The Black Engineering Student Society (BESS) was founded by two black engineering students at Northeastern University, on April 18, 1974, during a discussion at the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute, also known as the “Tute,” while reflecting on how few other black engineering students they knew. Although there were a large number of blacks studying engineering at the university, they were all spread out in the different disciplines of engineering. There was no real way for the majority of them to come together, unless they were in the same classes. In a means to counter the lack of camaraderie and communication amongst black engineers, BESS was created to bring minority-engineering students together in order for them to share their knowledge and experiences. Letters were sent to all the minority-engineering students whose names and addresses were available. In April of 1975, BESS merged to be one of the chartered chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).
In 1971, two Purdue undergraduate engineering students, Edward Barnett and Fred Cooper wanted to start a student organization to help improve the recruitment and retention of black engineering students. With the permission of the dean of engineering, they began the Black Society of Engineers at Purdue University. Barnett served as the first president of the BSE. BSE gained momentum in 1974, with the direction and encouragement of their advisor, Arthur Bond and the active participation of six young men. These young men, Anthony Harris, Brian Harris, Stanley L. Kirtley, John W. Logan Jr., Edward A. Coleman, and George Smith, would become known as the “Chicago Six,” founders of the National Society of Black Engineers, NSBE.
Anthony Harris wrote a letter to the presidents and deans of every accredited engineering program in the country that explained the concept of the Society of Black Engineers and asked them to identified black student leaders, organizations and faculty members who might support their efforts on a national basis. Approximately 80 schools responded. Many had similar Black student organizations with similar objectives. In 1975, the first national conference, 48 students representing 32 schools attended the event. At that first conference, the attendees chose the new organization’s National symbol, wrote a rough draft of the National constitution and divided the organization into six geographical regions. John Carson was elected the first National Chairperson and the name, The National Society of Black Engineers, was officially adopted.
In 1982, the first headquarter site was established in Washington, D.C. Currently, NSBE World Headquarters is located at 205 Dangerfield Road in Alexandria, Virginia and there are over 19,000 members in NSBE to date.