Howard University
Washington DC
1867
Indigo blue and white were being used as athletic colors at Howard University no later than 1882, but the university’s official academic colors were the national colors of the United States. It is not known when these were adopted.
Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): red/white/blue (1895-1902); blue/white (1904); dark blue/white (1906-1910); blue/white (1911-1935)
Academic hood lists published by the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) in 1927, 1948, and 1972 described Howard University as having a hood lined azure blue with a white chevron. A list compiled by Kevin Sheard in Academic Heraldry in America (1962) described the university’s hood lining as royal blue with a white chevron, and a 1969 IBAC list said that the hood lining was (medium) blue with a white chevron. These sources indicate that the color sample Howard University sent the Intercollegiate Bureau was lighter than the university’s official “indigo blue”.
To avoid duplicating any of the multitude of dark blue and white hood linings already assigned to various colleges and universities, Howard has been reassigned a hood lining that incorporates all three of its academic colors in a pattern that echoes the university seal.