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Happy #BlackHistoryMonth 
! Today, we're joined for a thread by Black Diaspora expert and author of “The Congressional Black Caucus: Fifty Years of Fighting for Equality,” Dr. Sherice Janaye Nelson ( @DrJanaye), who drives home the need for increased funding for #HBCUs:
! Today, we're joined for a thread by Black Diaspora expert and author of “The Congressional Black Caucus: Fifty Years of Fighting for Equality,” Dr. Sherice Janaye Nelson ( @DrJanaye), who drives home the need for increased funding for #HBCUs:
@DrJanaye: The election of VP @KamalaHarris an alumna of @HowardU has highlighted HBCUs for their academic excellence & their contributions to our democracy and society. The large gifts by @mackenziescott, former wife of @JeffBezos, shows that financial support is needed. 1/7
The endowments of all 102 HBCUs combined doesn’t equal that of @RiceUNews which was 20th in the list of college endowments in 2017. Yet, HBCUs confer 25% of all education degrees in the country. 2/7 https://scholars.org/contribution/why-americas-historically-black-colleges-and-universities-deserve-funding-sustain
HBCUs have been historically underfunded as 75% of these schools are in southeastern states that have a history of Black Codes & Jim Crow laws presenting extraordinary barriers for Blacks in higher ed. The underfunding was purposeful asking these schools to do more with less. 3/7
Yet HBCUs have still performed, producing 50% of Black Professors at Predominantly White Institutions: 40% of Black Healthcare workers: 50% of Black Lawyers: 80% of Black Judges: 40% of Black Members of Congress: 60% of Black Engineers & are only 3% of higher Ed institutions. 4/7
The global pandemic has caused a shift in higher Ed & HBCUs are poised to be further disadvantaged. They serve some of the poorest students attending college with more than 45% of their students being Pell Grant eligible. 5/7 https://theseap.org/wp-content/uploads/SS-Policy-Memo-Nelson.pdf
This almost always ensures that students who attend HBCUs will have to sit out a semester due to financial challenges: in turn it affects HBCUs graduation rate as students who don’t attend consecutively are not counted as graduated & these rates tie directly to gov’t funding. 6/7
When reflecting on the societal contributions of Blacks we must consider the proper funding of HBCUs. It is no accident that @ReverendWarnock the 1st Black Senator from Georgia & @staceyabrams the woman responsible for flipping the state attended @Morehouse & @SpelmanCollege. 7/7
