The President of Morris Brown College Says HBCUs Pour Into the Black Middle Class Like No Other

Morris Brown College recently announced that its application for accreditation was approved, which will allow students to receive federal financial aid. Additionally, student degrees will be recognized by other schools and/or employers. Once Morris Brown College receives its accreditation, it will be the only HBCU to gain back its accreditation after have lost it.

We recently spoke with Dr. Kevin James, the president of Morris Brown College, about the school's accreditation, the importance of HBCUs and what support looks like from the federal government.

On why HBCUs are important, Dr. Kevin shares that they continue to pour into the Black community.

Look at the data. 80 percent of Black judges come from HBCUs. Black doctors, Black lawyers, Black dentists, Black pharmacists, Black teachers, Black STEM folk, Vice President-elects of the country. What HBCUs have done for this country, no other institution pours into Black middle class like HBCUs.

If you look at what's going on in the country right now regarding Black people. The racial injustice and all of those kind of things. You are most comfortable as a Black man or Black woman, right now, on the campus of a Historically Black College.

Dr. Kevin James also speaks on the recent support HBCUs have received from mainstream media.

During a pandemic, we've seen a slight increase at some HBCUs regarding their enrollments. You see right now, you have top basketball and football prospects selecting HBCUs over the likes of Duke, North Carolina, University of Georgia and University of Florida. You can already see from a social standpoint, once you start talking about HBCUs, it can catch fire. If you look at the philanthropy that happened this year, during a pandemic, $100M Amazon just gave to HBCU. Netlix, Oprah Winfrey, Robert Smith, it just goes on and on. I'm hoping it's not a fad.

Donors are "very important" to the success of HBCUs.

If we don't support us, why should anyone else? I think the last statistic that I read was "13 percent of graduates of HBCUs give back to their HBCU." We have to change that. The way to look at it is, you need to think about your HBCU the same way you think about your church. When you go to church, you don't go to church and not leave something on the altar. When you come to Homecoming, you leave something on the altar. When you come to Founders Day, leave something on the altar.

Check out the full interview below.