- What would you say are like the, maybe the top reasons that you chose an HBCU - Community - Opportunity.

Clarity.

Family.

So graduation's coming up.

- Opportunity.

Clarity.

Family.

So graduation's coming up.

How do you feel about walking down the avenue?

- I feel very excited.

You know, I worked hard to get to this position, - Right?

I'm good right here.

My name is Willie Green and I attend a historically black college and university.

- Hi, my name is Cassidy Willie.

Hi, I am Sarah and I go to an HBCU.

My name is Asada and I attend an HBCU.

- My name is Sam Weiss and I attend a historically black college and university.

- What class do you have tonight?

A lab on - Eliza.

- Eliza?

Yeah.

I don't know what this is - Know what what western blotting is?

Who?

- Hi, I am Brandis Griffith Friedman.

I am a journalist and a TV news anchor working in Chicago and I'm a Dillard University graduate class of 2000.

This is crazy.

I have not been like on this part of campus really since I graduated.

- How do you - Feel?

It's a little weird.

Like it's kind of, it's kinda like I never left, right?

Like it's kind of like home.

I feel like anybody who, who goes to a black school, we all like, you know, have the memories of, maybe it's, it's hanging out on the yard.

There's the, the cultural stuff, right?

I might've had certainly a different experience had I gone to a PWI, depending on the school, maybe I would've gotten, you know, stronger journalism chops early on.

I would not change that experience, right?

Like I would not go back and go to a different school if I could just because that experience makes me who I am today.

Historically black colleges and universities have been in existence for nearly 190 years and they've seen their share of changes.

In this film we'll hear from four college students and one high school student each with a unique experience about why they chose an HBCU and what it means, not just for their future but the future of the schools as well.

I think they still serve a very important purpose, giving students what feels like a safe space.

Post summer of 2020, - The COVID-19 outbreak continues to spread.

Deaths continue to skyrocket worldwide as economies continue to crumble.

- Post-racial reckoning of of 2020 and black people, African Americans, especially young black people, beginning to think about I want to go someplace where I am safe.

- COVID had a disproportionate impact on low income communities of color.

So even more of our students, the young people that we would be focusing on to send to college would be coming from communities that had more impact, negative impact from COVID.

Then you saw the racial reckoning that was largely around a very old issue in the black community, which is police brutality and those two combined sort of shined a bright light on experiences that we're still facing.

- How?

- Hi, my name is Daijah Hubbard and I attend historically black college and university.

- What was it that made the difference for you that made you choose Dillard over UAB?

- Because UAB was predominantly white and Dillard's an HBCU.

Yeah, but Dillard gave me the most money - That'll do it.

How do you think going to an HBCU is different from going to a predominantly white school?

- I don't know.

I really think it's all about what you make it.

I wanted to be around people like me, like I wanted to know that there was people going into the healthcare field.

'cause you know there's not really too many blacks when you go to the dentist and the doctor.

- Did anybody give you any sort of like influence like when you were like, okay I am gonna go to an HBCU or what was kind of like the the response when you're like it's gonna be Dillard.

- There wasn't no response.

They just, I think they was just excited for me to go to a college because I'm first gen. - How has being first gen been?

Gimme a sense of what that experience.

It's - Actually been hard because like for example dentistry.

I didn't know how to get out there for like a long time.

It's been tough but I've been making it.

- You hadn't heard of Dillard?

- I Didn't.

What did you think when you did hear of Dillard?

- I was like, this is interesting because it was a private small little school and I considered it because it was in New Orleans and I was trying to get away from home.

- Being Kenyan.

My parents didn't really know much about HBCUs.

- I didn't really know that much about HBCUs because I lived in a more of a predominant white areas.

But never the HBCU conversation was ever spoken to me because you know, most HBCUs are not looked upon the same way as the PWIs are.

- I didn't know anything about HBCUs.

I went to Morgan and then went to Howard and I'm like, oh okay.

So and then it was like kind of a pattern like when I went there I always felt seen.

I felt like heard.

I felt like if I went here I would feel normal.

I would feel natural.

- The first HBCU was founded in 1837.

The African Institute later become Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.

Years later the greatest number of HBCUs would be founded in 1867, four years after the Emancipation Proclamation and two years after the end of the Civil War.

Private and public land grant schools were crucial to produce black college graduates who were black doctors, lawyers and educators.

Thus playing a central role in creating the black middle class.

Today there are approximately 100 historically black colleges and universities, mostly in the southern United States.

Though initially founded to educate black Americans, today one in four HBCU students is not black.

- Prior to the civil rights movement, 90% of all black people who got a college degree were attending segregated colleges and universities because in there were not a lot of integrated colleges and universities, - HBCUs to me are a really important part and sector of the higher education landscape, particularly in the US mostly because they are institutions that were founded at a time when African Americans in this country were barely considered human if at all.

And they really offered the promise of social mobility, opportunity, uplift through the vehicle of education.

That continues to be part of their legacy today for African Americans but for multiple other communities and populations as well.

And honestly without HBCUs we wouldn't have as educated of population as we do in the us But that being said, those institutions, much like African Americans in this country, have also had to endure discriminatory practices, anti-black sentiments toward them as institutions.

And so often they have had to make a way out of no way because of the ways in which this country has tried to marginalize them as a sector.

- While HBCUs represent just 2.3% of higher ed institutions in the US, they produce 16% of black college graduates.

Their enrollment peaked in 2010 at more than 326,000 students, reflecting the broader trend of higher education enrollment growth.

While those numbers have receded for all colleges and universities since then, HBCUs have shown three years of gains up 6% between fall 2023 and fall 24 and up 12% compared to fall 2022.

That's compared to three and 5.2% gains in overall undergraduate enrollment.

In other words, HBCUs are growing at twice the rate of other institutions.

- Hi, my name is Peter Kamanu and I attend Delaware State University.

I was born in Kenya in a place called ade.

So my parents lived in the farmlands.

I moved here when I was about five years old.

I lived in Maryland.

I pretty much lived in Maryland all my American life if you will.

And then I'm now here in Delaware for college.

I knew I had to get a scholarship in one way or another to attend a four year college.

So I started playing sports, try to make sure my grades were where they needed to be and this random Saturday I get a call from Coach K, the DSU head coach here for track and field and he says, you know, I want you on my team.

I'm trying to build something here.

And then from there we, we discussed and I signed.

It's full ride including athletic and academic.

PWI Outside of what I've heard from my friends, I know that one issue that I've seen here at HBCU is the funding.

The funding is a little different than you see at some PWIs.

So in terms of the facilities, in terms of the equipment that they have.

But our coaches here at the HBCU try to give us the best opportunity we can to compete.

- I am here on a full ride scholarship, everything's paid off.

I'm gonna give my advisors your number.

Being here on a full ride like that was a financial burden off my mom.

I feel like that's why I really took a semester a year off because the money aspect came into play.

Like okay, how's like, is mom gonna have to pick up what a third job just to try to cover me going to college?

What about my siblings who play sports?

And that's the one things that my family's been very blessed because I'm on a four year scholarship.

Dillard was the only one that offered me a scholarship and it was full tuition.

Right?

And we talk about like what students are borrowing to pay for school today and the debt that it's digging them into.

- We do know that HBCUs tend to have lower endowments than PWIs and endowments are really important.

- When you put together all of the endowments, the assets of HBCUs, all 102 of them, you get about $5 billion.

Well gee whiz, Harvard's got a $50 billion endowment - In Delaware.

You have one HBCU and the whole state and that one HBCU produces over 40% of all African American baccalaureate degrees.

That's a little ridiculous.

Like right like but also receiving less funding, receiving less support.

- It's still the majority of black people pursuing post-secondary degrees are doing so at predominantly wide institutions.

They're doing it all around the country.

But you are also seeing that that HBCU brand is attracting more students than it's ever attracted before.

Its challenge is actually do they have the resources to accommodate the demand?

- People may bring up that some HBCUs have lower graduation rates.

One, we don't realize that the average graduation rate for all colleges is like 60%.

So when we put these percentages out, a lot of people are thinking about them from the term of 100 but no school's graduating a hundred percent of their students.

Right?

So we start there.

Then when we look at a number of HBCUs who offer access to a high population of Pell grant eligible students.

So these are our most financially needy students when we're looking at some schools that have 75, 85% Pell grant eligible students.

And then we look at some of our more well-funded, well endowed institutions that may have 2% grant eligible students.

And we know that per research finances are one of the biggest reasons students do not persist through college.

Well, okay if if I have 85% of some of the neediest students around, it's going to be challenging to retain and graduate these students.

Whereas if I only have 2% Pell eligible students and have one of the biggest endowments in the country, your students should graduate at 80 90% graduation rate.

Right?

So, so really when we do, we play this comparison game with performance metrics but we're not comparing apples to apples.

- You work on everybody's game, it helps them improve, you know what I mean to the best of your ability.

I think you gonna be just fine.

Leadership.

It's time for you to be leader now.

So I'm excited man.

I hope you excited.

I am excited.

I'm excited about the future.

Why So you got two Bs in your entire high school career.

- Yeah, - Two Bs or not two Bs.

Two B. Alright.

What we - Gonna do Time for him to go to school?

It sure is.

So Seth, how you looking?

What?

What do you feel?

- I'm feeling good about my college decision.

I'm still searching through colleges.

So me and my mom, we usually talk about college a lot throughout the week.

We talk a lot about a lot of things.

Just scholarships.

Where are we gonna go to college volleyball, where that ties in and she's like really strict about it.

Like she really wants me to figure out what I wanna do and now let her decide what I wanna do.

College fair that's coming up is HBCU College Fair that's, I've been at Whitney Young I think October and there's gonna be like all the HBCUs there so I'm gonna bring a lot of my copies of my transcript and I'm just gonna be talking to them asking if I can get any scholarships.

I'm thinking about Morehouse, the all boys school that is in Atlanta.

It's a really good school.

It's like build character as well as Howard that's also a really good school that a lot of my friends went to.

And then my finally North Carolina A&T where two of my siblings graduated from, which has a really good computer science program which I want to, I want to commit my life to I computer science and I think that would just really help me better.

- We heard your mom say it but it sounds like it's important to you to go to an HBCU not even apply.

Well it sounds like family might be encouraging you to apply to a couple of PWIs in Illinois and maybe in North Carolina.

- She does want me to go to PWIs as well if she, if it's possible for a scholarship 'cause I play volleyball so if I do get money from for volleyball, from any PWI like UNC, she would like for me to apply there and go there, which I am also applying too.

- Anywhere that is going to financially help us is an option.

Anywhere that you are going to excel in what it is that you want to do is an option.

Understand what college is for you.

College is your step to adulthood.

That is just us getting you ready to get out there and be on your own.

- I dunno, I just want to be in touch with my roots.

'cause like I've been taking a lot of African American classes at my, at my school Whitney Young like they say they offer dual credit classes, African American studies and African American literature and I've taken both and I really do like the information that I'm learning and I would just like feel if I go to HBCU I'll learn more about my roots.

- My name's Yasmeen Olas and I attend Delaware State University.

I'm a dreamer so that means I'm a DACA dreamer which you know, it's for students who are either considered undocumented or overstayed their visa.

You find support like oh my sister is in need and he'll be like okay you missed class here the no so okay listen quick study session, 10 minutes, lemme tell you everything you need to know.

And these are prime example of like what the black community is, is brothers and sisters helping lift each other up and helping to show that we are there for each other.

- 1 9 0 8, this is a serious matter to be two be NAKA to be the first, the finest in every single way.

- So yesterday I got the privilege of joining Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, which is the first sorority ever created by a woman of color here.

And being a first generation student, that's something like I always wanted to do because you want a sisterhood of people who will support you, who will surround you and who all wanna do great things for you.

I am now the junior class president all in a semester.

I got accepted into the Harvard program, which is for HBCU students all in one month.

Like it's insane how many opportunities I have gotten.

- Why do you think like relationships with professors are so important?

- Because they can also give you them connections too.

Like know a professor I was talking to, she was like Oh why aren't you considering Howard Dentistry or Harvard dentistry?

And I'm like, because I don't know nobody at Harvard or Howard like she was like, I went there, I can connect you with them.

And I was like, oh.

- So actually I took a class last semester, it was a history class and the professor was Ghanaian and he spoke Swahili, which is a native tongue from Kenya and I don't think I would've gotten that experience from a PWI.

I don't think I would have that kind of success at A PWI.

I think the people here that are HBCU purposely put us in different situations in different environments that I don't think I would get at another PWI.

- My bad.

How you making up man?

What's - First day?

It was definitely overwhelming.

There was a lot going on.

I was excited, I was a little nervous, a little out of my, I felt a little bit out of my element.

The school that I went to was majority black but it was also interstate so there was a lot of everybody around.

I wasn't used to being in a situation or in an environment that was so, black.

I guess I've been very comfortable here at my HBCU, I've, I've grown kind of relaxed in my community with where everywhere I go I see people that look like me.

But I also get to see people that don't.

- We look at what they created as far as black people and what they were able to achieve in this country that was not set up for them to be successful.

It it to me points to a ethos of uplift because idea is that you're not just getting this degree for you.

You're not just getting this degree to get your job, you're getting this degree for all of us.

You're getting this degree to help better our society to be the citizens that we need to make this country live up to its ideals.

And so when I think about what they've done from their history to contemporarily, those are the three words that come to mind.

Opportunity, access and uplift.

We also have some stories and narratives from some of the earlier white students at HBCUs.

Joan Trumpauer Mulholland was a white student at Tougaloo who actually had gone to a predominantly white institution but she engaged in civil rights protest.

She was a freedom rider and because of her commitment to racial justice, she was kicked out of school and it was an HBCU that gave her the opportunity to continue her education and still be able to fight on the side of racial justice.

We do know that there were HBCUs that offered educational access for Native Americans when they weren't able to enter other institutions, primarily historically white institutions.

- Tell me your name please.

- Daniel Martinez.

- What do you do here, Daniel Martinez?

- I'm a student here at Dillard University.

- Did You have any - Thoughts about, this is an all black school.

Do I want to go here?

Even as somebody who went to high school in Louisiana, Dillard never even was mentioned to us, it was everybody in my school was either like LSU or UNL or Southeastern.

And then as for the me going to an HBCU thing, never really had too much thought about it to be honest.

For me it was just what's best for me and the opportunities that were here was what was best for me.

So pretty much that first visit I kind of fell in love with the school.

I just thought it was, the environment was really nice.

I remember when I came here, there was a member on the track team that like recognized me and I wasn't signed, I wasn't offered or anything, he just knew who I was.

And for me that was just like gave me a sense of community and I just like really wanted to come here after that.

- Do you ever feel like when you're on campus, do you feel, you know, just as included as everybody else?

Like you're just as much, you know, a part of the the university as anybody else is?

- Yeah, for sure.

People definitely love to crack jokes.

What are some of the jokes - Now?

You gotta tell me one.

I - Mean, I mean just, you know like, like I remember like my freshman year when I first got here, like one of my teammates was like, okay Daniel like, 'cause we do a warmup lap before we start he's like okay Daniel, you gotta run in the back.

Like, because it's black history months, right?

So - This happened to me when I was in high school but also certainly when I was in college around an entirely black student body.

I was sometimes called white, which I think at the time like, you know, white girl this or Brandis, you're not white.

Stop doing your hair like this or stop talking like that.

All of our experiences as black people are different, right?

Like, your blackness is not the same as my blackness.

Yes, we're all still black, but our experiences and who we are are different, right?

Like my parents are still black, my parents still grew up in the Jim Crow South.

My children, my sons will be black all day.

And so it's not up to anyone else to tell me whether or not I'm black or black enough.

The answer is, you're black enough, right?

If you're black, you're black enough by the way.

You don't have to be black to go to an HBCU.

- So I think HBCUs just like help people elevate them to like elevate anybody to the success that they like should be, you know, really an equal opportunity.

If you, if you are gonna succeed, like do it at an HBCU, I feel like 'cause it's nobody gonna be holding you back.

- The leaders that are produced, the everyday leaders, the middle class backbone are graduates of HBCUs.

- They continue to educate predominantly African-American populations, but also offer access to a number of other populations who may not otherwise have educational access.

And I think the HBCUs that really figure out what their niches are going to continue to do amazing and thrive.

I think they offer opportunities that are sensitive to the needs of a diverse society.

- I think attending an HBCU, I think it gave me a lot of confidence because I, I had a lot of support that I'm doing a good job at this and that I've got a future in this career.

- I hope that the experience I get from an HBCU in terms of looking back, so maybe a year or two after I graduate will be that I can still sit here and tell the next person, I think you should attend the HBCU.

So far in my three years, my experience has been great.

I have one more year left.

I'm sure it'll be even better than it has been so far.

But I wanna be able to turn back and say I attend an HBCU and here's why.

- What I know about being here.

And that's just, if you want to be somewhere that welcomes you, if you wanna be somewhere that like if you can think it, if, if you can imagine it, you could probably do it at an HBCU.

You, you can do anything that you like, work for here.

- It's a good feeling knowing that my mom and my dad didn't have this opportunity.

I think that's why I'm here to do it for them.

Like I'm waiting on the moment I walk across the stage so I could say I did it - Sophomore year seeing the students that I took on a tour here I see students, they hit me up.

They're like, oh yeah, I'm applying to Delaware State.

'cause you were my tour guide.

You showed me what HBCU looked like.

You showed me the fun side, you showed me the education side, you showed me the middle side of what HBCU and like it's crazy seeing like seniors you took on a tour freshmen here who hit you up.

They're like, oh my god, where's the place I can get some chicken wings?

I'm like, just go down the street.

Like it's, it just shows you how like just talking to someone or just educating someone on what an HBCU is can change their lives.

- I just wanna get outta, I just wanna get outta high school.

I'm gonna be honest.

You ready?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm ready.

Hello everybody.

My name is Seth Williams and I have chosen the illustrious North Carolina A&T State University.

This fall semester has been nothing short of amazing.

I'm so happy and glad that I chose this school and I feel like it's my home.

I got here and it took me one week to find my people.

I just had to express myself and become who I am.

And I don't know if I would really be able to do that at A PWI by finishing my fall semester.

I have a 4.0 GPA and I can proudly say that this is the school that I think is gonna teach me and nourish my education the best.

This school has pushed my limits in the best way possible and I would recommend it to anybody.

And yeah, go Aggie.