An Historical Reflection
The Unique Relevancy of HBCU Dental Schools Cherae Farmer-Dixon, DDS, MSPH, MBA, FACD, FICD Dean, Meharry Medical College, School of Dentistry
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hought provoking conversations and questions over the years have centered around the importance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), their relevance and necessity for existing. These institutions are as important today as they were at their inception. It has been proven that comfortable students perform better when they make emotional connections that make them feel that they are understood and supported. HBCUs offer students a safe harbor when it is imperative that they feel safe and respected.
HBCUs have and continue to train their students for future careers to be well-equipped, highly educated professionals. These institutions provide formal training and have also created liberation from societal limitations, as well as financial elevation. They have created leaders, improved communities, and served to address and help eliminate health disparities. Howard University and Meharry Medi37
cal College School of Dentistry, both premium HBCUs, are among the best in the country with climates of equity, diversity, and inclusion. They have validated their purpose and relevance as schools that have trained the majority of the African American physicians and dentists in the United States for over a century.
HBCU EVOLUTION With so many institutions of higher learning, the relevance of HBCUs may be questioned. However, historically no institutions of higher learning for African Americans existed. HBCUs were established in the 1800’s for the sole purpose of training African American men and women. They have played a key role in higher education since the days of Reconstruction. HBCU institutions have played a crucial role in transforming how America was to understand and envision what it meant to be black following the Civil War.1 The majority of HBCUs originated from 1865-1900, with the greatest number of HBCUs started in 1867, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation: Alabama State University, Barber-Scotia College, Fayetteville State University, Howard University, Johnson C. Smith University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, Saint Augustine’s University and Talladega College. Over a century later, HBCUs were still being established with J.F. Drake State Technical College (1961), University of the Virgin Islands (1962), Southern University at Shreveport (1967) and Morehouse School of Medicine (1975). Technically, 2021 Volume 88, Number 3
