Historically Black campuses and universities to receive grants following pandemic
By: Emma Beatty
The National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund (AACHA), founded in 2017, has released a statement announcing they will be giving over $650,000 in grants to eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities including: Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina; Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi; Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee; Morgan State University in Baltimore; Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas; Spelman College in Atlanta; Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama.
The grant was created to restore and preserve these historically Black campuses after the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an even bigger threat to those schools lacking necessary funding. Additionally, the grant aims to educate these campuses on the history that they are sitting on. As the Intelligencer reported, many of the buildings included in the restoration project were constructed by Black architects. These buildings would usually go unnoticed. AACHA believes that the protection of the architecture will continue to inspire many generations of students to come.
The underfunding to these colleges and universities come from their student body being composed of low-income first-generation students who rely on financial aid and scholarships to attend. The Hechinger Report has stated that there have been fifteen HBCU to close since 1997. There have been attempts by recent presidential administrations to increase funding, but the attempts have fallen on closed ears. It appears that a new attempt may be in the works in addition to this grant by President Biden due to his Vice President Kamala Harris, the first female Asian American and African American, being elected. Biden has promised to invest $70 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities to make it more affordable for students and to provide new resources such as labs and technology. All of the funding and restoration will help protect these Historically Black Colleges and Universities which are so crucial to the continuation of the education of minorities in America.