What Is An HBCU? Trump Executive Order For Black Colleges Likely: Full List Of Universities That Could Benefit From New President

President Donald Trump met with dozens of educators and officials from historically black colleges and universities in the White House on Monday. The meeting came just days after he pledged to help the institutions of higher learning that are collectively and more commonly known as HBCUs.

That help was likely to come in the form of an executive order, according to Politico.

Trump singled out HBCUs during his weekly address Saturday. “I also want to honor and promote the achievements of Historically Black Colleges and Universities throughout our Nation. They do a fantastic job,” the president said. “They are not given the credit that they deserve, and they are going to start getting that credit.”

That portion of Trump’s weekly address could be an earnest attempt to endear himself to black people, of which 8 percent of the demographic’s voters cast ballots for the president on Election Day. His pledge to HBCUs, however, could also be a thinly veiled jab at his predecessor, President Barack Obama, who was widely perceived to have not done enough for black colleges during eight years in Washington.

While Trump has made some questionable comments directed at the black community, some HBCU administrators have said they recognized the efforts he was making to ingratiate himself to African-Americans’ educational endeavors. After winning the election, Trump was routinely involved in “listening sessions and sales pitches for the incoming administration to heavily invest in,” McClatchy reported in December. Shortly after that, the then-incoming Trump administration invited the marching band from Talladega College, an HBCU in Alabama, to perform at the inauguration. The band accepted, setting off a firestorm over Talladega’s perceived support of a candidate who was openly backed by the Ku Klux Klan and white nationalists. In comparison, Howard University declined the same offer.

Which not immediately being designates as HBCUs, the first black colleges were created in part as a byproduct of slavery, which in many cases didn’t allow for the formal education of black people in the U.S. Cheyney University of Pennsylvania was the first ever HBCU, having been founded in 1837.  

There are 80 HBCUs across the country, but just a small handful of them had national name recognition. Among them were Howard University in Washington, D.C., Spelman College in Atlanta and Hampton University in southeastern Virginia. However, many others have rich academic traditions, as well. A full list of historically black colleges and universities follows below.

Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University

Alabama State University

Albany State University

Alcorn State University

Allen University

Arkansas Baptist College

Benedict College

Bennett College

Bethune-Cookman University

Bluefield State College

Bowie State University

Central State University

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania

Claflin University

Clark Atlanta University

Concordia College

Coppin State University

Delaware State University

Dillard University

Edward Waters College

Elizabeth City State University

Fayetteville State University

Fisk University

Florida A&M University

Florida Memorial University

Fort Valley State University

Grambling State University

Hampton University

Harris-Stowe State University

Howard University

Huston-Tillotson University

Jackson State University

Jarvis Christian College

Johnson C. Smith University

Kentucky State University

Lane College

Langston University

LeMoyne-Owen College

Lincoln University

Lincoln University

Livingstone College

Miles College

Mississippi Valley State University

Morehouse College

Morgan State University

Morris College

Norfolk State University

North Carolina A&T State University

North Carolina Central University

Oakwood University

Paine College

Philander Smith College

Prairie View A&M University

Rust College

Savannah State University

Shaw University

South Carolina State University

Southern University and A&M College

Southern University–New Orleans

Southwestern Christian College

Spelman College

St. Augustine’s University

Stillman College

Talladega College

Tennessee State University

Texas College

Texas Southern University

Tougaloo College

Tuskegee University

University of Arkansas–Pine Bluff

University of Maryland–Eastern Shore

University of the District of Columbia

Virginia State University

Virginia Union University

Voorhees College

West Virginia State University

Wilberforce University

Wiley College

Winston-Salem State University

Xavier University of Louisiana

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