On february 25th, 1837, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania became the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Richard Humphreys, a quaker philanthropist requested to start the school and donated 10,000$ to establish the school to allow African Americans to educate themselves. Now there are over 100 HBCU across the country with more than 228,000 students enrolled. North Carolina is fortunate enough to be home to 12 HBCU itself. After the civil war and the abolition of slavery HBCU’s were founded throughout the south with the support of the freedomen’s Bureau. The growth of HBCU’s nationally really began to pick up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the early 21st century there were more than 100 HBCUs in the United States, predominantly in the South. While some were two-year schools, many offered four years of study. Some maintained a vocational focus, while others had developed into major research institutions. Also, while several HBCUs continued to have predominantly African American student bodies, others no longer did. Historically black schools across the country are making similar diversity pushes, partly because African American enrollment alone is not enough to sustain them when traditionally white schools are doing more to recruit minorities Just like with PWI’s diversity is a big issue and concern and today's world and HBCUs are pushing to become more diverse and start accepting a lot more minorities and having larger and more diverse enrollment.
Sources:
https://hbculifestyle.com/largest-hbcu-by-enrollment/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/historically-black-colleges-and-universities
https://cheyney.edu/who-we-are/the-first-hbcu/
