As of 2021, West Virginia's two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Bluefield State and West Virginia State, are the only two in the country that have a majority white student body. Both compete today in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports and receive much less funding than the state's largest public colleges, Marshall University and West Virginia University. Despite such demographic and financial changes in the past fifty years of West Virginia higher education, there is a rich history of African American colleges and high schools in the state, and this is especially true for African American athletic achievement. For example, the Pittsburgh Courier voted Bluefield State in 1927 and 1928 and West Virginia State in 1936 as Black-college national co-champions in football, yet neither college enjoyed much athletic-program success following desegregation. The story of how these two colleges changed from national African American football powerhouses to majority-white universities is...

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