Fisk University in Nashville, TN, was founded on this date in 1866.
American prohibitionist Clinton Bowen Fisk, the American Missionary Association of New York, and the Western Freedman’s Aid Commission of Cincinnati established the school as the Fisk School for Freedmen.
Fisk awards bachelor’s and master’s degrees in a wide range of fields. A joint degree in engineering is offered in cooperation with other universities, including Vanderbilt, Florida A&M, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
learn more*Robert Kerlin was born on this date in 1866. He was a white-American minister, author, soldier, and activist. From Harrison County, MO., Robert Thomas Kerlin’s parents were from Kentucky, owners of several small farms. They raised and sold Berkshire Hog and Southdown Sheep. Confederate properties were seized due to the American Civil War, and his […]
learn more*James L. Farmer Sr. was born on this date in1886. He was an African American educator, administrator, minister and historian.
From Kingstree, South Carolina, James Leonard Farmer’s parents, former slaves, were Carolina and Lorena (Wilson) Farmer. The grade school he attended was in Pearson, Ga.; there was no high school for blacks. However Farmer was able to acquire a working scholarship from Mary McCloud Bethune to the Cookman Institute in Daytona Beach, Fla.
learn more*Howard Academy is celebrated on this date in 1866. This was a school for Black children opened by the Freedmen’s Bureau. Located in Ocala, Florida, up until that time, there had been no public and almost no private education for Blacks in Florida; education for slaves was prohibited by law, and free blacks were made […]
learn more*On this date in 1866, the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum is celebrated. This was one of the few American orphanages to be led by and for Blacks. It was on Troy Avenue and Dean Street in Weeksville, New York City. Black Presbyterian minister Henry M. Wilson, black widow Sarah A. Tillman, and white general Oliver Otis […]
learn more*On this date in 1866, Monroe N. Work was born. He was a Black sociologist. Monroe Nathan Work was born to former slaves in Iredell County, North Carolina, and moved in 1867 to Cairo, Illinois, where his father pursued farming. At 23, Work entered Arkansas City High School (Kansas), an integrated high school in Arkansas City, Kansas. He graduated 3rd in his class, and after undergoing […]
learn more*Lewis Baxter Moore was born on this date in 1866. He was a Black educator, minister, and administrator. Born in Huntsville, Alabama, Moore received his B.A. in 1889 and his M.A. in 1893 from Fisk University in Nashville. Lewis Baxter Moore’s first wife was Sadie Elizabeth Tanner, a sister of the artist Henry O. Tanner and the maternal aunt […]
learn more*Lincoln University of Missouri began classes on this date in 1866. One of over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in America, they have a very interesting history.
At the close of the Civil War, soldiers and officers of the 62nd United States Colored Infantry, stationed at Fort McIntosh, Texas, but composed primarily of Missourians, took steps to establish an educational institution in Jefferson City, Missouri, which they named Lincoln Institute. The following stipulations were set for the school:
learn more*On this date in 1866, we celebrate the founding of Shorter College. They are a private, historically black junior college (HBCU) in North Little Rock, Arkansas. It was founded as Bethel Institute by the African Methodist Episcopal Church and offered bachelor’s degrees until 1955. The Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools accredits it. Daisy […]
learn more*D. J. Jordan was born on this date in 1866. He was a Black lawyer, author, politician, educator, historian, and activist. Dock Jackson Jordan was born to Giles and Julia Jordan in Cuthbert, Georgia. Giles Dolphus Jordan was born a slave in 1840 in South Carolina and died in 1898 in Early County, Georgia. […]
learn moreOn this date in 1866, The Colored School in Watsonville, CA, was established.
learn more*James Diggs was born on this date in 1866. He was a Black activist, college president, and pastor. From Upper Marlboro, Maryland, James Robert Lincoln Diggs was the son of John Henry Diggs and Mary Virginia Clark Diggs. Little is known about his childhood or youth. Diggs lived in Washington, D.C., in 1885 when he […]
learn moreOn this date in 1866, Howard University, one of over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)’s in America, was founded.
General Oliver O. Howard established Howard Theological Seminary in an abandoned dance hall, today called Howard University. From its outset, it was nonsectarian and open to people of both sexes and all races..
With a campus covering 89 acres in northwest Washington D.C., more than 11,000 students, including 7,000 undergraduates, are currently enrolled there and 88 per cent are African American.
learn moreRust College, one of the first institutions of higher education in Mississippi was founded on this date in 1866. It is one of over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in America.
Rust College was organized by missionaries from the North who opened a school in Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, where Moses Adams, a local Black preacher, was pastor. The school accepted adults of all ages, as well as children, for instruction in elementary subjects. A year later the first building on the present campus was erected.
learn more*The birth of Elizabeth Carter Brooks is celebrated on this date in 1867. She was a Black educator, social activist, and architect. Elizabeth Carter was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Her mother, Martha Webb, had been a former slave owned by President John Tyler. Webb was involved with the Underground Railroad. Her daughter developed a […]
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