Academic Historian

Tyina Steptoe is an assistant professor in the History Department at the University of Arizona.  Her previous position was as assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. She attended the University of Texas at Austin as an undergraduate, and earned an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A historian of African-American culture and society, her current research focuses on black and Creole migration to Houston, Texas, in the twentieth century. Her work has been published in The Oxford American, Montana: the Magazine of Western History, and the compilation, The Presence of Others: Voices and Images That Call for Response (5th edition).

Fisk University (1866- )

One of the first U.S. institutions to offer a liberal arts education to former slaves in the post-Civil War South, Fisk opened its doors in Nashville, Tennessee, just nine months after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen’s Bureau … Read MoreFisk University (1866- )

Bennett College (1873- )

Bennett College opened in 1873 when seventy African American women and men began gathering for primary and secondary studies in the basement of Warnersville Methodist Episcopal Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. White northern philanthropists contributed tremendously to the school, including Albion Tourgee, a Radical Republican … Read MoreBennett College (1873- )

Spelman College (1881- )

Spelman College, a historically black, liberal arts college for women, opened in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1881. The previous year, a fledgling New England organization called the Women’s American Baptist Home Mission Society secured funds for a college for freedwomen in the city. Approximately one hundred … Read MoreSpelman College (1881- )

Morehouse College (1867- )

A private, historically-black college for men, Morehouse College opened in 1867 to train former slaves to be Protestant ministers and educators. Today, Morehouse is one of five colleges in the Atlanta University Center, a complex that has included Morehouse’s sister school, Spelman College, as well … Read MoreMorehouse College (1867- )

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (1858-1964)

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was a writer, teacher, and activist who championed education for African Americans and women. Born into bondage in 1858 in Raleigh, North Carolina, she was the daughter of an enslaved woman, Hannah Stanley, and her owner, George Washington Haywood. In 1867, … Read MoreAnna Julia Haywood Cooper (1858-1964)

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)

Mary Church Terrell, a writer, suffragist, educator, and activist, co-founded the National Association of Colored Women and served as the organization’s first president. Known as “Mollie” to her family, Church, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee on September 23, 1863, lived a life of privilege … Read MoreMary Church Terrell (1863-1954)