In January 2024, UNCF's Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute (FDPRI) published "Adult Learner Initiative External Report," which outlined key findings and recommendations from an evaluation of the Adult Learner Initiative. To supplement and extend that work, Ascendium Education Group collaborated with FDPRI and Lumina Foundation to fund this portion of the evaluation, which centers Black, rural learners. Black, rural learners and other institutional actors at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina experience rurality in varied ways. Despite institutional characteristics and geospatial locations that contribute to the unique identities of HBCUs, actors offered nuanced considerations about rurality. Faculty, staff, and students understood rurality in the context of environmental, financial, and social factors in addition to services and programs tailored to rural students. This report engages rural data landscapes, scholarship on rural students, and empirical research about adult learners at HBCUs to explore rurality. Our overall approach is threefold: First, the authors use place-based data categories and nomenclature to situate HBCUs within rural discourses. Second, the authors position institutional and statewide strategic plans as critical documents that help contextualize researchers' and institutional actors' conceptions of rurality. Third, the authors frame HBCU actors' voices about place as essential contextual components for understanding institutional and community cultures and differentiating between HBCU environments.