This journal contains articles reporting on different aspects of black higher education in the United States. A survey of myths about black colleges reveals that black colleges range from the strong to the weak, just as do white colleges, and that they are no more segregated than white colleges. An examination of the history of black education and the present situation of black colleges shows that graduates of black colleges were trained to serve the black community exclusively. Black colleges have continued to take academically unprepared students and turn out graduates able to compete successfully with graduates from white institutions. All this has been without much Federal aid until recently. No significant national commitment to the higher education of blacks existed prior to 1968. The role of black colleges is compensatory in terms of the continuing default of American higher education to be more responsive to the needs of black students. There is a special need to aid blacks so that they can take advantage of opportunities for study in science and engineering, since secondary schools are failing to prepare blacks for this kind of college work. (MC)