National HBCU Week Conference brought students and alumni to Philly from across the country with ‘pride and style’

For one week, Philly was the center of the HBCU world.

Sept. 19 marked the end of the U.S. Department of Education’s 2024 Annual National HBCU Week Conference, hosted in Philadelphia’s Center City. Hundreds of students, alumni, educators, leaders, and members of other organizations looking to engage with Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) members met for a week of networking, learning, a career fair, and even the occasional drum line and stroll.

The conference was highlighted by visits from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden spoke to a ballroom of attendees on Sept. 16, declaring that his administration would continue to financially support HBCUs, having issued $17 billion since he took office in 2021. Harris, an alumna of Howard University, came to Philadelphia on Sept. 17 for a conversation hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists, with HBCU students in the audience.

» READ MORE: Kamala Harris says she is ‘working to earn’ votes of Black men during wide-ranging NABJ interview in Philly

This was the first year that the event has been held outside of Washington, D.C., since its inception in 2013. As the attendees gathered from across the country, they shared a sense of solidarity for each other and their community, excited for the future of HBCUs in a new, post-affirmative action era.

“It has been amazing. I have met so many scholars from all over the world. I have met so many like-minded individuals, and we have one goal,” said Antoine Johnson, 19, a student at Alcorn State University in Mississippi. “To succeed and to represent our HBCU with pride and style.”

The first HBCUs were established in Pennsylvania in the 19th century, with Cheyney University in 1837 and Lincoln University in 1854. Before that, there were no institutions of higher learning that Black people were allowed to attend. Today, there are about 100 HBCUs, and they have been critical to educating and supporting generations of Black Americans, including 50% of Black lawyers and 40% of Black engineers, and are credited with establishing the Black middle class.

And while formal segregation no longer keeps Black students out of other institutions, Sean Vereen, president of the education nonprofit Heights Philadelphia, said that HBCUs still remain an essential part of the American higher education system.

» READ MORE: Biden touts HBCU investments during Philly visit and addresses the ‘lies and hate’ being spread about Haitian migrants

“These are institutions that are creating opportunities for typically underserved populations and not just on the racial front, but also socioeconomically, academically,” he said.

Alan Graham, a student at Cheyney University from Mt. Airy, said he wasn’t the strongest high school student. At one point, he was planning to go straight into the workforce, especially given the cost of going to college. But a college adviser told him Cheyney would give him a scholarship if he worked to get his grades up.

“I did just that and I’ve been on a full ride … and I’m graduating this year,” he said.

Fionia Washington, a South Carolina State University alumna and member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, attended the conference as a representative of the Network of the National Library of Medicine. She said that going to an HBCU helped form her identity, and that she’s still in touch with some of her professors.

» READ MORE: Philly-area colleges see dips in Black, Latino students post Supreme Court decision on race-conscious admissions

“Having Black professors made a difference,” she said, mentioning her biochemistry professor who excelled while also being a young mother. “Now I have a daughter, and I think I’m still young, and I’m Black. So I’m kind of following in her footsteps [and] progressing in my field.”

After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions last year, Black enrollment numbers at the country’s highly selective schools have declined on the whole, though not at every school.

But the impact on HBCUs has been the opposite — applications are going up. Morehouse College in Atlanta saw a 34% increase in applications this cycle, North Carolina A&T State University’s applications rose by 37%, and Howard University’s increased by 10%.

“It’s money. You don’t have no money? You got problems.”

Vereen said he noticed his Heights students’ interest in HBCUs rising even before the Supreme Court’s decision, and now they are especially keyed in on the schools’ relative affordability and greater support for Black students.

“You have a community of support, you have alum that are doing this work and that gets you connected to the greater world in a different way than going to a predominantly white institution,” he said.

As HBCUs navigate this period of greater attention, their most significant challenge remains funding. HBCUs are chronically underfunded — an analysis from the Department of Education determined that 16 states underfunded their land-grant HBCUs by a total of $13 billion between 1987 and 2020, as compared to peer predominantly white institutions. Lower endowments and alumni contributions are factors too, and sometimes smaller HBCUs get left behind when funding is given out.

With more students interested in HBCUs, continued federal funding like that signaled by Biden at the conference on Monday is vitally important. That support was appreciated by many of the attendees.

“It’s money. You don’t have no money? You got problems. And we have been underfunded for so long,” said LaMar Wright, a Morehouse alumnus representing a Black financial development platform called The Wealth Weekend.

“If we do not have the same level of funding and support, especially from a government level … then there’s no way we can really say that we’re building that kind of equitable platform for those coming out of those schools,” said Corissa Reed, an attendee representing the Department of Justice.

This November will be the first presidential election that Johnson can vote in. He said he plans to cast his ballot for Harris, not only because he believes she is the best candidate, but also because of how she will continue to support HBCUs and get them “back on the map” as their most recognizable representative.

“She’s an HBCU graduate, so that just lightens my heart,” he said. “It just makes me want to vote for her even more.”