Harvard University Honors Its First African American Graduate
Harvard University recently unveiled a portrait of Richard Theodore Greener that will hang in Annenberg Hall along with other luminaries of Harvard's past. Prior to 2005, only two of the university's approximately 750 portraits were of people of color.
University of New Hampshire Film Explores African American History in the State
The Center for the Humanities at the University of New Hampshire has produced a film that explores the university's and the state of New Hampshire's history regarding slavery and racial segregation.
Raised Fists by Black Women at West Point Deemed Not to Be a Political...
A group of 16 Black women students set to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point came under criticism by posting a photograph of the group with raised fists.
Old Dominion University Honors Its First African American Rector
The board of visitors of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, has voted to name the university's new residence hall after Hugo A. Owens, who led the university's board of visitors from 1992 to 1993.
University of Colorado Honors Its First Black Faculty Member and First Black Librarian
The Charles and Mildred Nilon Scholarship will be offered to students who "are committed to advancing educational opportunities in under-resourced schools, especially those that serve African American communities."
An Old African American Cemetery Reveals a History of Racial Disparities in Life Expectancy
Students in a sociology of aging class at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond have been conducting research while participating in a community service project to spruce up an old African American cemetery.
A Tribute to the First African American Woman Graduate of the Yale School of...
Helen Eugenia Hagan was an accomplished concert pianist, composer, and educator who graduated from the Yale School of Music in 1912. She is buried in an unmarked grave in New Haven's Evergreen Cemetery. That is about to change.
University of Louisville Creates an Online Archive of a Civil Rights Era Incident
In 1954, African Americans Andrew and Charlotte Wade bought a new suburban house in an all-White neighborhood. Segregationists used dynamite to blow up the couple’s home.
Clemson University Recognizes Its Ties to Slavery With Historical Markers
Clemson University in South Carolina was built on land that formerly was the Fort Hill Plantation of John B. Calhoun, who served as vice president of the United States under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.
Dixie State University in Utah Debuts a New Mascot
Dixie State University in Utah used to have a Rebel as its mascot and then changed the names of its athletic teams to the Red Storm. Now the university's teams will be known as the Trailblazers and its mascot will be Brooks the Bison.
Online Interactive Map Charts the Spread of Slavery in the United States
Using U.S. Census data from 1790 to 1860, Lincoln Mullen of George Mason University created a map which shows how many slaves there were in each county in the United States at the time. Users can click on any county for the specifics of the particular county.
Washington and Lee University Recognizes Its Ties to Slavery
In 1826, a local landowner bequeathed 84 slaves to what was then Washington College. For at least 30 years the college owned slaves. Recently, a historical marker was unveiled on campus listing the names of all the slaves that were owned by the college.
The First Portrait of a Person of Color in Harvard’s Faculty Room
Peter J. Gomes was pastor of Memorial Church at Harvard University for more than 40 years before his death in 2011. Among the nearly 40 notable figures from Harvard's past whose portraits now hang in the Faculty Room, Gomes is the first person of color among the esteemed group.
Virginia Commonwealth University Completes Oral History Project of Rosenwald School Students
More than 360 Rosenwald Schools were built in Virginia, including 10 in Goochland County. The Goochland County Rosenwald Schools Oral History Project features 19 video interviews with 18 participants who were students at these schools.
Woodrow Wilson’s Name Will Live On at Princeton University
Critics had called for name changes due to Wilson's actions in denying the admission of Black students to Princeton while he served as the educational institution's president and for his resegregation of the federal workforce in Washington, D.C. after he became president of the United States.
Harvard University President Commits to Studying the University’s Ties to Slavery
As a first step, President Faust said that the university is installing a plaque on Wadsworth House on the Harvard campus. The plaque recognizes four enslaved persons who lived and worked in the building for two Harvard presidents during the eighteenth century.
University Project Is Creating a Database of Runaway Slave Advertisements
Researchers at Cornell University, the University of New Orleans, and the University of Alabama are collaborating on a project to digitize as many as 100,000 runaway slave advertisements that appeared in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century newspapers.
University of Wyoming Debuts Online Its Liz Byrd Archival Collection
Liz Byrd was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1926. She earned a bachelor's degree in education from what is now West Virginia State University in 1949. In 1980, she became the first African American to be elected to the Wyoming state legislature.
Emory Acquires Rare First Edition of David Walker’s 1829 Book Appeal
The book was written and published in 1829 by Walker, a self-educated African American merchant. It is one of the earliest known written indictments of the institution of slavery. The first-edition acquired by Emory, one of only six known to exist, was owned and signed by W.E.B. Du Bois.
The Discovery of a Poem Written by Indiana University’s First Black Woman Student
Carrie Parker Taylor, the daughter of former slaves, enrolled at Indiana University in 1898. Taylor dropped out of college after one year, got married, and raised six children. Recently, a poem penned by Taylor in 1915 was discovered.
Oberlin College Acquires a Collection of Papers of Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell was the daughter of former slaves. She was a 1884 graduate of Oberlin College and went on to become an educator, civil rights activist, and a proponent of women's suffrage.
University of Mississippi Adding a New Plaque to Statue of Confederate Soldier
The University of Mississippi is proceeding with plans to add a new plaque explaining the historical context of a statue of a Confederate soldier on the Oxford campus.
Historian Seeks Information on the First Black Applicant to the College of William and...
In 1807, John Wallace De Rozaro, a 20-year-old African American man, sought to take classes at the college. He was born free in Virginia and worked as a gunsmith. The president of the college urged him to work in a local armory instead of pursuing higher education.
Brown University Renovates the Home of African American Artist Edward Mitchell Bannister
The home at 93 Benevolent Street, originally built in 1854 near the Brown University campus, was purchased by the university in 1989. At the time, the house was in disrepair. Now the renovated home will be sold to a member of the Brown University community.
A New Anthology of the Writings of Former Slave Peter Randolph
Katherine Bassard, a professor of English and senior vice provost for faculty affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, is the editor of a new book on the writings of a former slave who became a leading abolitionist and religious figure.
Harvard Law School Seeks to Distance Itself From a Legacy Tied to Slavery
The current seal is modeled after the family crest of Isaac Royall, the son of an Antiguan slave owner. Funds from Royall's estate were used to established Harvard Law School.
Duke University to Further Honor the Black Man Who Designed Much of Its Campus
Duke University has announced that the main quadrangle with the university's initial academic and residential buildings will be named Abele Quad. An African American architect, Julian Francis Abele, designed many of the buildings on the quadrangle.
University of Oregon Receives Collection of Photographs of Famous Black Women
The art museum at the University of Oregon has received a donation of 75 photographs from Pultizer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker's collection "I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America."
Laboratory Used by Edward Bouchet Designated a Historic Site by the American Physical Society
Edward A. Bouchet was the first African American to earn a doctorate from an American university when he received a Ph.D. in physics at Yale University in 1876. The laboratory where he did much of his research has been named the 37th historic site in the history of physics.
Howard University’s Founders Library Designated a “National Treasure”
The university and the National Trust for Historic Preservation will now cooperate in efforts to improve the facility as a 21st-century learning environment while protecting its historical significance.
George Washington Carver Fungi Collection Found at the University of Wisconsin
Recently researchers at the Wisconsin State Herbarium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison came across of 25 specimens of fungi that were collected by George Washington Carver more than a century ago.
Virginia Commonwealth University Acquires Rare Copy of All-Negro Comics No. 1
The 48-page comic book was published in 1947 and features characters such as police detective Ace Harlem and Lion Man, a college-educated scientist and superhero. It was the first comic book written and draw solely by African American writers and artists.
Oregon State University to Digitize Oral Histories of Black Railroad Porters
The archive includes 29 reel-to-reel tapes of interviews conducted by filmmaker Michael Grice that were used as background for his documentary Black Families and the Railroad in Oregon and the Northwest.
Yale Scholar Edits the Earliest-Known Manuscript of an African American Prison Inmate
Austin Reed, an indentured servant who was born free in Rochester, New York, describes his experiences in the 1830s through 1858 in New York's House of Refuge, a juvenile reformatory.
Toni Morisson Delivering the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University
The lecture series was endowed in 1925 with the honoree designated as the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry for the duration of the six-lecture series. Toni Morrison, the Nobel laureate and professor emerita at Princeton University, is this year's honoree.
University to Rename Auditorium That Honored a White Supremacist
The board of trustees of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro has voted to rename Aycock Auditorium on its campus. Charles Brantley Aycock, a former governor of North Carolina, was a staunch segregationist and led efforts to disenfranchise Black voters in the state.
