On this most recent Juneteenth, the “Black Lives Matter” movement can claim a major accomplishment: It has helped to reinvigorate historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Before the nationwide protests triggered by the police killing of George Floyd in May of 2020, many of the nation’s more than 100 such institutions were saddled with debt, losing students and facing possible closure. Now a new awareness of racial inequities and the role of education in bridging those gaps has brought an outpouring of support for colleges focused on Black students, many of them first-generation college students.

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has donated $560 million to 23 public and private HBCUs, states are reversing years of neglect in funding and corporations are eager to contribute to schools that will help them build a diverse workforce. Congress eliminated $16 billion in debt for HBCUs that had taken federal loans for capital projects.

Legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.) and signed by President Joe Biden has strengthened partnerships between federal agencies and the nation’s Black colleges and universities.

“That whole picture has changed,” said state Sen. Gladys Robinson (D-Greensboro), who heads the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus Foundation.

That change is especially important for North Carolina. The state is home to 11 HBCUs, the largest number in the nation – and the nation’s largest HBCU, North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. The state’s HCBUs have received growing corporate and private donations. Scott alone has gifted $45 million to N.C. A&T, $30 million to Winston-Salem State University and $15 million to Elizabeth City State University. Fayetteville State University just announced it has received a $5.8 million gift – an amount four times larger than any gift ever given to the school – from Anonymous Trust, a private foundation in Raleigh.

Meanwhile, the legislature has reversed decades of inequitable funding for the state’s five public HCBUs. That’s a remarkable turnaround for Republican lawmakers who in 2014 considered closing Elizabeth City State because of a 26% enrollment decline. After years of unsuccessfully pressing her fellow lawmakers to do more for HBCUs, Robinson said a breakthrough came after the nationwide protests that followed Floyd’s killing.

“The whole ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement has made a difference,” she said.

Within the UNC System, President Peter Hans has pushed for more support for the state’s public HBCUs.

“HBCUs, in general, are experiencing a long overdue moment of celebration. We have five of the very best in the nation as part of the UNC System,” Hans said. “They’re driving socioeconomic mobility, economic development and expanded opportunity in a supportive environment.”

To boost tuition revenue at HBCUs, the UNC Board of Governors has raised the UNC System’s 18% cap for out-of-state students to 25% at three HBCUs and 35% at N.C. A&T and 50% at Elizabeth City State. N.C. A&T Chancellor Harold Martin said in a statement that the killing of Floyd in Minneapolis triggered a “racial reckoning” that has led to more support for his university and many other HBCUs.

“We fervently hope that what we have experienced these past two years is the new normal, rather than a temporal, fleeting moment,” he said. “Those changes, properly nourished, can help unlock the full potential of our universities to better serve our students, our communities, this state and the nation.”

— The Charlotte Observer