*As Fall semesters begin in America, we celebrate the founding of Storer College on this date in 1865. Storer College was a historically black college (HBCU) located in Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, West Virginia. Initially established as a normal school to train black teachers, it operated until 1955. The school was established after the American Civil War with the help of philanthropic Baptists from […]
learn more*Gregory W. Hayes was born on this date in 1865. He was a Black education administrator and activist. Gregory Willis Hayes was born in Alameda County, Virginia, and graduated from Oberlin College. In 1891, he became the second president of the Virginia Seminary, which he led until he died. His wife, Mary Rice Hayes Allen, […]
learn moreThe founding of Avery Normal Institute in 1865 is celebrated on this date. Located in Charleston, SC, Avery Normal Institute was a nationally recognized African American educational institution that trained young adults in professional careers and leaderships roles for nearly 100 years.
learn more*The Abraham Lincoln School opened on this date in 1865. This school was for freedmen after the American Civil War. It was in New Orleans, LA., on the campus of the University of Louisiana (predecessor to Tulane University). It opened under the supervision of Rev. Thomas W. Conway, an assistant commissioner of the Freedmen Bureau. Attendance was […]
learn more*Talladega College was founded on this date in 1865. It is a private Historically Black College (HBCU) in Talladega, Alabama, and Alabama’s oldest private HBCU. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accredits it. Talladega College’s history began when three former slaves, William Savery, Thomas Tarrant, and Ambrose Headen of Talladega, met at the convention with […]
learn moreOn this date in 1865, Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, a private, coeducational institution, was founded. Shaw is the first Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU) founded in the South, and one of over 100 in the America.
learn moreFisk 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 and were owners of several small farms. They raised and sold Berkshire Hog and Southdown Sheep. Confederate properties were seized due to the American Civil War, […]
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 was established on this date in 1866. The school opened the Freedmen’s Bureau for Black children 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 to feel unwelcome […]
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 moreNora Antonia Gordon was born on this date in 1866. She was an African American teacher and missionary.
She was born in Columbus, GA, and graduated from Spelman Seminary (now Spelman College) in 1888. Antonia attended a missionary school in London before arriving at the Palabala mission in the Congo a year later. Working with Lulu Fleming, she taught classes in the day school and the Sunday school. In 1891, she was transferred to Lukunga mission where she was in charge of the afternoon school and the printing office.
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, physician Halle Tanner, and […]
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:
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