HBCU Trivia
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50 free HBCU trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
43 free HBCU trivia questions with answers. Historically Black colleges and universities have educated a huge share of Black America's leaders, from Martin Luther King Jr. to Kamala Harris, and this quiz covers their history and culture. Expect questions on the oldest HBCU (Cheyney, 1837), the Second Morrill Act, Howard, Spelman and Morehouse, Booker T. Washington and Tuskegee, FAMU's Marching 100, the Divine Nine fraternities and sororities, the SWAC and MEAC, the Bayou Classic, and alumni from Thurgood Marshall to Jerry Rice. Easy questions ask what HBCU stands for and who founded Tuskegee. The hard ones want the number of states that once excluded Black students from land-grant colleges, the family behind Spelman's name and the orator who argued against separate colleges in 1847. It suits a Black History Month event, a classroom or a homecoming quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on HBCUs and individual schools, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does the acronym HBCU stand for?
Historically Black colleges and universities
They were founded to serve African American students before the landmark 1964 legislation.
Q 02An HBCU must have been founded before which landmark 1964 law?
The Civil Rights Act
Most were founded during Reconstruction, after the Civil War.
Q 03Which is the oldest HBCU in the United States?
Cheyney University
Founded as the Institute for Colored Youth in 1837 by Quaker Richard Humphreys.
Q 04In what year was Cheyney, the oldest HBCU, founded?
1837
Its founder, Richard Humphreys, was a Quaker who left $10,000 to educate free people of colour.
Q 05Which 1890 law required segregated Southern states to fund a Black land-grant college?
The Second Morrill Act
Many public HBCUs were founded to satisfy it.
Q 06Roughly how many HBCUs operated in the United States in 2026?
About 107
In 2026 they made up about 3% of the nation's colleges.
Q 07Roughly what share of African American college graduates do HBCUs produce?
Nearly 20%
They also produce about 25% of African American STEM graduates.
Q 08Which HBCU did former Vice President Kamala Harris attend?
Howard University
Howard is in Washington, D.C.'s Shaw neighbourhood.
Q 09In what year was the D.C. HBCU chartered by Congress, home to the Bison?
1867
Howard is the only HBCU with an R1 'very high research activity' classification.
Q 10After the Flexner Report, which two HBCU medical schools survived when the others closed?
Howard and Meharry
Five of the seven Black medical schools were forced to close.
Q 11Which HBCU is a private women's liberal arts school in Atlanta?
Spelman
It was founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary.
Q 12Whose relatives was the Atlanta women's seminary renamed after in 1884?
Laura Spelman Rockefeller's
John D. Rockefeller paid off the school's debt after his wife's family, longtime abolitionists, supported it.
Q 13Which HBCU is a private men's liberal arts school in Atlanta?
Morehouse
Martin Luther King Jr. and Spike Lee both graduated from it.
Who is the most famous graduate of the Atlanta men's HBCU?
Q 21Which Virginia HBCU, founded in 1868, did Tuskegee's founder attend as a student?
Hampton
It was led by former Union general Samuel Chapman Armstrong.
Q 22Who was the 1868 Virginia HBCU's first leader, a former Union general?
Samuel Chapman Armstrong
He shaped a famous pupil's philosophy of industrial education.
Q 23What collective nickname is given to the historically Black Greek-letter organizations?
The Divine Nine
They are overseen by the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
Q 24At which HBCU was the National Pan-Hellenic Council permanently formed in 1930?
Martin Luther King Jr.
Filmmaker Spike Lee is also a Morehouse man.
Q 15Who founded Tuskegee and became its first principal in 1881?
Booker T. Washington
He started classes in a rundown church before buying a former plantation.
Q 16In which state is Tuskegee University?
Alabama
It was founded on July 4, 1881, as a normal school for Black teachers.
Q 17Which HBCU's marching band is nicknamed the Marching 100?
Florida A&M University
FAMU's teams are the Rattlers, and it is the only public HBCU in Florida.
Q 18What are Florida A&M's sports teams called?
The Rattlers
They compete in NCAA Division I.
Q 19Which HBCU is recognised as the first degree-granting HBCU, founded as Ashmun Institute in 1854?
Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)
It was renamed in 1866 after Abraham Lincoln.
Q 20Ashmun Institute was renamed in 1866 after whom?
Abraham Lincoln
It had originally been named Ashmun Institute after reformer Jehudi Ashmun.
Howard University
It brings the Divine Nine organisations under one umbrella.
Q 25Which HBCU conference contests the Celebration Bowl against the MEAC champion?
The SWAC
The two historically Black Division I conferences are the SWAC and MEAC.
Q 26What are the two historically Black NCAA Division I athletic conferences?
The MEAC and the SWAC
Their champions have met in the Celebration Bowl since 2015.
Q 27The Bayou Classic pits Southern University against which school?
Grambling State
It is played the Saturday after Thanksgiving in New Orleans.
Q 28Where is the Bayou Classic usually played?
The Superdome in New Orleans
It moved to Houston only once, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Q 29Where does the SWAC have its headquarters?
Birmingham, Alabama
It is considered the premier HBCU athletic conference.
Q 30Which Supreme Court justice went to Lincoln University and Howard Law?
Thurgood Marshall
He graduated from Lincoln University and Howard Law.