After a brief overview of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and their historical development, the authors discuss how these colleges and universities were at the vanguard in terms of both access to higher education and diversity, long before these ideas were embraced by the academic mainstream. Despite a long history of underfunding, inadequate resources, and lower faculty salaries, HBCUs remain major contributors to higher education in the United States. The nation's higher education institutions might do well to emulate HBCUs by adopting principles and practices that meet students where they are, first, and then provide them with the spectrum of skills that will enable them to remain successful during and after college.