IDKMYDE: 1st and Last HBCUs

Today’s episode of IDKMYDE takes you on a journey from Cheyney University, the first HBCU born in 1837 to help Black folks get an education, to American Baptist College, the newest HBCU, stepping up in the ’90s to continue the legacy. It’s a whirlwind tour of how Black education evolved from fighting for access to making sure every future leader gets a seat at the table.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
On today's episode of I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.
I have a question, what was the first HBCU. I
didn't know.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Maybe you didn't. No, I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Maybe I did. No, I didn't know.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Maybe you didn't.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
No, I didn't know.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
I didn't know. I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
If you said Cheney University in eighteen thirty seven, of
course you're correct. It was the Institute for Colored Youth,
the absolute first institution in the United States to provide
higher education specifically for African Americans her perspective. The University
of North Carolina that yat Will Hill was founded in
seventeen eighty nine, almost fifty years and although they didn't

(00:41):
start enrolling students until seventeen ninety five, forty two years,
is a mighty large head start.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
See.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Cheney was founded by a Quaker, a white man, Richard Humphreys,
because he had the bread to do so, which is
why Wilberforce is very significant now, although it was founded
nineteen years after Cheney in eighteen fifty six.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Here's something that I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Wilberforce University is in Wilberforest, Ohio, a town of about
twenty four hundred folks.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Area code there is four five three eight.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Four, and it was named after a white Englishman named
William Wilberforce, who was a notable leader of the movement
to abolished slavery over there in Britain. However, even though
Wilberforce was named after a white man, what makes Wilberforce
special is it was the first HBCU owned and operated

(01:33):
by black folks. The African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
AMEME to be exact.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
So Shangey was founded earlier and began as a vocational
and teacher training institute, whereas Wilberforce was the first HBCU
controlled by black folks with an emphasis on liberal arts education.
Both were very pivotal to the history of HBCUs. Now,
when you ask what's the last HBCU built, if you

(02:02):
said American Baptist College, you'd be correct. Here's something else
that I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. It was
founded in nineteen twenty four as American Baptist Theological Seminary,
and it wasn't recognized as an HBCU by the US
Department of.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Education until twenty thirteen.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
ABC is known as Holy Hell and was founded by
an unprecedented collaboration between the all black National Baptist Convention
USA and the all white Southern Baptist Convention. The goal
was to educate rural black clergy for leadership in their communities.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
See ABC was pommited in the sixties. You'reing the civil
rights movement.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Stop See look, black boys wasn't growing up trying to
go to Yale or Stanford or No.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Look, black boys wanted to go to ABC and learn
how to preach.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
How yes t They wanted to be like doctor King Shabauta.
And ABC got some very notable along too, for nol Lafayette,
who was Dan. You're the founder of the civil rights movement,
Congressman John Lewis active as ct Vivian and.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Civil rights leader James Belvil.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
But when I asked you what was the last HBCU built,
you might have said UVI And that.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Would have been correct too, because it was.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Founded in nineteen sixty two, the University of the Virgin Islands.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
I see it serves a.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Dual role of a land grant university and an HBCU
over in the Virgin Islands. Now, whereas all LGUs land
grant universities and HBCUs are both types.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Of land grant universities.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
HBCUs are extremely underfunded compared to PWILGUS. But that's a
whole other conversation for a whole other episode.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
This was just a little something that I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Maybe you didn't either, about Cheney wilwerd Force, ABC and
UVI I didn't know. Listen up, man, if you love
this series, you can now listen to us every single
week starting in March for all types of things that
I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. Make sure you're
following the show on the I Heart app so that

(04:04):
you can hear more.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Okay, Bye,