By Destany Fuller | WeINSPIRE Journalist

IRVING, TX – In 2019, after reflecting on her life and experiences at Morgan State University, Hope Kent realized that a large part of who she’s become has to do with her exposure to HBCU culture. In her own words, she’s HBCU made. This led to her founding HBCUmADe105, an organization that advocates for the awareness, uplifting and unity of the 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States.

Further down the road, Kent teamed up with Isaiah Branton, who attended both Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and Grambling State University. Since then, the two have used their platform to highlight and demonstrate pride for all HBCUs.

A Look Into HBCU Culture

The defining features of historically Black institutions are their richness in culture and history. This culture has been especially highlighted in television programs such as the early 90’s hit show "A Different World" and Beyonce’s 2018 Coachella performance and Netflix film, "Homecoming". Branton shared how they were impacted by the constantly flowing Black culture that HBCUs offer.

“For me, it was a breath of fresh air because I was not around a lot of African Americans in an academic setting prior to going to college,” Branton explained. “I kind of had a little… ‘only African American in the room’ fatigue prior to going to school, and I was able to just kind of breathe in college and really engage in our culture in a more in-depth way… Learning about the history and seeing that majority of the people [who] did major things in the past as far as Civil Rights… were connected to HBCUs I was like ‘Wow, we’ve done a lot.’”

Part of this culture includes things like Greek life, more specifically, the Divine 9. The group encompasses nine historical Black sororities and fraternities, most of which were founded at historically Black institutions and created as spaces for Black individuals to serve their communities. 

Both Kent and Branton are members of Divine 9 organizations. Kent is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated and joined while she was still earning her undergraduate degree. She said this experience was also part of what led her to found HBCUmADe. While Branton is a member of the alumni chapter of  Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated.

Advocacy

The main point for Kent and Branton is advocacy. The extent of this includes advocating for the schools as well as students who may not have all the information they’re looking for. Kent described how social media has been a great channel to communicate and connect with the community despite HBCUmADe not being the biggest organization. 

“We’re not as large as a lot of the other platforms that kind of share the HBCU experience,” Kent acknowledged. “For me, it’s always been about not really being in competition with them, but it’s.. being that [unique] platform right now where a person does feel comfortable enough to reach out… Someone was in [our] DMs and said ‘Listen, my younger sister is attending Morgan State University in the fall; can you tell me about some scholarships that are out there? Can you help me connect?’...  We know we’re doing our part, and that’s our personal success.”

Branton added that a major part of HBCUmADe’s advocacy is reminding people from all backgrounds that HBCUs are viable education options just like any other college or university. 

“HBCUs, they’re not the only option, but they should always be an option,” Branton said. “That’s the main thing that we advocate [for] at HBCUmADe; there are lots of universities and lots of experiences that you can partake in [when] going to college. Always make sure that HBCUs are an option, and that’s not just for African Americans.” 

Branton acknowledged that existence of a population who look down upon HBCUs in comparison to other institutions. He combated that statement by emphasizing the power and impact of all of these schools regardless of size. Another point he made is how non-attendees of HBCUs can still support the institutions even though they’ve never personally been to one.

“If you don’t attend [an HBCU] you can not negate the power and the organizing that happens on HBCU campuses that afforded us to be in the place we are today,” Branton said. “So even if you do not attend, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be a supporter. 

Excellence

While the social parts of HBCUs are exciting and important to the institutions’ history as well, Branton asks for people to ‘dig deeper’ and remember the academic significance that also makes these colleges and universities great.

“Dig deeper,” Branton said. “I’ll meet people all of the time when I wear my FAMU hoodie they’ll [say] ‘Oh! FAMU has a good band,’ dig a little deeper. We also produce pharmacists, we also send people off to medical school, we also have a great law school… You may know about the band, but the same reason why I know that Harvard is a top institution is also the reason why I know that Howard is a top institution.”

Kent said that she hopes people continue to do the work to help uplift and support HBCUs in order to keep them alive and thriving.

“Help us continue to spread awareness about HBCUs,” Kent said. “It’s people who attend HBCUs that sometimes only know about their school. Let’s support them all… give to your school and give to another school too, if you have it, so we can all still be here to support each other.”

To keep up with HBCUmADe105 you can visit them on their Instagram or their Linktree page.

Watch the Full Interview Here