THE CRUSH 100 Every HBCU in America — The Schools, People, Programs and Stories to Watch in 2026–2027 CRUSH MAGAZINE | HBCU CULTURE • EDUCATION • SPORTS • BUSINESS • INNOVATION There are more than

THE CRUSH 100

Every HBCU in America — The Schools, People, Programs and Stories to Watch in 2026–2027

CRUSH MAGAZINE | HBCU CULTURE • EDUCATION • SPORTS • BUSINESS • INNOVATION

There are more than 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities across America.

More than 100 histories.

More than 100 campus cultures.

More than 100 communities producing graduates, athletes, entrepreneurs, scientists, teachers, artists, executives and leaders.

But too often, America’s HBCUs enter the national conversation only when something extraordinary—or controversial—happens.

CRUSH Magazine wants to change the rhythm of that coverage.

Welcome to THE CRUSH 100.

This is our evolving national guide to the HBCU institutions, achievements, programs and developments worth watching during the 2026–2027 academic year.

Not a ranking.

Not a popularity contest.

Not another argument about which campus has the best homecoming.

This is a celebration of the entire ecosystem.

ALABAMA

Alabama A&M University

Huntsville, Alabama

WATCH: STEM, engineering, agriculture, athletics and the continued growth of an institution positioned inside one of America’s most important aerospace and technology markets.

Huntsville’s expanding technology economy gives Alabama A&M an increasingly valuable geographic advantage.

Alabama State University

Montgomery, Alabama

WATCH: A new generation of campus leadership.

Students elected Myles Wilson as the university’s 73rd SGA president for the 2026–2027 academic year.

But Alabama State’s significance extends far beyond student government.

The Montgomery institution sits inside one of the most historically important cities in Black America.

History surrounds the campus.

The next question is what ASU’s students will build upon it.

Miles College

Fairfield, Alabama

WATCH: Student leadership, athletics, alumni engagement and the continuing evolution of one of Alabama’s important private HBCUs.

Miles enters another academic year carrying the traditions of an institution founded in 1898.

Oakwood University

Huntsville, Alabama

WATCH: Health sciences, faith-based education, entrepreneurship and opportunities created by Huntsville’s rapidly expanding economy.

Stillman College

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

WATCH: Institutional growth and the next chapter following Stillman’s 150th-anniversary era.

A century and a half is not merely an anniversary.

It is proof of survival.

Talladega College

Talladega, Alabama

WATCH: Football culture returning to campus.

Talladega has moved toward bringing football activity back to campus through a collegiate partnership decades after the institution discontinued its historic program.

For an institution whose football history stretches back more than a century, the development reconnects athletics with institutional memory.

Tuskegee University

Tuskegee, Alabama

WATCH: The inaugural era of women’s soccer and the continued evolution of Tuskegee athletics.

But Tuskegee remains much larger than sports.

Few American universities possess a historical identity as recognizable as Tuskegee.

Booker T. Washington.

George Washington Carver.

The Tuskegee Airmen legacy.

Science.

Agriculture.

Military history.

Black achievement.

Every new generation inherits an enormous name.

The challenge is deciding what to add to it.

ARKANSAS

Arkansas Baptist College

Little Rock, Arkansas

WATCH: Enrollment, athletics, institutional rebuilding and the role of smaller private HBCUs in the modern higher-education marketplace.

Philander Smith University

Little Rock, Arkansas

WATCH: The continued development of the institution’s university era and its next generation of students and alumni.

Its transition from Philander Smith College to Philander Smith University represented more than a name change.

It announced ambition.

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Pine Bluff, Arkansas

WATCH: Agriculture, research, athletics and UAPB’s role as Arkansas’ public HBCU.

DELAWARE

Delaware State University

Dover, Delaware

WATCH: Aviation, research, graduate education and continued institutional expansion.

Delaware State has increasingly demonstrated what happens when an HBCU thinks beyond traditional boundaries.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Howard University

Washington, D.C.

WATCH: Everything.

Howard remains one of the most visible HBCUs in the world.

Medicine.

Law.

Research.

Politics.

Media.

Business.

Culture.

Athletics.

Alumni influence.

Its location in the nation’s capital gives Howard an institutional platform almost impossible to duplicate.

That visibility also means its decisions receive extraordinary scrutiny.

For Howard, leadership means operating underneath a national microscope.

University of the District of Columbia

Washington, D.C.

WATCH: Workforce development, public higher education, urban research and the institution’s unique responsibility as the nation’s capital’s public university.

FLORIDA

Bethune-Cookman University

Daytona Beach, Florida

WATCH: Athletics, band culture, student experience and the continuing legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune.

Few founders loom larger over an institution.

Her presence remains part of Bethune-Cookman’s identity generations later.

Edward Waters University

Jacksonville, Florida

WATCH: Growth.

Jacksonville’s HBCU has entered a new era as a university, while its location places it inside one of the largest cities in the Southeast.

For CRUSH Magazine, Jacksonville also represents an important cultural market connecting Georgia and Florida.

Florida A&M University

Tallahassee, Florida

WATCH: FAMU’s continued national visibility across academics, athletics, culture, band tradition and alumni influence.

There are HBCUs.

And then there are HBCUs whose brands have escaped the boundaries of their campuses.

FAMU belongs in that conversation.

Florida Memorial University

Miami Gardens, Florida

WATCH: Athletics, aviation, entrepreneurship and FMU’s position inside the South Florida economy.

Miami gives the university access to one of America’s most internationally connected metropolitan regions.

That geography matters.

GEORGIA

Georgia possesses one of America’s richest concentrations of HBCUs.

For CRUSH Magazine, it is home territory.

Albany State University

Albany, Georgia

WATCH: Healthcare education, athletics, teacher preparation and Albany State’s continued importance to southwest Georgia.

Clark Atlanta University

Atlanta, Georgia

WATCH: Women’s golf.

Clark Atlanta is adding women’s golf as its 11th NCAA Division II varsity sport beginning in 2026–2027.

The Panthers will compete in the Peach Belt Conference.

That makes this more than another athletic season.

It is the beginning of an entirely new program.

And it gives young women another pathway into a sport where Black athletes have historically been underrepresented.

Fort Valley State University

Fort Valley, Georgia

WATCH: New student leadership and institutional transition.

SGA President Jenniya Sams represents the student voice during an important period for the university.

Fort Valley also remains essential to Georgia’s agricultural and land-grant educational infrastructure.

Interdenominational Theological Center

Atlanta, Georgia

WATCH: The future of theological education and Black religious leadership in a changing America.

Morehouse College

Atlanta, Georgia

WATCH: The next generation of Morehouse leadership.

Christopher Lambry Jr. enters 2026–2027 as SGA president.

Morehouse’s larger story remains one of the most powerful in American higher education:

What happens when an institution deliberately builds generations of Black male leadership?

Every graduating class becomes another answer.

Morehouse School of Medicine

Atlanta, Georgia

WATCH: Health equity, medical research and the continuing effort to increase the number of Black physicians and healthcare leaders.

Morris Brown College

Atlanta, Georgia

WATCH: The comeback.

Morris Brown’s continued existence carries symbolic weight far beyond Atlanta.

Institutions can fall.

Institutions can also fight their way back.

Paine College

Augusta, Georgia

WATCH: A new athletic era.

Former Lady Lions basketball player Andrea G. Riley returned to Paine in July 2026 as director of athletics.

There is something especially powerful about an athlete returning years later to lead the department that once helped shape her.

That is institutional legacy coming full circle.

Savannah State University

Savannah, Georgia

WATCH: Athletics, marine sciences, business, student culture and the continued evolution of Georgia’s oldest public HBCU.

For Orange Crush Magazine, Savannah State occupies an especially important place.

The history of Orange Crush culture cannot be properly discussed without acknowledging the Savannah State student ecosystem from which the tradition emerged.

Savannah State isn’t merely another school on this list.

It is part of the cultural DNA of CRUSH.

Spelman College

Atlanta, Georgia

WATCH: Women’s leadership, STEM, entrepreneurship, arts and the continued global influence of one of America’s best-known women’s colleges.

Spelman demonstrates that an HBCU does not need a football team to build an enormous cultural brand.

Its graduates are the brand.

KENTUCKY

Kentucky State University

Frankfort, Kentucky

WATCH: Women’s triathlon.

Kentucky State begins official NCAA Division II women’s triathlon competition during the fall 2026 season.

The program represents both athletic expansion and opportunity in an emerging collegiate sport.

Sometimes history doesn’t arrive with 50,000 people in a stadium.

Sometimes it starts with the first team.

Simmons College of Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

WATCH: Institutional growth, workforce development and the continuing revival of one of Kentucky’s historic Black educational institutions.

LOUISIANA

Dillard University

New Orleans, Louisiana

WATCH: Academics, health sciences, culture and Dillard’s place within one of America’s most distinctive Black cultural cities.

Grambling State University

Grambling, Louisiana

WATCH: Football, the World Famed Tiger Marching Band, alumni culture and the continued power of the Grambling name.

Grambling represents one of HBCU culture’s great lessons:

A relatively small place can build an enormous identity.

Southern University and A&M College

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

WATCH: The Human Jukebox, athletics, academics, research and the continued power of the Southern University System.

Southern University at New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana

WATCH: Institutional growth and SUNO’s continued role serving New Orleans students.

Southern University at Shreveport

Shreveport, Louisiana

WATCH: Workforce development and accessible pathways into higher education.

Xavier University of Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana

WATCH: Pharmacy, medicine, STEM and student leadership.

Xavier’s reputation for producing Black healthcare and science professionals gives the university an importance much larger than its enrollment.

MARYLAND

Bowie State University

Bowie, Maryland

WATCH: Technology, cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, athletics and growth inside the Washington metropolitan economy.

Coppin State University

Baltimore, Maryland

WATCH: Healthcare, urban education, athletics and Coppin State’s role within Baltimore.

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Princess Anne, Maryland

WATCH: Agriculture, STEM, health professions and research.

Morgan State University

Baltimore, Maryland

WATCH: Research.

Morgan’s continued expansion as a research institution is one of the most consequential HBCU stories of this decade.

The future of HBCUs isn’t merely enrollment.

It is knowledge production.

Patents.

Laboratories.

Doctoral education.

Technology.

Research dollars.

And Morgan intends to compete.

MISSISSIPPI

Alcorn State University

Lorman, Mississippi

WATCH: Agriculture, nursing, athletics and the continuing legacy of America’s oldest public historically Black land-grant institution.

Coahoma Community College

Clarksdale, Mississippi

WATCH: Workforce education and community impact in the Mississippi Delta.

Hinds Community College — Utica

Utica, Mississippi

WATCH: Workforce and STEM investment.

Federal workforce initiatives continue to provide opportunities for HBCU-affiliated programs, including technology-focused training connected with Hinds.

Jackson State University

Jackson, Mississippi

WATCH: Athletics, research, band culture, enrollment and the enormous national visibility JSU has developed during this decade.

The challenge now is converting attention into durable institutional power.

Mississippi Valley State University

Itta Bena, Mississippi

WATCH: Athletics, education and the future of an institution deeply connected to the Mississippi Delta.

Rust College

Holly Springs, Mississippi

WATCH: Institutional growth and the preservation of one of America’s oldest HBCU legacies.

Tougaloo College

Tougaloo, Mississippi

WATCH: Academic excellence, civil-rights legacy and leadership development.

MISSOURI

Harris-Stowe State University

St. Louis, Missouri

WATCH: Teacher education, workforce development and HSSU’s role inside metropolitan St. Louis.

Lincoln University of Missouri

Jefferson City, Missouri

WATCH: Agriculture, research, athletics and the extraordinary history of an institution founded by Black Civil War veterans.

NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina may possess the deepest HBCU ecosystem of any state in America.

Barber-Scotia College

Concord, North Carolina

WATCH: Rebuilding and institutional renewal.

Bennett College

Greensboro, North Carolina

WATCH: Women’s leadership, entrepreneurship and the continuing mission of one of America’s historic colleges for Black women.

Elizabeth City State University

Elizabeth City, North Carolina

WATCH: Aviation, STEM, athletics and continued growth.

Fayetteville State University

Fayetteville, North Carolina

WATCH: Military-connected education, business, nursing and expansion.

Its proximity to one of America’s largest military communities creates opportunities few HBCUs possess.

Johnson C. Smith University

Charlotte, North Carolina

WATCH: Growth inside one of America’s most important banking and business cities.

Location can become institutional leverage.

Charlotte is leverage.

Livingstone College

Salisbury, North Carolina

WATCH: Athletics, student experience and institutional development.

North Carolina A&T State University

Greensboro, North Carolina

WATCH: Engineering, research, agriculture, entrepreneurship and continued national growth.

A&T has become one of the central institutions in any conversation about the future scale of HBCUs.

Aggie Pride is cultural.

But research capacity is power.

North Carolina Central University

Durham, North Carolina

WATCH: Student leadership, law, business, research and athletics.

Haneef Eiermann enters the academic year as SGA president after previously serving as vice president.

Durham’s position within the Research Triangle creates enormous possibilities for NCCU’s next generation.

Saint Augustine’s University

Raleigh, North Carolina

WATCH: Institutional recovery and the continuing fight to preserve a historic HBCU.

Not every important HBCU story is about expansion.

Sometimes survival itself is the story.

Shaw University

Raleigh, North Carolina

WATCH: Institutional development and the legacy of the South’s oldest HBCU.

Winston-Salem State University

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

WATCH: Healthcare, athletics and student leadership.

Ramiyah Summers enters the year as a new-generation student leader after already gaining exposure to state government and legislative advocacy.

OHIO

Central State University

Wilberforce, Ohio

WATCH: Agriculture, research, extension programs and land-grant growth.

Wilberforce University

Wilberforce, Ohio

WATCH: Student leadership and the future of America’s oldest private HBCU.

Wilberforce is more than a university name.

It is a piece of American educational history still operating in real time.

PENNSYLVANIA

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania

Cheyney, Pennsylvania

WATCH: Reinvention.

America’s oldest HBCU carries perhaps the clearest reminder of what preservation means.

A historic institution still has to solve modern problems.

Lincoln University

Lincoln University, Pennsylvania

WATCH: Academics, athletics and the continued influence of an institution whose alumni history reaches across American and international leadership.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Allen University

Columbia, South Carolina

WATCH: Growth, athletics and institutional expansion.

Benedict College

Columbia, South Carolina

WATCH: Athletics, entrepreneurship and continued momentum.

Claflin University

Orangeburg, South Carolina

WATCH: Research, academics and innovation.

Clinton College

Rock Hill, South Carolina

WATCH: Institutional development within the rapidly growing Charlotte-region economy.

Denmark Technical College

Denmark, South Carolina

WATCH: Technical education and workforce development.

Morris College

Sumter, South Carolina

WATCH: Student success and institutional longevity.

South Carolina State University

Orangeburg, South Carolina

WATCH: Engineering, agriculture, athletics, student leadership and the continued influence of South Carolina’s public HBCU.

Voorhees University

Denmark, South Carolina

WATCH: Continued growth following its transition into university status.

TENNESSEE

Fisk University

Nashville, Tennessee

WATCH: Academic legacy, arts, gymnastics and Fisk’s place inside one of America’s fastest-growing cultural cities.

Lane College

Jackson, Tennessee

WATCH: Athletics, student development and institutional growth.

LeMoyne-Owen College

Memphis, Tennessee

WATCH: Business, community engagement and its unique role as Memphis’ HBCU.

Meharry Medical College

Nashville, Tennessee

WATCH: Medicine, dentistry, biomedical research and health equity.

Few HBCUs have a mission with consequences as immediately measurable as Meharry’s.

Doctors save lives.

Training more of them matters.

Tennessee State University

Nashville, Tennessee

WATCH: Research, athletics, enrollment and institutional transformation.

TSU sits at the intersection of HBCU history and one of America’s fastest-growing metropolitan economies.

That creates both opportunity and pressure.

TEXAS

Huston-Tillotson University

Austin, Texas

WATCH: Technology, entrepreneurship and HT’s place inside one of America’s premier innovation economies.

Jarvis Christian University

Hawkins, Texas

WATCH: Institutional expansion following its transition to university status.

Paul Quinn College

Dallas, Texas

WATCH: Urban innovation, entrepreneurship and one of higher education’s most interesting institutional reinvention stories.

Prairie View A&M University

Prairie View, Texas

WATCH: Engineering, research, agriculture, athletics and expansion.

Prairie View occupies an increasingly powerful position within the Texas economy.

Southwestern Christian College

Terrell, Texas

WATCH: Faith-based education and institutional continuity.

Texas College

Tyler, Texas

WATCH: Enrollment, athletics and institutional development.

Texas Southern University

Houston, Texas

WATCH: A potentially transformational campus future.

Texas Southern has outlined a long-range campus vision involving major modernization, including housing, academic and athletic infrastructure.

Houston is already one of America’s largest and most diverse cities.

A stronger TSU could become an even more consequential institution inside it.

Wiley University

Marshall, Texas

WATCH: Debate, academics and the continued legacy of an institution immortalized in American cultural history.

VIRGINIA

Hampton University

Hampton, Virginia

WATCH: Research, business, athletics, media and continued institutional strength.

Norfolk State University

Norfolk, Virginia

WATCH: Research, athletics and continued expansion within the Hampton Roads region.

Virginia State University

Petersburg, Virginia

WATCH: Agriculture, engineering, research and athletics.

Virginia Union University

Richmond, Virginia

WATCH: Athletics, theology, business and VUU’s position within Virginia’s capital city.

Virginia University of Lynchburg

Lynchburg, Virginia

WATCH: Institutional development and preservation.

WEST VIRGINIA

Bluefield State University

Bluefield, West Virginia

WATCH: Athletics, engineering and institutional growth.

West Virginia State University

Institute, West Virginia

WATCH: Research, agriculture, extension and land-grant innovation.

THE STORIES CONNECT THESE CAMPUSES

Read the list again and something becomes obvious.

There is no single HBCU story.

One institution is starting a sports program.

Another is expanding research.

Another is training physicians.

Another is rebuilding.

Another is producing engineers.

Another is preserving 150 years of history.

Another is sitting inside a booming technology city.

Another is fighting simply to remain alive.

That diversity is precisely why HBCU coverage needs to become deeper.

The institutions share a historical classification.

They do not share identical futures.

THE NEXT HBCU ECONOMY

The next decade may present opportunities previous generations couldn’t imagine.

Artificial intelligence.

Cybersecurity.

Quantum computing.

Aerospace.

Healthcare.

Clean energy.

Advanced manufacturing.

Sports business.

Creator economies.

Film.

Music technology.

Entrepreneurship.

Digital media.

HBCUs cannot simply participate in those economies.

They have an opportunity to produce the people who lead them.

In 2026, UNCF launched its HBCU Future Leaders Institute, bringing selected students together for leadership development connected with institutional transformation.

That phrase matters:

future leaders.

Because the ultimate resource produced by an HBCU has never been a building.

It is a person.

CRUSH MAGAZINE IS BUILDING THE DIGITAL YARD

The physical Yard will always matter.

But another Yard now exists.

Google.

YouTube.

Instagram.

TikTok.

Search engines.

Streaming platforms.

Podcasts.

Digital magazines.

Archives.

The internet has become the place where future students discover institutions before ever setting foot on campus.

That means HBCUs need more searchable stories.

More student profiles.

More athletic coverage.

More research coverage.

More alumni stories.

More entrepreneurship.

More photographs.

More historical preservation.

More celebration.

More documentation.

CRUSH Magazine intends to contribute to that ecosystem.

ONE SCHOOL. ONE STORY. THEN ANOTHER.

THE CRUSH 100 isn’t designed to be published once and forgotten.

It should grow throughout the academic year.

When a university launches a program:

Update it.

When an athlete makes history:

Update it.

When a student wins a national award:

Update it.

When researchers make a discovery:

Update it.

When an HBCU receives a major gift:

Update it.

When a president changes:

Update it.

When a band reaches a national stage:

Update it.

When an entrepreneur emerges from a dorm room:

Tell the story.

Over time, one article becomes an archive.

And an archive becomes history.

THIS IS THE CRUSH 100

From Savannah to Atlanta.

From Tallahassee to Washington.

From Houston to Baltimore.

From New Orleans to Nashville.

From Greensboro to Orangeburg.

From the largest public HBCUs to the smallest private institutions fighting to preserve their missions.

Every campus matters.

Every history matters.

Every new generation gets its turn.

The 2026–2027 academic year is beginning.

New presidents are taking office.

Freshmen are arriving.

Athletes are reporting.

Bands are rehearsing.

Researchers are working.

Organizations are recruiting.

Homecomings are coming.

And somewhere on one of these campuses is a student whose name almost nobody knows today.

That student may eventually change the world.

CRUSH Magazine wants to know the name before everybody else does.

CRUSH MAGAZINE

THE DIGITAL YARD OF HBCU CULTURE

Education. Leadership. Music. Sports. Business. Technology. Entertainment. History.

NEXT:

THE HBCU SPORTS EXPANSION

New Teams, New Opportunities and the Black College Athletes Making History in 2026–2027