People, Locations, Episodes

Charles Turner, Zoologist, and Inventor born

*On this date in 1867, Charles Turner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was an African American zoologist and inventor.

Alabama State University Begins Classes

*On this date, in 1867, Alabama State University (ALASU) was founded.  They are a public Historically Black University (HBCU).   Founded in Montgomery, Alabama, ASU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.   ALASU began as the Lincoln Normal School of Marion in Marion, Ala. In December 1873, the State Board accepted the transfer of title to the school after a legislative act was […]

Morehouse College is Founded

*On this date we celebrate the founding of Morehouse College in 1867. This is a private institution for men, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Morehouse College is a member of the 39 United Negro College Fund lists of higher learning institutions.

Johnson C. Smith University is Founded

*On this date in 1867, Johnson C. Smith University was founded. It is one of over 100 historically Black colleges and universities in America.

Howard High School (Wilmington, Delaware) is Founded

The founding of Howard High School in Wilmington, Delaware in 1867 is celebrated on this date.

For more than a century this historic institution played a central role in educating the Black Community of Wilmington, Delaware. The Society for the Improvement of Morals of the People of African Descent was active in its beginning. The school was named for General Oliver Otis Howard, who worked with the Freedmen’s Bureau. Edwina B. Kruse served as Howard’s first principal between 1871 and 1922. From 1902 to 1920, Alice Dunbar Nelson was a teacher and administrator there.

The Howland Chapel School (Virginia) Opens

*The Howland Chapel School was opened on this date in 1867.  This historic school was for Black students near Heathsville, Northumberland County, Virginia. The building is a rare, little-altered Reconstruction-era schoolhouse built to serve the children of former slaves. The building’s construction was funded by New York educator, reformer, and philanthropist Emily Howland, for whom it is named. […]

Emma Hackley, Music Educator born

On this date in 1867, Emma Azalia Smith Hackley was born. She was an African American classical singer, social worker, writer, philanthropist, and activist who championed the use of the Black spiritual among her own people as a tool for social change.

Emma Smith was born in Murfreesboro, TN, the daughter of Henry and Corilla Smith, a blacksmith and a schoolteacher. Corilla Smith had established a school to teach freed black people and their children, but white hostility drove the family out and they moved to Detroit.

St. Augustine’s College (Raleigh, North Carolina) is Founded

The founding of St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, N.C., in 1867 is celebrated on this date. It is One of over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in America.

Fayetteville State University, North Carolina, is Founded

The founding of Fayetteville State University (FSU) in North Carolina in 1867 is celebrated on this date. It is one of over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in America.

Robert Russa Moton, Lawyer, and Educator born

This date marks the birth of Robert Russa Moton in 1867. He was an African American educator, lawyer, and successor to Booker T. Washington as president of Tuskegee Institute.

Born in Amelia County, Virginia, on August 26, Robert Moton enrolled in the Hampton Institute in 1885. After his junior year, he taught and obtained a license to practice law, then returned to Hampton and finished his senior year. In 1900, Moton was elected president of the National Negro Business League and was reelected for the next 20 years.

Chicago State University Opens

*Chicago State University began conducting classes on this date in 1867. CSU is one of over 100 Historically Black colleges and Universities in America.

They opened their doors as a teacher training school in a leaky railroad freight car in Blue Island, Illinois. Today the university is a fully accredited public, urban institution located on 161-picturesque acres in a residential community on the Southside of Chicago. During its first year, CSU enrolled 62 students. The current student enrollment is nearly 7,200. The path from then until now has been marked by much change.

The Brooklyn Colored School, (Oakland, CA) Opens

*The Brooklyn Colored School opening is celebrated on this date in 1867.  This school served Black children from the town of Brooklyn and Oakland, CA, from 1867 to 1871.   Located at 1008 10th Avenue, Miss Mary J. Sanderson Grases was the first teacher.  She was an excellent and kind instructor who continued to teach at the […]

James E. Campbell, Writer, and Educator born

James Edwin Campbell’s birth in 1867 is celebrated on this date. He was an African American poet, editor, short story writer, and educator.

Born and raised in Pomeroy, Ohio, he was a forerunner and friend of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Two of Campbell’s writings were “Driftings and Gleanings,” 1887, and “Echoes from the Cabin and Elsewhere,” 1895. Campbell was also president of West Virginia Colored Institute (now West Virginia State College).

James Campbell died in his hometown in 1896.

The Beach Institute Begins Classes

*The Beach Institute is celebrated on this date in 1867. This was a 19th-century school to educate newly freed blacks in Savannah, Georgia.  Built by the Freedmen’s Bureau two years later and primarily funded by the American Missionary Association (AMA), named in honor of New Yorker Alfred S. Beach, Editor of Scientific American, who donated […]

Hampton University is Founded

Hampton University was founded on this date in 1868. It is one of 100 Historical Black colleges and Universities in America.