Not to mention the Tribal College Program and HSACUs
To those who read the subtitle and had no clue what the Tribal College Program (sometimes called 1994 Institutions) and HSACUs (Hispanic Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities) are. Think of them and HBCUs as a half-hearted attempt to educate those not otherwise welcome in PWIs (predominantly white institutions). The photo is of the current administrative building at Fisk University, my alma mater. I chose Fisk because I always choose Fisk; it’s what I do.
The HBCUs came first, starting with Cheney University in Pennsylvania in 1837. Then came The University of the District of Columbia in 1851, Lincoln University -Pennsylvania in 1854, Wilberforce University in 1856, Lemoyne-Owen in 1862, Virginia Union in 1864, Bowie State, Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University, or Shaw University in 1865 after the Civil War ended, and several Black colleges in 1866, including Fisk University, Lincoln University of Missouri, and Rust College.
All of them were initially private institutions, though Lincoln of Missouri received $5,000 in state funding to train Black teachers. Most began with different names, and none resembled the colleges and universities they are today. While some goodwill was undoubtedly intended, all came into being because white people generally didn’t want their kids attending school with Black ones.
ext came the Tribal College Program. It should be said that between the first private HBCUs and the Tribal College Program. There were the Morrill Land Acts of 1862 and 1890. The first Act allocated 17,400,000 total acres to initially fund sixty-nine colleges, including Auburn University, the University of California, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, Purdue University, the University of Kentucky, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota, Rutgers, Cornell, and Ohio State University.
