At Greensboro’s HBCUs, Persistence in the Face of Defeat

In the waning hours of Election Day last Tuesday, hundreds of students lined up outside the Deese Ballroom on the campus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University for the student-sponsored election night party. 

The room filled quickly, with students sitting on the floor and in the aisles between tables. Some completed assignments, sneaking brief glances up at the MSNBC show plastered across giant screens. Others talked anxiously to friends, wondering and worrying about the possible results. Clusters of young women clad in pink and green sweatshirts—members of the Alpha Phi chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.—dotted the room. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C., is the nation’s most prominent AKA sister.

“That’s our soror,” one young woman said as Harris flashed on screen. “Of course we’d be here.”

For hours, over free tacos and trivia games, students sat enjoying one another’s company as the stress of the night settled in. When results projected Harris winning a state, a cheer went up. When a state was notched for former president Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, it was met with silence or scattered boos.

Massachusetts. Cheers. 

Iowa. Boos. 

Illinois. More cheers. 

North Carolina. 

Silence. 

As students spoke in hushed whispers, results for Guilford County, home to N.C. A&T, flashed across the screen: 60 percent for Harris, 38 percent for Trump.

“At least we did our job!” a student shouted, drawing laughs. 

Going into last week, Democrats hoped young voters would help secure North Carolina for Harris. Historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, were seen as key to that. 

With legacies of civic engagement and political involvement, HBCUs have long served as political engines for Black voters. Harris’s status as the first Black woman, Asian American, and HBCU alum to be a major political party’s presidential nominee thrust the schools further into the national spotlight.

In the days since Harris’s election loss, much discussion has focused on the failures of Democratic Party turnout. But after spending months organizing their peers to get to the polls, students at North Carolina HBCUs say their efforts weren’t in vain. They successfully managed the massive task of boosting campus civic engagement and political awareness. No matter what comes next, they say, they will remain committed to improving American democracy. 

“The whole purpose of our work was not for Kamala to win, or for Dems to sweep the ballot,” said Kyla Holton, a senior at N.C. A&T and attorney general for the campus student government. “It was to get my community engaged.” 

Building on a Rich History

There are 10 HBCUs in North Carolina, including A&T, the nation’s largest. Opened to assist Black students isolated from higher education due to racism and segregation, these campuses became cradles for Black youth, providing not just an education but havens from the daily indignities of discrimination.

The schools continue to fill that role today. HBCU enrollment across the country has risen significantly in recent years, often the result of Black students seeking refuge after racist incidents at college campuses, national racial justice protests, and, more recently, the end of affirmative action policies. 

The opportunity to attend school with other Black students and a rich history of campus civil rights activism is often what draws students to HBCUs.

“I wanted to meet new people, but there’s also so much history here,” Kaila Coleman, an N.C. A&T senior, told The Thread on election night. 

Voting, HBCU students say, can be an important way of honoring that legacy while also giving students a chance to flex their political power for the first time. 

At Bennett College, one of two all-women HBCUs in the nation, they say, “Bennett Belles are Voting Belles”—a commitment from students to remain civically involved and encourage engagement in their community. On Election Day, students staged the annual march to the polls, reaffirming their right to access the ballot. 

“I think it is important to vote to encourage other students as well,” said Shelby Fogan, a senior at Bennett and president of the campus student government association. “We really wanted to have some camaraderie.” 

A New Wave of Election Activism

Since the start of early voting in North Carolina, The Assembly has spoken with local HBCU students to understand why they wanted to vote and how they were mobilizing their peers.

Students were quick to note their organizations and schools are nonpartisan and did not work in favor of any particular political candidate. But the Harris campaign maintained a strong presence on several of these campuses, including a brunch event in Greensboro timed to coincide with N.C. A&T’s homecoming last month. A Bennett Belle introduced Harris when she spoke at a Greensboro rally in September.  

“I’ve never voted before, but I liked what I was hearing,” said Bennett student Genesis Almodovar, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, especially ontopics like women’s rights and reproductive health. While she acknowledged that her famous soror was in the race, the Bennett senior declined to discuss Harris as a candidate, something encouraged by the national sorority, which as a nonprofit, does not endorse candidates.

It’s a thin line and one that many student organizers at HBCUs have been navigating for most of the election cycle. Rather than the horse race between the parties, students have sought to position their voting efforts above any singular candidate. Instead, they’ve highlighted their efforts to promote civic engagement among their peers. At homecoming tailgates, before step show performances, during election-related events, and on walks between classes, students say that they worked tirelessly to get their peers registered to vote, build awareness of the issues at stake, and get people in line at the polls.

“We wanted to build a 365 effect for civic engagement overall,” said N.C. A&T senior Brandon Daye, who helps the university with student get-out-the-vote efforts and also served as one of the election night party organizers. “This is super intentional.”

These engagement and turnout efforts have taken various forms. Kennedy Shorter, a junior at N.C. A&T, worked with a statewide youth voting organization to coordinate social media outreach on her campus. She also participated in dorm door knocking, an activity where students spoke face-to-face with peers to encourage them to vote.

“It was another way to stay involved on campus,” she said. “To try and engage the unengaged and get people more politically aware about what’s going on.” 

Elsewhere, student organizations like the N.C. A&T NAACP and the Alpha Nu chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. worked to bring candidates to campus to speak in front of students. That included an October town hall that was nearly derailed by the last-minute arrival of GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson. 

Even in the face of such controversies, students said their work was necessary.

“We don’t do programs just to check off a box,” said NAACP president Emily Wilson.  “Everything, everything is intentional. And that’s not just because it’s election season. Even next semester, we’re going to work.” 

Black Students Were a Key Subset of Young Voters

In the run-up to the election, voters between 18 and 25 were viewed as a crucial bloc to flip the state blue. This age group also accounts for the largest share of first-time voters, another critical demographic. North Carolina’s approximately 40,000 HBCU students were seen as a sizable group of voters this election cycle. 

National organizations ramped up their efforts to target HBCU voters in North Carolina this year. They appeared at homecoming celebrations and holding on-campus rallies at schools like North Carolina Central University, Shaw University, and others. North Carolina Democrats held an HBCU get-out-the-vote block party in Greensboro last month. Organizations like WokeVote and Black Voters Matter traveled across the state to boost student turnout at the polls.

HBCU campuses are fertile ground for political organizing That’s why they’re often targeted by gerrymandering and voting restrictions, organizers said.  

“I think it is very encouraging to tap into that energy,” said Daria Dawson, executive director of America Votes, a national organization that coordinates progressive groups.

It will likely be some time before a full breakdown of exactly who voted in North Carolina and how they impacted the results is known, including how young Black voters compared to their older counterparts. So far, exit polling suggests that a majority of Black voters, male and female voted for Harris. But support for Trump did increase in the state, going up 5 percent from 2020. 

‘We Just Have to Really Continue’ 

As the election night event came to a close last Tuesday evening, N.C. A&T students were forced to leave without a clear answer as to who won the presidential contest. By Wednesday morning, it was clear that Trump would take office.

The results were difficult to process at first said Holton, the N.C. A&T student government attorney general. The student government later decided to release a statement offering support for the campus.  

“In this moment, let us lean on each other—our friends, families, and our HBCU community,” the statement read. “As we enter this new chapter, remember that we must challenge decisions, increase our involvement in governance, and hold both leaders and ourselves accountable.” 

Holton said that the statement gave people space to grieve the results if they needed to. But in the days ahead, she hopes students will return to the work of improving their communities and the world around them.

“It’s so easy to just be frustrated,” she said. “But it’s a perfect time to look back at what our ancestors did and see how hard they worked. They didn’t give up, and we just have to really continue with that momentum.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Vice President Kamala Harris held a campaign event at N.C. A&T. It was in fact an offsite breakfast with no connection to the university.