University of Scranton Recognizes Its First Black Graduate by Renaming a Building in His Honor

L.S.-BrownThe University of Scranton in Pennsylvania has renamed a building on its campus to honor its first African American graduate.

Louis Stanley Brown was born in 1902 in Scranton. At the age of 17 he earned a commercial degree from what was then St. Thomas College, later renamed the University of Scranton. The 1919 yearbook notes that Brown was ambitious and industrious as well as humorous and witty.

Despite his college education, Brown worked as a shoe shiner, coal miner, and for a local trucking company. He died at he age of 62 and his body was laid to rest in the Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton.

University of Scranton President Kevin P. Quinn stated that “the university is proud to dedicate Louis Stanley Brown Hall, which takes a page out of the university’s history books and brings it to new life on campus and in the greater Scranton community. As an African American college graduate in the early 1900s, he serves as an illustration to Jesuit and Catholic education’s longstanding commitment to justice.”

The building, now called Louis Stanley Brown Hall, was built in 1896. The four-story brick structure, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was acquired by the university in 2012. It now houses the university’s Small Business Development Center, the enrollment management division and offices for university advancement operations.

Brown-Hall

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Online Articles That May Be of Interest to JBHE Readers

Each week, JBHE will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. Here are this week’s selections.

Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

In Memoriam: Nikki Giovanni, 1943-2024

Nikki Giovanni was a professor at Virginia Tech for 35 years. She was the author of numerous poetry collections, children's books, and works of nonfiction.

Featured Jobs