r/HBCU

I worked at Howard University and loved many aspects of it. The legacy, the history, and the sense of American Black intellectual tradition genuinely inspired me.

That said, one experience seriously unsettled me. Before an exam, a student began leading a Christian prayer and asked everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes. Most people joined in automatically. One student did not, and I immediately wondered how alienating that moment could feel if you were Muslim, nonreligious, queer, or simply not Christian.

My issue is not that students have their religion. My issue is the expectation of a collective participation while in a university setting (i.e. not a church, or a home, or a community etc but a place where people come to live and learn from ALL backgrounds). A classroom at a secular university should not operate as though Christianity is the default identity of everyone present, and it felt that way to me. I felt weirded out and alienated, not to mention the student who did not pray.

As someone who grew up in the Black church, and endured its harms, moments like that make me nervous about whether there actually is room at Howard for ideological and religious non-conformity because people seemed really into it and I wouldn't want to feel left out or like I had to clash. Had I been a student there, I probably would have spoken up at the risk of costing myself social value. As an employee, I had no clue what my role is.

I still deeply respect Howard’s importance and legacy as an HBCU, especially as someone from Maryland who grew up aware of Black and mixed figures like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. But I do think universities should be careful about maintaining environments that are welcoming to everyone, not just people comfortable with public Christianity.

Curious how other people feel about this, especially students or alumni from HBCUs.

Note: Written with the help of ChatGPT. It said: "Your current draft has a few tonal layers happening at once:

1. sincere admiration for Howard University and Black intellectual legacy
2. discomfort with public prayer in an academic setting
3. fear of social exclusion as a queer/nonbinary leftist person raised in Black Christianity
4. implied criticism of Black communal religiosity itself

The first three can absolutely generate productive discussion. The fourth is what will likely trigger backlash, derailment, or moderation issues."

Hello!

I’m born to two Jamaican immigrants parents who are both black. I didn’t grow up in a predominantly black space and I discovered HBCU’s. While I did my research a lot of Black Americans say that HBCU’s are for Black Americans only and I wanted to be respectful of the culture and history! So I decided to just apply to PWI’s instead to be respectful. Is this ridiculous? I would love to hear some second opinions!

Hello everybody. I’m a current senior who will be attending Xavier University of Louisiana as a Bio: Pre-Med major in the fall and I was pretty excited. I’m here to get real advice because all I’m seeing is fear mongering on TikTok but people I know that actually go there are saying it’s just fine. So I’m here to ask for some unbiased advice. Should I be scared and what so I know before going. People are saying that the school is going to break you down mentally and it’s making me kind of weary and wondering if I made the right decision. My goal is to become and physician and I’m a Plan A or Plan A type of girl. Ideally I would come back here(New York) for medical school hopefully through an early assurance program. I’m pretty young for a senior and I’m coming from New York so that might be another reason why I’m so worried. I guess I’m just coming here for some real raw advice and to ask if you people think I’ve making the right choice.( even if I didn’t I’m already committed so it’s kind of too late…)

As it says in the title I js wanna know if I can? I don’t wanna disrespect no one. I really love the people and the history aspect of a hbcu, everyone is such a vibe and I’ve asked some of my friends that are black and have attended hbcu’s and they’ve said there’s nothing wrong with me attending since they’ve seen other ethnicities there, but I js don’t want to intrude. I want to attend TSU or prairie view a&m like my friends since they’ve said they had great experiences there!

Open to any opinions, preciate it in advance!

I’m currently in my 2nd year of university in Canada (I know😭) and really do not enjoy it. I’m thinking about transferring to FAMU specifically because it’s a HBCU and it seems to be a well rounded school. I literally do not like my university at all, have no sense of belonging, nor do I have relationships with any faculty and I been there since 2023. I haven’t even made one friendship! So totally just not for me. I also don’t really have any interest in other universities in Canada. It seems like a really good school with a good social and school life. FAMU also has a similar program to what I’m in now. I can’t find anything online on transferring to an American university from Canada and what the process is like. Anyone out there with a similar experience or have attended FAMU let me know if you think it’s worth it.

I attended a PWI for my bachelors degree because I could not afford to go out of state and attend a HBCU at the time. now, I am considering going back to school and would love to attend a HBCU this go around. depending on the school and program, this may require me to temporarily relocate. I will be 28 in the fall and I’m wondering what “campus life” looked like for older students? i’m sure my HBCU experience would not be the same as if I attended during my undergrad years but I’d still love to know how the campus culture would be different

For those attending a hbcu please get your schedule before August and verify with the financial aid your package and scholarships. Please do not wait until the month of and I advise parents and incoming freshman and transfers to get familiar with the registrar, administration and all the advisors for set major. Find where your degree plan is and see if your school has a bridge program so you can attend over the summer and knock out some credits early. Have a beautiful school year.

All I’ve done since 2003 was work fast food jobs.

And I decided to not check my email or account yesterday. I went to work hit the gym went to the library even washed my car . I pulled in my driveway at 8 pm and while I was about to eat my soul food I got a bing and what do you know Your boy is about to strike cause I am a rattler Hun 😆😆😆

I just want to say thank you to everyone for the advice I been asking going through this grad school chapter of my life especially the ones who inboxed me.

I want to go to Tuskegee

They did not give me a lot of money

UMES is in state

Almost fully covered

Dislike the location and the school vibe of UMES

Please help