By Maureen Zug

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Region of the American Red Cross celebrates the positive impact students and alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) make in helping ensure a diverse blood supply.

That blood supply supports patients battling sickle cell disease during February, Black History Month, and throughout the year. That’s why the Red Cross decided years ago to reach out and propose a partnership which leverages the strengths and commitments of Black college and university students.

For more than 100 years, HBCUs have been rooted in a tradition of community service to others. Blood drives hosted by HBCUs help ensure that students, alumni and community members have a place to donate blood, while also helping to meet the transfusion needs of black and brown patients.

There are currently 107 HBCUs in the United States; we have three HBCU-designated schools in our region. Let’s take a look:

Cheyney University

On February 25, 1837, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania became the nation’s first Historically Black College and University (HBCU). The University was established through the bequest of Richard Humphreys, a Quaker philanthropist who bequeathed $10,000 — one-tenth of his estate — to design and establish a school to educate free people of African descent.

First known as the African Institute, the school was soon renamed the Institute for Colored Youth. In its early years, it provided training in trades and agriculture, later adding teacher training courses. Other liberal arts and science degree programs were added in the Twentieth Century.

In 1902, the Institute was relocated to George Cheyney’s farm, a 275-acre property just 25 miles west of Philadelphia in Delaware County. The name “Cheyney” became associated with the school in 1913, though the school’s official name changed several times during the 20th century. The school finally became Cheyney University in 1983 and has a current enrollment of 706 students.

Delaware State University

The Delaware College for Colored Students, now known as Delaware State University, was established May 15, 1891, by the Delaware General Assembly under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1890 by which land-grant colleges for Blacks came into existence in states maintaining separate educational facilities.

With the appointment of an inaugural six-member Board of Trustees, that governing body used part of the initial $8,000 state appropriation to purchase a 95-acre property north of the state capital of Dover to establish the new college.

Because there was already a private Delaware College (now the University of Delaware) located in Newark, Delaware, to avoid confusion new state legislation was passed and enacted in early 1893 to change the Black school’s name to the State College for Colored Students. That would be the institution’s name for the next 54 years.

Initially, Delaware State University had a strong emphasis on the normal school instruction (preparation for school teaching) mechanical arts, domestic science, and agricultural studies. As the Twentieth Century progressed, the university added more academic subjects and researched-based disciplines for which it is known today.

In 1993, Delaware Governor Tom Carper changed the name of the institution from its former name to Delaware State University. Currently, there are 6,218 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs at the three DSU campuses: Dover (main campus), Georgetown and Wilmington.

Lincoln University

Lincoln University is located in southern Chester County, four miles north of Oxford, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1854, the university is the oldest existing Black institution of higher learning (degree-granting) in the United States.

Although Cheyney University was founded prior to the establishment of Lincoln U, it was not initially a degree-granting institution. To this day, the two universities banter about which school claims the honor of being the oldest school in the United States.

The university was founded by John Miller Dickey, a white senior pastor of the Oxford Presbyterian Church. Before founding Lincoln University, Dickey had been involved in anti-slavery activities and was concerned for the welfare of African Americans.

In 1850, he contributed decisively to the liberation of two sisters, Rachel and Elizabeth Parker, who had been kidnapped in Oxford for sale into slavery. Dickey also supported the American Colonization Society and felt that emancipated Africans should return to the African continent as missionaries.

In 1852, Dickey made unsuccessful attempts to place James Ralston Amos, an African American and the treasurer of the fund for the “Negro Church” building established by Richard Allen in 1794, into Princeton University Seminary and also at a religious academy managed by the Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia.

Frustrated by a failed effort to secure admission for a Black student in a white institution, Dickey sought a solution in establishing an institution for Black men.

The institution Dickey established was originally chartered by the state of Pennsylvania as Ashmun Institute, named in honor of the first governor of Liberia. After the Civil War and in recognition of the role that President Abraham Lincoln played in the emancipation of the enslaved, Ashmun Institute was renamed Lincoln University. The educational curriculum was originally conceived to include not only all aspects of liberal arts but also law, medicine and theology. Financial problems and declining enrollment,

however, necessitated the closing of the seminary as well as the schools of law and medicine. The university’s charters of 1854 and 1866 restricted admission to male students.

However, in 1953, the university amended its charter to permit coeducation. In 1972, Lincoln University became a state-related institution within Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth System of Higher Education and was placed on the same basis for state aid as Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania State University. Lincoln University has a total population of 2,631 students enrolled.

ARC Provides Leadership Opportunities and Scholarships

Student leaders who plan and organize Red Cross blood drives at HBCUs are eligible for scholarships which support undergraduate students in qualifying majors. This program is known as the HBCU Ambassador Program and receives generous funding support from Delta Airlines. Visit the HBCU Ambassador Program webpage on RedCrossBlood.org to learn more.