People, Locations, Episodes

Albert Meyzeek, Educator, and Activist born

*Albert Meyzeek was born on this date in 1872. He was a Black educator and activist. Albert Ernest Meyzeek was born in Toledo, Ohio, the son of John E. and Mary (Lott) Meyzeek.  His early childhood years were spent in Toronto, Canada. His father, of Huguenot French ancestry, married Mary Lott, a Black woman in Chatham, Canada, […]

The University of Arkansas Pine-Bluff is Founded

*On this date, in 1873, The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) was founded.  This is a public Historically Black College and University (HBCU).   It is located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and is the second-oldest public institution in Arkansas. UAPB is a member school of the University of Arkansas System and Thurgood Marshall College Fund.  Authorized by the Reconstruction-era legislature as the Branch Normal College and […]

Colored School #8 (St. Louis, Missouri) Opens

Colored School #8’s opening in 1873 is celebrated on this date. This was a school for Blacks and was operated by a Board of Education for Colored Schools.

Charles P. Adams, Educator born

The birth of Charles P. Adams, Sr., in 1873 is marked on this date. He was an African American educator and administrator.

Bennett College is Founded

The founding of Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., Carolina, in 1873 is celebrated on this date. Bennett is one of the over 100 Historical Black College and Universities in America, and one of only two that specifically educate women.

The Gilbert Academy and Agricultural College Opens

*The Gilbert Academy and Agricultural College is celebrated on this date in 1873. Located at Baldwin, Louisiana, it was associated with New Orleans College serving as a preparatory school and feeder to the college and as an agricultural and industrial branch. The story of the institution is unique. It grew out of a movement before […]

Wiley College (Texas) is Founded

The founding of Wiley College in Marshall, TX, in 1873 is celebrated on this date. It is one of over 100 American Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

Arthur Schomburg, Historian born

*Arthur A. Schomburg was born on this date in 1874. He was an African American historian.

Schomburg was from San Juan, Puerto Rico; he attended San Juan’s Institute of Instruction to become a teacher and also studied in the Danish West Indies, doing a great deal of research on Negro literature. Schomburg came to America in 1891 and ten years later moved to New York City, working at a law firm as a researcher. During this time, he actively supported Cuban and Puerto Rican Independence, and served as secretary of Las dos Antillas, an organization working for this cause.

Stillman College is Founded

*The founding of Stillman College of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is affirmed on this date in 1874.  Stillman is a certified United Negro College Fund institution and one of over 100 Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in America.  They began when a group of Presbyterians from Tuscaloosa, headed by the Reverend Doctor Charles Allen Stillman, presented an overture to the […]

Otelia Cromwell, Professor and Scholar born

*Otelia Cromwell was born on this date in 1874. She was a Black scholar and Professor of English Language and Literature. Born in Washington, D.C., Cromwell was the daughter of Lucy McGuinn and John Wesley Cromwell and the eldest of six children. Her mother died when she was 12, leaving her responsible for her five […]

Virginia E. Randolph, Teaching Pioneer born

On this date in 1874, Virginia Estelle Randolph was born. She was an African American educator, social worker, and humanitarian.

Born near Richmond, VA, she was the daughter of former slaves Sarah Elizabeth Carter and Edward Nelson Randolph. The former owner of her mother (a professor at Old Richmond College) witnessed the marriage of her parents and was responsible for naming her and her three brothers and sisters. Virginia grew up during Reconstruction, was a teacher by the time she was 16, and became an internationally known authority on vocational education for Black students.

William J. Hale, Educator born

*William J. Hale was born on this date in 1874. He was a Black educator and administrator. He was from Marion County, Tennessee, the oldest mulatto child in a low-income family of four boys and two girls.  William Jasper Hale held several jobs in various East Tennessee towns during his school days. Hale found substantial employment in […]

Mary Rice Hayes Allen, Education Administrator, born

*Mary Rice Hayes Allen was born on this date in 1875. She was a Black educator and administrator. Mary Rice was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She was the illegitimate daughter of former slave Malinda Rice and a former Confederate general, John R. Jones. She attended Hartshorn Memorial College. In 1895 she married the educator Gregory W. […]

Alabama A&M University is Founded

The founding of the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (A&M) in 1875 is celebrated on this date.

Alabama A&M University is one of over 100 historically Black colleges and universities in America. Alabama A&M of Huntsville is a land-grant university supported by state and federal funds. Its first president, Dr. William Hooper Councill, an ex-slave, established this university. The Huntsville Normal School opened on this date in 1875 with an appropriation of $1,000 per year and an enrollment of 61 pupils and two teachers.

Charles Sumner High School (St. Louis), Opens

Charles Sumner High School’s opening in 1875 is celebrated on this date.

Founded in St. Louis, it was the first such institution for Black students west of the Mississippi. Established at Eleventh and Spruce Streets, it relocated at Fifteenth and Walnut in 1895 and moved to its present location at 4248 Cottage Avenue in 1910. It was the only secondary school for Blacks in St. Louis until 1927, when Vashon High was opened.