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  • CAREER COLUMN

The financial shackling of historically Black universities in the United States

Evolutionary biologist Joseph L. Graves Jr argues that — now more than ever — the United States should honour its commitments to Black higher education to diversify the science workforce.
By
  1. Joseph L. Graves Jr

    1. Joseph L. Graves Jr is an evolutionary biologist at the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.

Throughout the twentieth century and beyond, the record of colleges and universities set up to provide higher-education opportunities for Black students in the United States could be viewed as one of failure. Their mission was to produce scholars to create economic, social and political freedom for African Americans. But, in the nearly 200 years since the first historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) opened their doors, Black people in the country still have not achieved economic parity with white people.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00481-w

This piece is derived from the a lecture delivered at the ScienceWriters2024 conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, sponsored by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and the National Association of Science Writers.

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged.

References

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  5. Smith, D. A. Nourishing the Nation While Starving: The Underfunding of Black Land-Grant Colleges and Universities (The Century Foundation, 2023).

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  7. Graves, J. L. Jr, Kearney, M., Barabino, G. & Malcom, S. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2117831119 (2022).

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  8. Graves, J. L. Jr A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Explains How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Our Biggest Problems (Basic Books, 2022).

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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