History of the Black Colleges & Universities

Before the Civil War, the first historical black colleges were established in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The majority of higher learning institutions at the time were predominantly white and excluded or limited African Americans. The Freedmen's Bureau, formed during Reconstruction, played a significant role in establishing over 1,000 black schools and teacher training institutions. This video will explore the origins of prestigious HBCUs, starting with Cheney University, founded in 1837 as the African Institute. It was established by Richard Humphreys, a Quaker philanthropist, to educate people of African descent and prepare them as teachers. Cheney didn't award degrees until 1914 but is recognized as the oldest African American institution of higher learning.

The University of the District of Columbia was established in 1851 as the Normal School for Colored Girls, founded by Myrtilla Miner to educate African American women. Through mergers and consolidations, it became the only public university in Washington D.C. After the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1955, the Minor Teachers College and Wilson's Teachers College (for whites) merged to form the District of Columbia Teachers College. In 1854, Ashman Institute, later renamed Lincoln University, was founded by Presbyterian minister John Miller Dickey and Quaker Sarah Emlen Cresson. It aimed to educate African Americans who lacked opportunities for higher learning. John Dickey, the first president, encouraged students to support the establishment of Liberia as a colony for African Americans. Ashman Institute was renamed Lincoln University in 1866 after Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

Wilberforce University, a private HBCU in Ohio, was founded in 1856 and was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans, affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). It aimed to provide classical education and teacher training for black youth. After facing financial difficulties and closing in 1863 due to the Civil War, the AME Church purchased the institution, with Bishop Daniel Payne becoming its first president. LeMoyne-Owen College, in Memphis, Tennessee, is a private HBCU affiliated with the United Church of Christ. It originated from the LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School, founded in 1862 by the American Missionary Association to educate freed blacks and escaped slaves. The school was rebuilt after being destroyed during the 1866 race riots and later merged with Owen College in 1968 to form LeMoyne-Owen College.

Wayland Seminary, located in Washington D.C., was established in 1865 by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to train African American freedmen for ministry. This initiative was a response to the unlawfulness of teaching slaves to read following the Nat Turner rebellion. Classes began in 1867, and the seminary was named after Francis Wayland, a former president of Brown University and an anti-slavery leader. Maryland's oldest HBCU, Bowie State University, was founded in 1865 by the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of Colored People as a teaching school. It underwent several name changes and relocations, eventually becoming a liberal arts school in 1963 and Bowie State University in 1988.

Atlanta University, founded in 1865 by the American Missionary Association, was the nation's oldest graduate institution serving predominantly African-American students. Clark College, founded in 1869 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, later merged with Atlanta University to form Clark Atlanta University in 1988. Shaw University, established on December 1, 1865, in Raleigh, North Carolina, was the first HBCU in the Southern United States. Founded by Baptist minister Henry Martin Tupper, it provided education to African Americans after the Civil War. Shaw Collegiate Institute became Shaw University in 1875. In 1881, it established the Leonard Medical School, the first four-year medical school in the South to train black doctors and pharmacists.

Fisk University, located in Nashville, Tennessee, was founded in 1866 by leaders of the American Missionary Association as the Fisk Free Colored School for the education of freedmen. Named after General Clinton B. Fisk, it opened classes in 1866 and was the first African American institution to gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, was founded in 1866 by African-American Civil War veterans, primarily from the 62nd Colored Infantry Regiment. It was designated a land-grant university in 1890, focusing on agriculture, mechanics, and teaching. Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi, founded in 1866, is the second oldest private college in the state and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It was chartered by Shaw University in 1870 and renamed Rust University in 1892 to avoid confusion, eventually becoming Rust College in 1915.

Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the Lincoln Normal School of Marion. In 1874, it became America's first state-supported educational institution for blacks, functioning as a teachers' college. The school moved to Montgomery in 1887 and underwent several name changes, eventually becoming Alabama State University in 1969. Fayetteville State University, located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, is the second oldest state-supported school in North Carolina. Its origins trace back to 1865 with the education of Fayetteville’s African-American community. In 1867, schools merged to form the Howard School, which, due to the success of its students, became the State Colored Normal School in 1877, the first state-sponsored institution for the education of African American teachers in the South. It later evolved into Fayetteville State University in 1969.