War with the help of the Freedmen's Bureau, philanthropists, and religious organizations. The Freedmen's Bureau helped to establish the famed Howard University and Morehouse College. The newer generation of HBCUs had evolved beyond the straightforward training mission of the African Institute, providing a broad array of educational options that powered America's budding Black middle class.
Among some of the most famous HBCU graduates: Vice President Kamala Harris (Howard University), Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (Lincoln University, Howard University), Senator Raphael Warnock (Morehouse College), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Morehouse College), Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison (Howard University), Reverend Jesse Jackson (North Carolina A&T University), author Ralph Ellison (Tuskegee University), former Surgeon General David Satcher (Morehouse College), NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson (West Virginia State University).
