Boston city leaders are making a significant push to bring an HBCU satellite campus to the city for the first time.
At a recent City Council meeting, Council Vice President Brian Worrell called for a public hearing to explore creating an HBCU campus in Boston, the Boston Herald reported.
“An HBCU presence would provide role models for current Black students by showing them a tangible pathway to success,” Worrell said. “Boston led the way in educating Black students in the first half of the 19th century, with the opening of the Abiel Smith School. We need to rediscover that trailblazing spirit.”
Worrell’s proposal is part of the city’s Building Bridges HBCU program, which he described as a direct response to recent national pushback against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
“There are more than 100 historically Black colleges and universities in the country, with the vast majority of them located in southern states as a response to Jim Crow laws,” the council order states. “The need for more culturally sensitive schools, such as HBCUs, has grown in the past decade based upon current rulings and the actions of the current federal administration.”
Despite Boston’s reputation as a hub for higher education—with more than two dozen colleges and universities—the city has never hosted an HBCU.
Worrell highlighted the impact these institutions have nationally: although HBCUs make up just 3% of all universities in the U.S., they produce 40% of Black engineers and Black members of Congress, 50% of Black lawyers and doctors, and 70% of Black dentists.
Cory McCarthy, Chief of Student Support for Boston Public Schools, emphasized the growing demand for an HBCU in Boston. “The appetite for an HBCU has grown immensely within the last five years,” he said. “Bringing an HBCU to Boston would further showcase the city’s commitment to building an educational ecosystem that values, supports, and elevates Black students”.
