African-American Students at Historically Black Law Schools

New data from the American Bar Association shows, as expected, that the six law schools with the highest percentages of black students are the law schools that are located on the campuses of historically black universities. But what may come as a surprise to many readers is the fact that blacks make up a majority of the student bodies at only two of these six law schools.

Blacks make up nearly three quarters of all students at the Howard University Law School. At Southern University’s law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, blacks are 55.6 percent of the student body. However, at the law schools at Texas Southern University, North Carolina Central University, Florida A&M University, and the University of the District of Columbia, blacks are less than one half the student bodies.

All told, these six law schools enroll 1,484 black students. This is 15.6 percent of all African-American law school students in the United States.

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.