Historically Black Colleges & Universities

Bowie State is Maryland’s oldest historically black university and is one of the ten oldest in the country. Notable alumni include Christa McAuliffe, Toni Braxton, and Gwendolyn T. Britt
Location: Baltimore, Md.
Established: 1865
Enrollment: 5,561
Mascot: Bulldogs

Location: Orangeburg, SC
Founded: 1869
Enrollment: 1978
Mascot: Panthers

Notable Alumni: Henry N. Tisdale, Cassandra Maxwell Birney, Robert Bates, Roger Kenton Williams., Leo Twiggs.

Ranked as the best liberal arts college in South Carolina in 2014 and in 2018 as the seventh-best HBCU in the nation by US News & World Report.

www.ecsu.edu
Elizabeth City State University was founded to provide training for more teachers of primary grades. Parts of the campus are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Notable alumni include Larry Johnson Sr., Kenny Williams, Jethro Pugh, and Bobby Futrell.

Location: Elizabeth City, N.C.
Founded: 1891
Enrollment: 2,421
Mascot: Vikings

www.uncfsu.edu
Fayetteville State University is the second oldest state-supported school in North Carolina. Notable alumni include Jerry C. Johnson, Sylvester Ritter, Darrell Armstrong, and Jim Bibby.

Location: Fayetteville, N.C.
Founded: 1867
Enrollment: 5,930
Mascot: Broncos

www.jcsu.edu
Johnson C. Smith University was established as Biddle Memorial Institute. Notable alumni include Trezzvant Anderson, Frederick C. Branch, Draff Young, and Edward R. Dudley.
Location: Charlotte, NC
Founded: 1867
Enrollment: 1,300
Mascot: Golden Bulls

www.lincoln.edu
Lincoln University was the United States’ very first degree-granting historically black university. It was founded as a private university, but became public in 1972. Notable alumni include Thurgood Marshall, Langston Hughes, Cab Calloway, Christian Fleetwood, and Clarence M. Mitchell Jr.
Location: Chester County, Pa.
Founded in 1854
Enrollment: 1,819
Mascot: Lions

www.livingstone.edu
Livingstone College began as Zion Wesley Institute and was founded by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church. Notable alumni include George Lincoln Blackwell, Ben Coates, Philip A. Payton Jr., and Solomon Carter Fuller.
Location: Salisbury, N.C.
Founded: 1879
Enrollment: 1,200
Mascot: Blue Bears

www.st-aug.edu
Saint Augustine’s University was founded by prominent Episcopal clergy for the education of freed slaves. It was the United States’ first historically black college to have its own commercial radio and television stations located on campus. 

Notable alumni include Luther Barnes, Hannah Diggs Atkins, Bessie and Sadie Delany, and William McBryar.
Location: Raleigh, N.C.
Founded: 1867
Enrollment: 1,500
Mascot: Falcons

www.shawu.edu
Shaw is known as “the mother of African-American colleges in North Carolina,” and is the oldest HBCU in the South. Notable alumni include Gladys Knight, Richard Gene Arno, Shirley Caesar, James H. Young, and Angie Brooks.
Location: Raleigh, N.C.
Founded: 1865
Enrollment: 1,999
Mascot: Bears

www.vsu.edu
Virginia State University was America’s first fully state-supported four-year institution of higher learning for black citizens. Notable alumni include Rashae Barnes, Herman Branson, Camilla Williams, and Larry Brooks.
Founded in 1882
Location: St Petersburg, Va.
Enrollment: 5,900
Mascot: Trojans

vuusports.com
Virginia Union University was founded to give the newly emancipated men an opportunity for education. Notable alumni include Simeon Booker, Walter Fauntroy, Samuel Lee Gravely Jr., Eugene Kinckle Jones, and Wyatt T Walker. 
Founded in 1865
Location: Richmond, Va.
Enrollment: 1,700
Mascot: Panthers

www.wssu.edu
Notable alumni include Cleo Hill, Monte Ross, Lorraine Morton, and Clarence “Jeep” Jones
Location: Winston-Salem, N.C.
Founded: 1892
Enrollment: 5,700
Mascot: Rams