By Hannah Jones
Historically Black Colleges and Universities are United States institutions that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intent to serve the black community. Today, there are 101 HBCUs across the US and they serve a wide variety of students from all ethnic backgrounds. In September, there are many celebrations and fairs to make sure that everyone has access to these amazing institutions that offer a range of academic qualifications, anywhere from associate’s degrees all the way up to doctoral programs.
Locally, Jesse Bethel High School hosted the 19th annual U-Can Historically Black College and University Recruitment Fair which hosted 30-40 historically black colleges and universities from across the US for students to talk to. A benefit of going to the fair was the opportunity to get fee waivers, scholarships and possible on-the-spot acceptances. Several students from Benicia High School took advantage of this opportunity and went over on a field trip to Jesse Bethel on Monday.
On a national level, every year they have an HBCU Week Conference in Washington, DC. This year, it is on September 16-19 and is a free conference as long as you can get there. Every year, this four-day conference is run by the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. It is aimed so that the institutions can get together and talk about how they can move forward to make these schools even better in the future.
