Black colleges shape the future of black America. These institutions were designed to meet the unique educational and social needs of the African Americans. They provide a special environment at an important time in the life of the young adult. They give African American youth a sense that they are in charge and that success is attainable. Black institutions render an invaluable service to this country. There is a role for HBCUs in producing graduates who can compete and foster diversity in every field of endeavor; in stemming the tide of African American males who seem side tracked from the lower to drop out and go to prison; in sparking a spirit of entrepreneurship among students and in transmitting African history, culture and expectations for the future. This must become the age of black college survival. Without black colleges, blacks never could have made the financial and economic strides evident today. The role of the black college is to teach our children how to acknowledge our merits, cultivate them and succeed. Over one hundred HBCUs have affected the business and professional future of many successful African Americans. Graduates include fifty percent of the nation’s black business executives, forty-five percent of the black members of the congress, fifty percent of black elected officials, ninety-five percent of the black elected officials from the south, seventy-five percent of black Americans with Ph. D degrees, eighty percent of black federal judges, seventy-five percent of black lawyers, eighty-five percent if physicians and seventy-five percent of black military officers.
