Ensuring all members of our American family have access to higher education is fundamental to our society.  A college degree can help secure a place in the middle class and broaden horizons for people of every background and belief.  For years prior to the Civil War, this promise was withheld from African Americans, and the lack of a structured higher education system often prohibited them from earning their rightful piece of the American dream.  This week, we recognize the sacrifices made by those who fought for the right of all our Nation's students to have equal access to a quality education, and we recommit to carrying their legacy forward by pledging our support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and all who attend them.

Countless champions from every corner of our country banded together to create the first HBCUs  to resolve injustices and enable more people to realize their full talents and abilities. Though the barriers to higher education for African Americans have not been completely broken down, more than 100 HBCUs across our country have educated millions of students.  These institutions help build the foundation for our middle class -- they are places where dreams take flight and where opportunities flourish.  Generations of African Americans have learned and grown at HBCUs, which have made extraordinary contributions to academia and produced some of our Nation's finest thinkers and greatest innovators.

HBCUs are doing their part to help the United States reach our goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020, because roughly half of the students that walk these halls of learning are the first in their families to go to college.