United Negro College Fund (UNCF)

Marybeth Gasman

The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is the nation's largest and oldest fundraising organization for African American education. Founded by Frederick D. Patterson in 1944, it continues to provide operating funds and scholarships for 39 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Although the fund's strategy has changed over the years, it continues to provide important support for HBCUs. This entry begins with the historical background around the fund's founding, describes its early years, and then looks at how it responded to the challenges of a postsegregation world. When Patterson became president of Tuskegee Institute in 1935, he quickly realized that his institution—and Black colleges in general—were in the midst of a fundraising crisis. Among the problems Patterson confronted was the state of wealth in the United States. The golden age of fundraising came crashing down in economic ruin and social chaos as the Great Depression followed in the wake of ...

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