Tougaloo College is one of the United States’ premier historically black colleges and universities. The American Missionary Association (AMA) founded Tougaloo in 1869. Early in that year the AMA had commissioned Allen P. Huggins, a former Union officer, to look for land for a normal-agricultural … Read MoreTougaloo College (1869- )
John Willis Menard, abolitionist, author, journalist and politician, was born in 1838 in Kaskaskia, Illinois, to French Creole parents. He was the first African American elected to Congress, but was not seated after a dispute over the election results. Menard attended Iberia College, an abolitionist … Read MoreJohn Willis Menard (1838-1893)
With approximately 12,000 graduate and undergraduate students, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, is today, the largest Historically Black College and University (HCBU) by enrollment. Its founding dates back to the 1890s with the passage of the Morrill Act of … Read MoreNorth Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (1891- )
Talladega College was founded in 1867, and is Alabama’s oldest private historically black liberal arts college. Located on 50 acres in the city of Talladega, Alabama, the wooded campus sits on a plateau about 700 feet above a valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Talladega … Read MoreTalladega College (1867- )
Preamble: Whereas the subscribers, women of color of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, actuated by a natural feeling for the welfare of our friends, have thought fit to associate for the diffusion of knowledge, the suppression of vice and immorality, and for cherishing such virtues as … Read More(1832) Constitution of the Afric-American Female Intelligence Society of Boston
We the undersigned, females of color, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, being duly convinced of the importance of union and morality, have associated ourselves together for our natural improvement, and to promote the welfare of our color, as far as is consistent with the means … Read More(1832) Constitution of the Female Anti Slavery Society of Salem
Wilberforce University was established near Xenia, Ohio in 1856 as a joint venture between the Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Named after 18th century abolitionist William Wilberforce, it was the first private, historically black university in the United States. It was … Read MoreWilberforce University (1856- )
Tuskegee University, one of the largest historically black universities in the United States, is a private university located in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded by Lewis Adams, a former slave, and George W. Campbell, a former slave owner. Despite having no formal education, Adams could … Read MoreTuskegee University (1881- )
In February 1832, a group of “females of color” in Salem, Massachusetts organized the first women’s antislavery society in the United States. Like most free black antislavery societies, the Salem organization addressed a variety of issues important to free blacks in addition to the campaign … Read MoreFemale Anti-Slavery Society, Salem, Massachusetts (1832-1866)
W.E.B. DuBois once lauded Dantès Bellegarde as the “International Spokesman of Black Folk” for his active career as a Haitian diplomat, historian, and advocate for the ending of United States’ occupation of Haiti. Louis-Dantès Bellegarde was born on May 18, 1877 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He … Read MoreDantès Bellegarde (1877-1966)
