A Brief Timeline of Black Higher Education

For centuries, Black higher education and educational institutions have built an astounding history of contributing, of over-delivering while being systematically under-resourced, of making remarkable progress to advance equity while they, themselves, had to confront real inequities. It’s a legacy of which we can all be proud.
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1619
First enslaved Africans arrive in British North America.
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1636
Harvard, nation’s first college, established.
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For the next 200 years, Black people excluded from higher education.
1800s
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A century of firsts for Black colleges.
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1823
Alexander Lucius Twilight, first Black college graduate in America.
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1837
First Black institute founded, Institute for Colored Youth (Cheyney University).
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1854
Lincoln University of Pennsylvania becomes the first degree-granting HBCU.
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1856
First Black, private HBCU founded, Wilberforce University.
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1863
Emancipation Proclamation is signed.
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1870
Seven Black colleges and 13 teaching schools established by American Missionary Association and Freedmen’s Bureau.
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1890
Second Morrill Land-Grant Act forbids exclusion of Black people in state higher education systems.
1900s
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Black colleges help descendants of the enslaved progress.
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1928
Association of Colleges and Schools begins to accredit Black colleges & universities.
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1944
United Negro College Fund created.
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1954
U.S. Supreme Court hands down the Brown v. Board of Education decision.
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1965
U.S. Higher Education Act officially recognizes HBCUs and provides them dedicated federal funding.
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1972
UNCF launches “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
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1972
Adams v. Richardson decision orders 10 states in violation of the Civil Rights Act to integrate schools, but not at the expense of HBCUs.
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1980
President Carter establishes White House Initiative on HBCUs.
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1987
Thurgood Marshall College Fund established.
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1999
UNCF administers Gates Millennium Scholars Program.
2000s
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ICB accelerates institutional transformation.
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2003
Supreme Court rules affirmative action admissions constitutional. Photo credit: PBS
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2006
UNCF establishes the Institute for Capacity Building.Photo credit: Andrew Huth
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2007
ICB launches Fiscal and Strategic Technical Assistance Program (FASTAP).Photo credit: Andrew Huth
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2008
ICB launches first Institutional Advancement Program.
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2009
The first inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.
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2009
ICB launches Green Building Initiative.
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2010
ICB launches Digital Media and Learning in Multicultural Contexts Public Forum Series. Photo credit: Andrew Huth
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2011
ICB releases Enrollment Management Best Practices Guide: A Model for Success.
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2013
Claflin University's alumni giving hits an all-time high of 52.2%.
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2014
Black Lives Matter expands in response to increased police brutality. Photo credit: Austin Chronicle
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2015
ICB receives groundbreaking grant to implement the Career Pathways Initiative.
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2017
ICB conducts national study on student careers. Photo credit: Andrew Huth
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2019
ICB launches the Strategic Finance Institute. Photo credit: Andrew Huth
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2019
ICB establishes Executive Leadership Institute. Photo credit:Andrew Huth
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2020
COVID pandemic hits Black communities disproportionately hard.
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2020
ICB develops lifelong learning partnership strategy with Harvard and Lightcast.
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2020
BLM protests spread nationwide following police murder of George Floyd. Photo credit: Watch The Yard
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2020
HBCUs and UNCF receive record high donations. Photo credit: Andrew Huth
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2020
ICB joins national effort to support excluded populations.
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2020
ICB launches online professional development in response to the COVID pandemic.
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2020
ICB expands transformation network to eight HBCUs and PBIs.
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2021
Howard University alum Kamala Harris, first HBCU graduate to be sworn in as Vice President of the U.S.
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2021
ICB launches mental health partnership with Steve Fund. Photo credit: Andrew Huth
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2021
ICB, Excelencia in Education and the Coleridge Initiative partner to enhance data capacity at HBCUs and HSIs. Photo credit: Andrew Huth
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2022
ICB receives funding to support transformation at seven HBCUs.
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2022
ICB announces launch of HBCUv to reimagine online learning. Photo credit: Andrew Huth
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2022
UNCF and Thurgood Marshall College Fund announce HBCU Transformation Project, a joint effort.
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2022
ICB selected among six organizations for Intermediaries for Scale national transformation effort.