Historically Black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African A
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1837 as the Institute for Colored Youth, making it the oldest HBCU in the nation.
President George H. W. Bush signs a new Executive Order on historically Black colleges and universities in the White House Rose Garden, April 1989.
North Carolina A&T State University is the nation's largest HBCU by enrollment.
Howard University
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Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research a
Historically black colleges and universities
…As of February 2025, Alabama has the most active HBCUs of any state, with 14. North Carolina is second with 11. In February 2025, Howard University became the first HBCU to achieve Research One (R1) Carnegie Classification. In 2024, some HBCUs experienced a significant increase in applications and…
University namesake and founder Oliver Otis Howard
Howard University School of Law is one of the oldest law schools in the United States.
Interdisciplinary Research Building
The Freedman's Column