We investigate the effects of 4-year public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) on social mobility of nearby Black and White children. To identify a causal effect, we use the historical fact that many HBCUs began as normal schools to train Black teachers, and we argue that the site selection was similar for insane asylums for Black individuals (as well as all asylums). We find that in recent years Black children from Black normal school counties are 7 percentage points more likely to graduate from college and move up 2 percentiles in the income rankings relative to Black children from control insane asylum counties. We do not see these effects for White children.