The black collegiate movement began after the American Revolution and gained momentum in the early 19th century, as the United States continued to deal with the issue of slavery. In 1771, Caleb Watts, a mulatto who passed as Native American, was admitted to Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. He graduated four years later and holds the distinction of being the first person of color to earn a bachelor's degree in North America. He is not, however the first African American because his graduation predates the American Revolution. In 1795, John Chavis, a Presbyterian minister and teacher, was admitted to Liberty Hall Academy (predecessor to Washington & Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia. He holds the distinction of being first African American to attend an American college or university, however, there is no record of his receiving a degree.
Private Liberal Arts Enrollments[]
The northeastern states were the first abolish slavery and educate freed blacks. The earliest African Americans to earn a bachelor's degree were
- Alexander Lucius Twilight (Middlebury College, Vermont, 1823)
- Edward P. Jones (Amherst College, Massachusetts, 1826)
- John Brown Russwurm (Bowdoin College, Maine, 1826)
- Edward Mitchell (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, 1828)
- Isaiah G. DeGrasse (Newark College, Delaware, 1836)
- George B. Vashon (Oberlin College, Ohio, 1944)
- Mary Jane Patterson (Oberlin College, Ohio, 1962)
Unrestricted Private Enrollments[]
As the abolitionist movement took hold, religious leaders and private citizens made provisions for the education of free blacks.
- Oberlin College in Ohio was established in 1833, by Presbyterian ministers John Jay Shipherd and Philo Stewart. Having admitted four women in 1837, Oberlin is the oldest coeducational institution in the United States. Seven years later in 1840, the school admitted its first African American, George Vashon, and he earned his bachelors degree four years later.
- Cheyney University in Pennsylvania was established in 1837 by Richard Humphreys, a Quaker who bequeathed one-tenth of his estate to educate blacks and prepare them as teachers. Originally founded as the African Institute, Cheyney is the oldest African-American institution of higher learning; however, it did not award its first bachelor's degrees until 1932.
- Lincoln University in Pennsylvania was established in 1854 by John Miller Dickey, a Presbyterian minister and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson, a Quaker, for the secondary education of African Americans. It was the first degree-granting historically black university. Originally founded as Ashmun Institute, the school was renamed in 1866 after the assassination of President Lincoln.
- Wilberforce University in Ohio was established in 1856 by a collaboration of leaders from the Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans. The university was also the first to have an African American president, AME Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne.
- Howard University in the District of Columbia was established in 1867 by members of the First Congregational Society of Washington, to educate African-American clergymen. With the help of federal funding, the project expanded to include a co-educational liberal arts program for black students.
Public Universities[]
The earliest public universities, the University of Georgia (1785), the University of North Carolina (1789), and the University of Virginia (1819), were located in the Deep South, and did not promote the education of blacks. In the midwest, however, state legislatures authorized the chartering of public institutions, to promote agricultural and technical knowledge among its residents. These schools were prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race as a result of public funding. Some of these earliest public schools included the University of Michigan (1817), Indiana University (1820), and the University of Iowa (1847), the University of Wisconsin (1848), University of Minnesota (1851), Michigan State University (1855), Pennsylvania State University (1855), and the University of Maryland (1856).
At the start of the Civil War, President Lincoln passed the Morrill Act of 1862, which provided federal funding for the establishment of public universities, which would be operated by the states. Under this provision, Indiana State University (1865) was established, as well as the University of Illinois (1868), Purdue University (1869), the University of Nebraska (1869), Ohio State University (1870), the University of California (1919), and many more.
A second Morrill Act was enacted in 1890 to address disparities in admission practices at land-grant universities in the former Confederate states. This act required each state to show that race was not an admissions criterion, or else to designate a separate land-grant institution for persons of color. This legislation gave rise to 19 historically Black land-grant colleges and universities.