N.C. A&T Alumni Times

A compelling passion for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) started while Travis P. Jackson ’11 attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Since he graduated, he has been on a mission to promote black colleges in a positive light through his company, HBCU Pride Nation.

HBCU Pride Nation is an online platform that promotes the significance, importance and connectivity of HBCU graduates and students.

“In 2010, I attended an HBCU Queens Pageant and a question was posed to a contestant, ‘Are HBCUs still relevant in today’s society?’” said Jackson. “This question immediately sparked a fire in me because you cannot talk about the history of the United States without mentioning the contributions of those attended HBCUs. We are the top producers of engineers, CEOs and educators, and most of our black leaders come from these institutions.”

“So I decided to start HBCU Pride Nation on Twitter during an era when there was an emergence of negative news surrounding black colleges. I started out by shouting HBCUs and one day I posted a shout out to Spelman College, and within four to five hours, I received 400 retweets from Spellman women. That’s when I knew I had tapped into the right movement.”

Since 2011, Jackson has grown his brand’s social media presence to more than 133,000 followers on Instagram, 60,000 on Facebook, 35,000 on Twitter and 7,000 on Linkedin.

“I used social media as a way to connect to HBCU students and alumni by doing HBCUpride wars, sharing historical facts using videos, images and former names of black colleges. This strategy increased the company’s visibility on college campuses and gave us a high following,” said Jackson.

In 2013, HBCU Pride Nation incorporated a successful apparel line that includes t-shirts, sweatsuits and hats. Also, the company in 2017 kicked off the HBCU experience event called, “The Hillman Experience,” that transforms urban high schools into Hillman College from “A Different World.” This initiative has helped 3,000 students become passionate about attending an HBCU and has provided $2 million in student scholarships. At this event, students are admitted into HBCUs on the spot, they experience an HBCU pep rally, witness alumni panel discussions, participate in college fairs, meet black business vendors and connect with community resources.

“I love when parents call me to say thank you for the work we are doing by inspiring their children to go to HBCUs. It reminds me of the sacrifices of my mother, who is my queen, and everything she has done for me to get me through college and teaching me about the power of hard work,” said Jackson. “She is the reason why I do what I do and my goal is to retire my mother one day.”

Jackson has taken the wealth of his social media experience and kick-started his career as a motivational speaker that has allowed him to grace the stages of the U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce and The Sisters Circle.

“It means a lot to me to be a black man doing positive things in the community by helping students attend HBCUs,” Jackson said. “It is key for black students to see positive representations of black men.”

Jackson plans to expand HBCU Pride Nation into bookstores on college campuses, create an app for the company and continue inspiring the masses to attend HBCUs.

To learn more about HBCU Pride Nation, please visit www.hbcuprideshop.net.