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).
learn more*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.
learn more*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 […]
learn more*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 […]
learn moreOn 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.
learn more*On this date, in 1874, Julia Hayden was murdered. She was a seventeen-year-old Black girl set to begin her career as a teacher of young Black children in Tennessee. August was back-to-school time for the kids. It was also when terrorist groups like the White League and Ku Klux Klan would burn schools, whip […]
learn more*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 worked in various East Tennessee towns during his school days. Hale found substantial employment in Dayton and […]
learn more*Emma Clarissa Clement was born on this date in 1874. She was an African American theological educator.
Emma Clarissa Williams was born in Providence, RI. She was a graduate of Livingston College and she later married George C. Clement, Bishop, and AME Zion Church. She was named American Mother-of-the-Year on May 1, 1946, she was the first Black woman so honored. As the granddaughter of a slave, Clement accepted the award “in the name of million of Negroes in the United States and in the name of all mothers.”
learn more*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. […]
learn more*Mary Hayes Allen was born on this date in 1875. She was a Black educator, administrator, and activist. Mary Magdalene Rice was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She was the illegitimate daughter of former slave Malinda Rice and a white former Confederate general, John R. Jones. She attended Hartshorn Memorial College. In 1895, she married educator […]
learn moreThe 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.
learn moreCharles 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.
learn moreMary McLeod Bethune, African American civil rights administrator and educator was born on this date in 1875.
learn more*James Shepard was born on this date in 1875. He was a Black pharmacist, community activist, and educator. James Edward Shepard was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was the son of Rev. Augustus and Harriet Whitted Shepard. Shepard received undergraduate and professional training at Shaw University, graduating in 1894. The following year, he married Annie […]
learn more*Knoxville College opened on this date in 1875. It is a Historically Black liberal arts college (HBCU). Founded by the United Presbyterian Church, it is also a United Negro College Fund member school. Knoxville College is rooted in a mission school established in Knoxville in 1864 to educate the city’s freedmen. In 1875, the […]
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