Fighting for Equal Funding for Maryland’s HBCUs

Bill Signing at Bowie State, seated left to right: Senate Pres. Bill Ferguson; Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.; House Speaker Adrienne A. Jonesphotograph by Joe Andrucyk and Tom Nappi, Bowie, Maryland, March 24, 2021.Courtesy Executive Office of the Governor

In 2006, alumni and students from Maryland’s four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)—Morgan State, Coppin State, Bowie State, and University of Maryland Eastern Shore—sued Maryland, accusing the state of underfunding Maryland’s HBCUs while developing duplicative programs at traditionally white schools. In 2021, after years of fight in the courts and mediation, and following the groundswell of activism in 2020, Maryland finally settled. Maryland set aside $577 million to provide scholarships and expand and develop new and existing academic programs at HBCUs.

“There’s no question: There’s a great disparity in the amount of investments made by the state between the Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the traditionally white institutions.” —Earl Richardson