HBCUs now educate few black students but still produce most black professionals

Evidence

Once-venerable institutions now stand on the brink of collapse or have shifted their primary focus away from neighborhoods and social justice. Many historically black colleges and universities, for example, face tremendous financial hardships (black banks, bookstores, museums, and theater companies are struggling as well). Five HBCUs have closed over the past twenty years. In the 1970s these institutions educated between 75 and 85 percent of African Americans in higher education. Today, only 9 percent of black students attend HBCUs, yet even with these small numbers, HBCUs graduate nearly 20 percent of all African Americans who earn undergraduate degrees. They produce more than 50 percent of black professionals and teachers today. So even as they struggle to stay open, HBCUs continue to show that they are uniquely committed to educating and training African Americans. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 354