Andrew Mckain Historically black colleges and universities have played a great role in the education of young African Americans. These colleges and universities were established before 1964 to give African Americans a chance to pursue higher education. HBCU’s were defined in the Higher Education act of 1965 as, “...any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation.” Today there are about 110 HBCU’s in the United States. There are other colleges that have a large population of black students but they didn’t allow black students to be part of their college until the Brown v. the Board of Education **** which outlawed racial segregation. Before this ****, black students had a hard time attending college. These HBCU’s opened the door for these students to pursue higher education. The historically black colleges also made it possible for many black students to have careers that have impacted the lives of many people in America. Some of these students might not have been able to go to any other college due to the racial segregation that other colleges had. The HBCU’s made it possible for them to pursue higher education. I have made the decision to attend Morgan State University, which is an HBCU. I want to become a successful product of a historically black college. I think that HBCU’s are still relevant today because they are a strong option for many African American students. When a lot of other colleges may turn down students who are applying for college, a lot of HBCU’s will make it possible for those students to be accepted. That was the case in my application process. Although I was accepted into a few other colleges, I wasn’t accepted into many non HBCU colleges. I was, however, accepted into Morgan State and I made the decision to attend this college. HBCU’s have also remained relevant because of the many scholarship opportunities offered to the students that attend these colleges. There are many organizations such as the NAACP that raise money to help African American students to attend college. Many famous African Americans also donate money to send African American students to college. I think that HBCU’s play an important role in our society because they have made it possible for many students to attend college.
