Boston City Council Vice President Brian Worrell has called for a hearing to create an HBCU satellite campus in the city to educate more Black students, as it did in the 19th century with the opening of the Abiel Smith School, according to The Boston Herald.
Worrell said in a recent city council meeting that an HBCU presence in the city would provide role models and a tangible pathway to success.
Boston’s Building Bridges HBCU program is a response to the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“There are more than 100 historically Black colleges and universities in the country, with the vast majority of them located in southern states as a response to Jim Crow laws,” according to Worrell’s hearing order.
“The need for more culturally sensitive schools, such as HBCUs, has grown in the past decade based upon current rulings and the actions of the current federal administration,” as stated in the order.
Worrell told the Boston Herald that the Building Bridges program will share more updates in the fall of 2025 while the program works toward attracting an HBCU partner.
Some of the HBCUs in the South: L-R: North Carolina A&T State University; Photo Credit: NCAT, North Carolina Central University; Photo Credit: NCCU, and Fisk University; Courtesy of Urbaanite
Boston Public Schools Chief of Student Support Cory McCarthy noted that bringing an HBCU to Boston would highlight the city’s commitment and dedication to cultivating an educational ecosystem that values, elevates, and develops opportunities for Black students to be successful.
Last year, Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, agreed to operate a satellite campus in San Diego and in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in 2024. After completing state accreditation requirements, California’s first HBCU is expected to open in August 2025.