A New Life for the Last Remaining Structure of Straight University in New Orleans
In 1871, Straight University bought a home at 1423 North Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans that was used as a boarding house and later a dining hall. The building is the last remaining structure that was once part of Straight University.
Emory University Acquires the Archives of Playwright Douglas Turner Ward
In 1967, Douglas Turner Ward was the co-founder of the Negro Ensemble Company at the St. Mark's Playhouse in New York City. Since its founding the Negro Ensemble Company has produced more than 200 new plays and provided a theatrical home for more than 4,000 cast and crew members.
Emory University Acquires a Collection of Letters Written by Barack Obama in His 20s
Rosemary Magee, director of the Rose Library at Emory University, stated the letters "reveal the search of a young man for meaning and identity. While intimate in a philosophical way, they reflect primarily a college student coming to terms with himself and others."
University of Maryland Eastern Shore Named a National Historic Site by United Methodist Church
The historically Black educational institution in Princess Anne, Maryland is the 536th historical site identified by the United Methodist Church.
University of Virginia Research Expands Knowledge of Former Slaves Who Fought for the Union...
Using military and pension records, researchers have compiled a list of 240 Black men from Albemarle County who served in the Union Army. The men included former slaves and free Blacks.
University of Illinois Acquires the Papers of Poet, Educator, and Publisher Haki Madhubuti
The Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois has acquired the papers of poet Haki Madhubuti and the archives of the Third World Press, the oldest independent Black-owned publisher in the United States.
The University of Virginia Deals With a 1921 Pledge of $1,000 From the KKK
In a statement to the university community, Teresa A. Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia, stated that "we’re going to acknowledge the pledge, and we’re going do so in a way that would be as disagreeable as possible for any remnants of the KKK who may be watching."
University of Virginia School of Medicine Honors an Early Black Graduate
Dr. Vivian Pinn was the only woman and the only African American in the 1967 graduating class. She later served for 20 years as director of the Office for Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health. Now, the medical research building at the University of Virginia has been renamed in her honor.
Harvard Law School Honors Slaves Whose Labor Produced Wealth That Led to the School’s...
Harvard University recently dedicated a plaque in the Harvard Law School plaza to honor the slaves who created the wealth which enabled Isaac Royall Jr. to provide funds for the establishment of the law school in 1817. The Royall family generated wealth from the slave trade and the operation of a sugar plantation in Antigua.
Rutgers University Honors African Americans Who Are Part of Its History
Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey has renamed its College Avenue Apartments to honor Sojourner Truth. The library on the Livingston Campus in Piscataway has been renamed the James Dickson Carr Library after Rutgers’ first African-American graduate.
Duke University Acquires a Collection of Black History Items
The collection showcases Black Americans through advertisements and political campaigns aimed at African Americans from the 1970s through the 1990s.
University of Wisconsin to Investigate Student Ties to the Ku Klux Klan in the...
Rebecca Blank, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, stated that "it is time to take a fresh look at our history to ensure that we fully understand and appropriately acknowledge the activities of members of the campus community."
Arizona State Historian Wins Fellowship to Study African Americans’ Views on World War II
Matthew Delmont, a professor of history and director of the School of Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies at Arizona State University, has received a Guggenheim Fellowship that will allow him to conduct research on how African American viewed World War II at the time the war was being waged.
College of William and Mary Honoring the First Black Students Who Lived on Campus
The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the first Black residential students on campus by creating a mural that will be permanently displayed at the university's Swen Library.
University of Virginia Historian Documents How Black-Owned Land Was Stolen
Dr. Andrew W. Kahrl is conducting research on how tax liens and tax sales became a tool used by predatory land speculators to acquire Black-owned land. Dr. Kahrl discovered that local officials assessed Black property owners at highly inflated rates in an effort to tax them off the land.
Educating Educators on the Civil Rights History of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina's Center for Civil Rights History and Research held the inaugural South Carolina Civil Rights Teacher Initiative this summer.
Honors for the First Black Woman to Receive a Bachelor’s Degree at Vanderbilt University
In 1967 Dorothy J. Phillips became the first African American women to earn an undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. The university has established a fellowship program and an endowed chair in her honor.
In Memoriam: Frederick Isadore Scott, 1927-2017
In 1950, Frederick Scott became the first African American to be awarded an undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Tuskegee University Honors Its First Chaplain, John W. Whittaker, 1860-1936
This past Sunday, Tuskegee University held a chapel service to honor John W. Whittaker, the educational institution's first chaplain. The service was part of the Whittaker family reunion that took place on campus.
University of Mississippi Plans to Be More Upfront With Its Past
The University of Mississippi is commissioning a group of plaques that will explain in historical context why some buildings and structures were named after people who had ties to White supremacy.
Ohio University Chillicothe Honors Joseph Carter Corbin
A native of Chillicothe, Ohio, and a two-time graduate of Ohio University, Joseph Carter Corbin moved to Arkansas in 1872. Three years later he founded the Branch Normal College, which today is the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Missouri Makes Amends to Journalist Denied University Admission in 1939
In 1939, Lucile Bluford, who was a graduate of the University of Kansas and an accomplished journalist, applied to and was accepted at the Missouri School of Journalism. When she arrived on campus she was not permitted to enroll due to the color of her skin.
University of Arkansas’ New Historical Digital Archive Tells the Story of an Early HBCU
The University of Arkansas has debuted a new online archive of materials relating to Southland College in Phillips County, Arkansas. The school was the first institution of higher learning for African Americans in the United States founded west of the Mississippi River.
University of Virginia Unveils the Design for Its Memorial to Enslaved Laborers
The University of Virginia has discovered the names - sometimes only the first names - of nearly 1,000 slaves who worked on campus. The university believes that as many as 5,000 slaves may have labored on university grounds in the 1817-to-1865 period.
Hampton University Scholar Mounts Effort to Digitize Local Historical Documents
Maureen Elgersman Lee, an associate professor at Hampton University in Virginia, is leading a project that encourages African Americans to bring historical letters, documents, and other correspondence to the library where they are scanned and preserved in digital form.
Black World War II-Era Navy Band Honored at the University of North Carolina, Chapel...
The 44 African American men were the first African Americans other than cooks or porters to serve in modern era of the U.S. Navy. They were also the first African Americans to work at the university in occupations that did not involve cooking, cleaning, or laundry work.
University of Georgia to Conduct Further Research on African American Remains Found on Campus
In November 2015, construction workers building an expansion on Baldwin Hall on the campus of the University of Georgia discovered the remains of approximately 105 individuals. The vast majority of the persons buried at the site were determined to have had mothers who were of African heritage.
Georgia Southern University Honors Its First African American Students
In January 1965, John Bradley became the first African American student at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. Six other Black students entered the university in the fall of 1965. Catherine Davis, a sophomore transfer student, was the first African American student to be awarded a degree.
Manuscript of Slave Autobiography to Be Published in Digital Form
Fields Cook was born into slavery on a Virginia plantation in 1817. His “A Scetch of My Own Life by Fields Cook” is one of the few, if only, surviving manuscripts written before the Civil War by a slave still in bondage.
Documenting the African American Experience at Northwestern University
Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, will soon have a permanent exhibition space documenting the lives of Black students, faculty, and alumni at the university. Charla Wilson will join the staff at Northwestern University Libraries as the inaugural Archivist for the Black Experience.
University of Maryland Eastern Shore Scholar to Direct World War I Tribute Band
Dr. Isrea Butler will direct the ensemble which is a recreation of the 369th Regimental Band that was made up of 65 African American and Puerto Rican soldiers that performed in the United States and in Europe during the World War I period a century ago.
Bucknell University Honors its First African American Graduate
Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, recently unveiled a bust of Edward McKnight Brawley, who in 1875 became the first African American to graduate from the university. He went on to serve as president of what is now Selma University in Alabama. Brawley also was president of Morris College in Alabama.
Tufts University Debuts Exhibit From the Gerald Gill Papers Collection
Gerald Gill taught history at Tufts University for 27 years before his death 10 years ago at the age of 59. Professor Gill was the author of "Another Light on the Hill," which documented the history of African Americans at Tufts.
New Community Engagement Awards Honor Early Black Student at Yale
Yale University has announced the first cohort of 20 high school juniors who are the winners of the Bassett Award for Community Engagement. Bassett took classes at Yale in the 1850s and later was the first African American to be named a U.S. diplomat.
University of Cincinnati Researchers Produce a Racial Diversity Map of the Entire Nation
The map shows how the racial makeup of neighborhoods changed between 1990 and 2010. Users can zoom in to focus on a particular state, city, or even neighborhood. The maps are so detailed that information can be found for any 30-square-meter area in the country.
The 19th-Century Black Woman Who Now Has a Building Named After Her at Georgetown
Recently, Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., held a ceremony to name a campus building to honor Anne Marie Becraft, who in 1820 founded a school for Black girls in Washington. At the time she founded the school, Becraft was 15 years old.
