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Lane College is Founded

The founding of Lane College occurred on this date in 1882. Lane College is one of over 100 historically black Colleges and Universities in America.

The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church of America founded Lane as the “C.M.E. High School.” Toward establishing this enterprise as early as 1878, Bishop William H. Miles led the Tennessee Annual Conference, at which the Reverend J.K. Daniels presented a resolution to establish a school. Because of the great yellow fever epidemic of 1878, the idea did not make substantial headway until Bishop Isaac Lane, a former slave, took charge of the Tennessee Conference as presiding bishop.

Lane created workable plans for the founding of the school. On the first day of 1880, largely due to the effort of Daniels, four acres were purchased for $240. The institution began its first session in 1882 as the "C.M.E. High School," with Miss Jennie E. Lane, the founder's daughter, as its first teacher.  The school was chartered under the laws of the state of Tennessee, and its name changed to Lane Institute in 1884. The college department was organized in 1896, and, at that time, the Board of Trustees once again voted to change the name from Lane Institute to Lane College.

In 1936, the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools approved Lane. In 1961, Lane was admitted into full membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

While Lane receives pleasure from the solid advantages of a 116-year tradition of educational progress, the college is more confident in its future than ever before. Under the president's leadership, the faculty and staff have employed a collaborative approach to establishing a revived culture of student-centered, technology-enhanced teaching and learning. This involves viewing students as clients, lifelong learners, and future leaders and faculty as lifelong learning facilitators who use technology as an integral part of the teaching/learning process.