The Enduring Influence Of Historically Black Colleges For Women Leaders

You can’t discuss Black culture without talking about Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The Mecca, Aggies, Spelman, Morehouse, the Rattlers, and more have made an indelible impact on our greatest minds. 

Since the 1830s, HBCUs have created academics, lawyers, musicians, doctors, and a plethora of other leaders who have helped propel the Black community forward. Since their inception, they’ve been a means of self-preservation, growth, and growing the future generation. This is especially true for women who were often given opportunities to thrive in these spaces in a world that often doesn’t make that easy. 

For women’s history month, Her Agenda is taking a deeper dive into how HBCUs have impacted some of our brightest stars and their journeys to success. 

Mary McLeod Bethune was a staunch advocate for Black women in the 1930s, even becoming an advisor for President Roosevelt’s Black Cabinet. In 1904, she founded Daytona Literary and Industrial Training Institute for Negro Girls, which eventually became Bethune-Cookman University in 1923. In her last will and testament, she said this about founding the school:

“Despite many crushing burdens and handicaps, I have risen from the cotton fields of South Carolina to found a college, administer it during its years of growth, become a public servant in the government of our country, and a leader of women.” 

Former Vice-President Kamala Harris is a proud Bison, having graduated from Howard in 1986. In a 2020 CNN interview with Dana Bash, she said this about how that time shaped her: 

“It meant that you could do anything, and you didn’t have to be confined by anyone else’s idea of what it means to be Black. You could be a fine art student and also be class president. You could be homecoming queen and be the head of the science club. You could be a member of a sorority and be in student government, and want to go to law school, and it encouraged you to be your full self.” 

Media icon Oprah Winfrey is also an HBCU graduate and a proud Tennessee State University alum. Her path was a bit unconventional, having taken a full-time journalism job and taking 10 years to graduate. She returned in 2023 to give the commencement speech and spoke about her time in school and what she hopes students will take with them. 

“We need audacious thinkers. Use my example. I was one good TSU teacher, Mr. Cox, and one timely phone call away from a career that would absolutely change my life. That story is not just my own. What dream are you one or two steps away from?”

Stacey Abrams has become a political giant for the Democratic Party over the last decade, but before that, she was a student at Spelman College in Atlanta. In 2022, she gave the commencement speech at her alma mater and had this to say about her experience. 

“I learned at Spelman, to learn my lessons, not my losses. Whether it was somebody breaking up with me, me making a mistake in class, me getting the first C I have ever gotten in my life — and I’m still mad about it — but it was also the loss of friends. The loss of opportunity. You are going to face a great deal of loss. But when we focus on not getting, we ignore what we have received.”