What is the oldest HBCU?

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is known as the oldest HBCU. According to the institution's website, Cheyney University was founded in 1837 by Richard Humphreys, a Quaker philanthropist. Humphreys gave $10,000 to design and establish a school to educate people of African descent.

There are 100 HBCUs across the country, with locations that include Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas and Virginia. HBCUs are defined by Congress as "any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans." Nearly 20 percent of the undergraduate degrees earned by African-Americans are obtained at an HBCU.