Elgin Community College will be hosting their first Historically Black Colleges and Universities fair on Oct. 21.

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities fair will host over twenty colleges and universities. This fair will be held from 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. in the Jobe Lounge of Building B. Students will have an opportunity to learn about many schools and the opportunities that these institutions can provide. Alongside that, students will get information regarding scholarship possibilities through the Discover United Negro College Fund.

“We wanted to educate and expose both college and high school students to all of their educational options, especially because HBCUs cater to a diverse student population and students from a lower socio-economic background,” said Brittany Barber, Student Life Coordinator for Targeted Populations, who helped organize the HBCU fair.

HBCUs started in response to segregation. These schools provided opportunities for African Americans throughout the country who wanted to further their education but could not do so. Around this time, most schools of higher learning did not allow the enrollment of non-white students. Now there are currently one hundred seven historically black institutions in the United States. These historically black institutions still serve to provide opportunities for anyone seeking a form of higher learning.

Because of their title, some students might tend to believe that HBCUs are schools where only African Americans can attend, but that is simply not the case.

“HBCUs are for everyone. One in five students at an HBCU is non-black so these are not institutions that now, or have ever, denied enrollment to anyone because of their race. Their name is indicative of their function, historically black, not only black,” said Barber.

The HBCU fair provides students of all backgrounds a chance to learn about opportunities at these institutions that they might have never considered before.

“We need to expose our African American students to these opportunities and I wish that we could have this kind of experiences for non-African American students as well. To go into these colleges and universities that are different than their backgrounds,” said Professor David Carrillo who attended the historically black institution formerly named Atlanta University but now known as Clark Atlanta University.

Carrillo attended an HBCU school in hopes of gaining insight into the African American community which he felt he knew very little of. He hoped that by exposing himself to a completely different environment than he was used to he would gain insight that would then further help him in his future field of social work.

The HBCU fair will provide students with the opportunity to become more informed about these options. These historically black colleges will soon be able to provide a path for some students to have a similar experience to that of Carrillo in learning more about people of different backgrounds than themselves.