Getty Images, alongside the Getty Family and the Philanthropic community, Stand Together, have announced the recipients of the inaugural Getty Images Photo Archive Grant for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

TheGrio reports that North Carolina Central University (NCCU), Jackson State, Claflin University, and Prairie View A&M University received a $500,000 grant to digitize their archival photographic libraries.

Approximately 200,000 archival photos from the selected universities will be digitized as part of the grant to preserve the photographic history of HBCUs. 

Archivists from each HBCU will participate in the photo digitization process with Adnet Global. Adnet Global is a renowned post-production agency specializing in digitization, restoration, and access to analog historical collections.

Cassandra Illidge, VP of Partnerships, Getty Images, explained the partnership between Getty Images, the Getty family, and Stand Together is about educating and preserving history for customers and students.

"It's about education, not only for customers, about the history but also for the students," Illidge said to told theGrio. "Pulling a photo is one thing, but then it's actually taking that photo, scanning it, cleaning it up, and making it commercially viable for licensing. That's where we work with the schools, but also we apply all that material based on the schools' recommendations."

Each HBCU will also retain all copyrights for their photographs. All revenue generated from the images will go back into impact programs at the institutions. Grant recipients will receive 50% of the revenue. In comparison, 30% will be used as financial donations to scholarship funds at the HBCUs, and the remaining 20% will be reinvested to fund the Getty Images Photo Archive Grants for HBCUs each year that follows.

In a statement released by North Carolina Central University, Johnson O. Akinleye, Ph.D., Chancellor of NCCU, said that with the generous investment from Getty Images, NCCU would have access to innovative ways to share the story of the university. 

"North Carolina Central University's rich history, vibrant culture, and steady growth over the past 111 years have been captured through images. The generous investment by Getty Images will offer new, technologically enhanced, and advanced ways in which we, as a leading Historically Black University, can further tell our story," Akinleye said. "A strategic partnership with the world's largest visual storytelling and preservation company will strengthen and elevate the importance of digitizing our important photographic collections that document the history of NCCU and other HBCUs that are institutional gems to our nation. The collaboration also trains the next generation of librarians, archivists, and public historians who will work with these priceless collections."

According to Mashable, the first batch of images includes pictures of Jackson State University's campus homecoming queens, student protests following police brutality on campus, and more. The photos capture the joy, tragedy, and everyday life of HBCU students and their communities.

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