The Yard - West Virginia State University
West Virginia State University was founded in 1891 as one of 19 land-grant institutions established under the Second Morrill Act, sitting eight miles west of Charleston in Institute, West Virginia. The Yellow Jackets carry black and gold through the Kanawha Valley, and the school has built something over 130 years that most people outside of West Virginia don't fully know. WVSU is one of the most distinctive HBCUs in the country precisely because its history took a path that no other school on this list has traveled.
Shop the West Virginia State collection at DungeonForward for hoodies, sweatshirts, and tees built for Yellow Jackets who wear their school with pride. Every piece was designed with DungeonForward's storytelling-driven approach to HBCU apparel. Students, alumni, and supporters of the Mountain State's HBCU will find their fit here.
WVSU homecoming in the Kanawha Valley brings Yellow Jackets together in a community that has always understood what this school represents. The Marching Swarm, the only corps-style marching band at an HBCU in the country, takes the field at every home game with a different show. Chicago Football Classic, the Palmetto Capital City Classic, and the pride of representing an HBCU that has competed and won in conferences that were not built for it. This collection was built for those moments and for every day when Yellow Jackets want to wear their colors.
Founded in 1891, WVSU voluntarily desegregated in 1954, ahead of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, becoming a model for what integration could look like when a school chose it on its own terms. The university trained Black pilots during World War II who went on to join the Tuskegee Airmen in the European Theater. Earl Lloyd graduated from WVSU in 1950 and became the first African American to play in the NBA, then the first Black assistant coach in the league. The ROTC program has commissioned over 900 officers, produced 15 generals, more than 100 lieutenant colonels, and a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. The Yellow Jackets have been building record of service and excellence in a state that most people don't associate with HBCU history, and that record is long.
DungeonForward is a Black-owned headwear and apparel brand rooted in art, storytelling, and HBCU culture. Every WVSU piece in this collection was designed to honor a university with a story that deserves to be told wider and louder. A portion of every HBCU collection purchase supports HBCU scholarships. Crowns For The Culture means we show up for every school on this list, especially the ones whose contributions to Black American history haven't gotten the recognition they earned.
Crown Yourself. Go Yellow Jackets.