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Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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| Abbreviation | UNCF |
|---|---|
| Founded | April 25, 1944 |
| Founder | Frederick D. Patterson Mary McLeod Bethune |
| Type | Educational |
| Tax ID no. | 13-1624241[1] |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3)[1] |
| Headquarters | 1805 7th Street NW Washington, D.C. 20001 |
| Coordinates | 38°54′51″N 77°01′17″W / 38.9143°N 77.0214°W |
Region served | United States |
| Michael Lomax[2] | |
| Revenue | $350 million (2023)[3] |
| Expenses | $171 million (2023)[3] |
| Endowment | $154 million (2023)[3] |
| Employees | 281[4] (2017) |
| Volunteers | 2,584[4] (2017) |
| Website | uncf |
| Part of a series on ethnic |
| African Americans |
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The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for Black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities. UNCF was incorporated on April 25, 1944, by Frederick D. Patterson (then president of what became Tuskegee University), Mary McLeod Bethune, and others. UNCF is headquartered at 1805 7th Street, NW in Washington, D.C.[5] In 2005, UNCF supported approximately 65,000 students at over 900 colleges and universities with approximately $113 million in grants and scholarships. About 60% of these students are the first in their families to attend college, and 62% have annual family incomes of less than $25,000. UNCF also administers over 450 named scholarships.
UNCF's president and chief executive officer is Michael Lomax. Past presidents of the UNCF included William H. Gray[6] and Vernon Jordan.[7]
Though founded to address funding inequities in education resources for African Americans, UNCF-administered scholarships are open to all ethnicities; the great majority of recipients are still African-American. It provides scholarships to students attending its member colleges as well as to those going elsewhere.[8]
Graduates of UNCF member institutions and scholarships have included many Black people in the fields of business, politics, health care and the arts. Some prominent UNCF alumni include: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader in the civil rights movement; Alexis Herman, former U.S. Secretary of Labor; movie director Spike Lee; actor Samuel L. Jackson; General Chappie James, the U.S. Air Force’s first black four-star general; and Dr. David Satcher, a former U.S. Surgeon General and director of the Centers for Disease Control.[9]
In 1944 William J. Trent, a long-time activist for education for black people, joined with Tuskegee Institute President Frederick D. Patterson and Mary McLeod Bethune to found the UNCF, a nonprofit that united college presidents to raise money collectively through an "appeal to the national conscience". As the first executive director from the organization's start in 1944 until 1964, Trent raised $78 million for historically Black colleges so they could become "strong citadels of learning, carriers of the American dream, seedbeds of social evolution and revolution".[10] In 2008, reflecting shifting attitudes toward the word Negro in its name, the UNCF shifted from using its full name to using only its initials, releasing a new logo with the initials alone and featuring their slogan more prominently.[11][12]
In 2025, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $70 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to support historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).[13] The donation is intended to promote financial stability, capacity building, and long-term sustainability for HBCUs.[14] UNCF announced that the funds would be distributed to address both immediate institutional needs and broader inequities in higher-education funding for historically Black institutions.[14]
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The UNCF has received charitable donations for its scholarship programs. One of the more high-profile donations made was by then-senator and future U.S. President John F. Kennedy who donated the money from the Pulitzer Prize for his book Profiles in Courage to the Fund. Another significant donation was made in 1990 by Walter Annenberg, who donated $50 million to the fund.[15]
Beginning in 1980, singer Lou Rawls began the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars" telethon to benefit the UNCF. The annual event, now known as "An Evening of Stars", consists of stories of successful African-American students who have graduated or benefited from one of the many historically black colleges and universities and who received support from the UNCF. The telethon featured comedy and musical performances from various artists in support of the UNCF's and Rawls' efforts. The event has raised over $200 million in 27 shows for the fund through 2006.[16]
In January 2004, Rawls was honored by the United Negro College Fund for his more than 25 years of charity work with the organization. Instead of Rawls' hosting and performing, he was given the seat of honor and celebrated by his performing colleagues, including Stevie Wonder, The O'Jays, Gerald Levert, Ashanti, and several others. Before his death in January 2006, Rawls' last performance was a taping for the 2006 telethon that honored Wonder, months before entering the hospital after being diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year.[16]
In addition to the telethon, there are a number of other fundraising activities, including the "Walk for Education" held annually in Los Angeles, California, which includes a five kilometer walk/run. In Houston, Texas, the Cypresswood Golf Club hosts an annual golf tournament in April.[17]
In 2014, Koch Industries Inc. and the Charles Koch Foundation made a $25 million grant to UNCF.[18] In protest of the Kochs, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a major labor union, ended its yearly $50,000–60,000 support for UNCF.[19]
In 2015, the Lilly Endowment donated $50 million to UNCF to establish the Career Pathways Initiative (CPI) for HBCUs.[20]
In June 2020, Netflix founder Reed Hastings donated $120 million to the UNCF to be used as scholarship funds for students enrolled at UNCF institutions. His donation was the largest in UNCF history.[21][22]
In 2024, the Lilly Endowment added to its 2015 gift and awarded a $100 million unrestricted grant to UNCF's $1 billion capital campaign.[20]
In 1972, the UNCF adopted as its motto the maxim "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." This maxim has become one of the most widely recognized slogans in advertising history.[23] The motto was notably mangled in a 1989 address to the organization by then–Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle, who stated: "And you take the U.N.C.F. model that what a waste it is to lose one's mind or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."[24] The motto, which has been used in numerous award-winning UNCF ad campaigns, was created by Forest Long, of the advertising agency Young & Rubicam, in partnership with the Ad Council.[25]
A lesser-known slogan the UNCF also uses, in reference to its intended beneficiaries, points out that they're "not asking for a handout, just a hand."[26]
The member HCBUs include (tabular):[27]
AP2025 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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| National | |
| Other | |
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for Black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities. UNCF was incorporated on April 25, 1944, by Frederick D. Patterson (then president of what became Tuskegee University), Mary McLeod Bethune, and others. UNCF is headquartered at 1805 7th Street, NW in Washington, D.C. In 2005, UNCF supported approximately 65,000 students at over 900 colleges and universities with approximately $113 million in grants and scholarships. About 60% of these students are the first in their families to attend college, and 62% have annual family incomes of less than $25,000. UNCF also administers over 450 named scholarships. UNCF's president and chief executive officer is Michael Lomax. Past presidents of the UNCF included William H. Gray and Vernon Jordan.
Philander Smith University (previously Philander Smith College) is a private historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is a founding member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). Philander Smith University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Frederick Douglass Patterson (October 10, 1901 – April 26, 1988) was an American academic administrator, teacher, and university president. He was the president of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University; 1935–1953), and founder of the United Negro College Fund (1944, UNCF). He was a 1987 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, and 1988 recipient of the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, and record producer. Commonly referred to as "the Voice", Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of more than 220 million records worldwide. She is among the most awarded artists of all time. A cultural icon, Houston broke down gender and racial barriers through her artistic achievements, Hollywood crossover, and music videos. Known for her vocal delivery, gospel singing style, crossover appeal, and live performances, she was ranked second on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest singers of all time in 2023. Houston became one of the first black women to appear on the cover of Seventeen after becoming a teen model in 1981. She signed to Arista Records at the age of 19. Her first two studio albums, Whitney Houston (1985) and Whitney (1987), topped the Billboard 200 for 14 and 11 weeks, respectively. The former remains the best-selling debut album by a solo artist, while the latter made her the first woman to debut atop the US and UK charts. Houston took a more urban turn with her third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990), and performed an acclaimed rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXV in 1991. She then starred in the films The Bodyguard (1992), Waiting to Exhale (1995), The Preacher's Wife (1996), Cinderella (1997) and Sparkle (2012), and produced the film franchises The Princess Diaries (2001–2004) and The Cheetah Girls (2003–2006). Soundtracks of The Bodyguard and The Preacher's Wife, respectively, rank as the best-selling soundtrack album and gospel album of all time, with the former winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and topping the Billboard 200 for 20 weeks. Following the success of My Love Is Your Love (1998), Houston's first studio album in eight years, she renewed her contract with Arista Records for $100 million in 2001, one of the largest recording deals of all time. However, her drug use and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown tarnished her "America's Sweetheart" image, overshadowing her next albums, Just Whitney (2002) and One Wish: The Holiday Album (2003). After divorcing Brown, Houston returned to the top of the Billboard 200 with her final album, I Look to You (2009). On February 11, 2012, Houston accidentally drowned in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 54th Annual Grammy Awards and broke Internet and television records. Houston's death was covered internationally along with her memorial service. Houston's first two albums, along with The Bodyguard soundtrack, rank among the best-selling albums of all time and made her the first black artist to score three RIAA diamond-certified albums. "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" and "I Will Always Love You" are among the best-selling singles ever; the latter remains the best-selling single by a woman and has been certified diamond by the RIAA. Houston scored eleven number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains the only artist to have seven consecutive singles top the chart. She has been inducted into multiple halls and walks of fame, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, and the Grammy Hall of Fame (twice). Guinness World Records named Houston the highest-earning posthumous female celebrity. Her assets amounted to $250 million, earned over a 25-year career. Her life and career have been the subject of multiple documentaries and television specials.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker
