University of Vermont Honors Its First Black Graduate
For many years, it was believed that George Washington Henderson was the first African American graduate of the University of Vermont in 1877. But research has revealed that Andrew Harris, an African American, was one of 24 students in the graduating Class of 1838.
1909 Fisk Jubilee Singers Recording Inducted Into the Grammy Hall of Fame
The Recording Academy has inducted a 1909 recording of the spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” sung by the Fisk University Jubilee Singers into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Scholar to Study African American Convict Labor at Clemson University
African American convicts were used to construct some of Clemson’s earliest buildings. Some of these convicts were former slaves or children of slaves. At least one was as young as 12 years old.
Harvard University Acquires Copy of Unfinished Play by James Baldwin
One of the main characters in the Baldwin play, Peter Davis, is based on Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphone Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard.
Records of 4 Million Former Slaves to Soon Be Available Online
FamilySearch, a nonprofit genealogy organization operated by the Mormon Church, has announced that it will soon make available online the millions of records of former slaves that were collected by the Freedmen's Bureau.
Virginia Colleges and Universities Join Together to Discuss Their Shared Historical Legacies
A new consortium of 12 colleges and universities in Virginia recently held its first meeting to discuss how the educational institutions have dealt with and will deal with the issue of slavery.
Morgan State and West Virginia University Students Team Up for Journalism Project
Students from each school traveled with faculty members to Selma, Alabama, and used photographs, videos, and the written word to tell stories from the city past as well as investigating the community's present and hopes for the future.
Middlebury College Houses a Vast Archive of Abolitionist Letters
The archive contains the letters of four generations of the Robinson family. Rowland Thomas Robinson and Rachel Gilpin Robinson were devout Quakers, who were among the earliest abolitionists in the state of Vermont.
Middlebury College Names New Intercultural Center After Two Early Black Alumni
The new Anderson Freeman Resource Center was named after Mary Annette Anderson, the valedictorian of the Class of 1889 and Martin Henry Freeman of the Class of 1849 who later became president of Liberia College.
A Haunting Photographic Essay on Morris Brown College
The University of Georgia Press has published a striking new book chronicling the troubles of historically Black Morris Brown College in Atlanta.
Emory University Professor Resurrects the History of America’s Great Black Jockey
Pellom McDaniels III, an assistant professor of African American studies, is the author of a biography of Isaac Burns Murphy, one of the greatest jockeys in horse racing history. Largely due to Dr. Daniels' efforts, the City of Lexington, Kentucky, recently held a five-day celebration honoring Murphy.
The Fordham Bronx African American History Project Is Now Available Online
The Fordham Bronx African American History Project includes downloadable audio files and verbatim transcripts of 300 oral history interviews conducted between 2002 and 2013.
University of Kentucky Covers a Mural Showing Slaves in a Tobacco Field
The University of Kentucky has decided to cover up a mural in the atrium of Memorial Hall that shows slaves working in a tobacco field. The mural, which is 38 feet wide and 11 feet tall, will remain covered until the university decides how and where the artwork will be preserved.
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.
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.
City of Philadelphia to Honor Slain Educator and Civil Rights Activist, Octavius Catto
Catto graduated as the valedictorian of the Institute for Colored Youth, which today is Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. He later taught English literature, mathematics and classical languages at the institution. He was murdered in 1871 while trying to defend African Americans' right to vote.
University of Kentucky Decides to Unveil Controversial Mural It Had Covered Up
The mural, painted in the 1930s by artist Ann Rice O'Hanlon, had been criticized for its portrayal of African Americans and American Indians in scenes depicting the history of the city of Lexington, home to the university. One image shows slaves picking cotton.
U.S. House Votes to Provide $70 Million for Historic Preservation Projects at HBCUs
The bill authorizes an appropriation of $10 million in each of the next seven years for programs to preserve historic buildings on the campuses of the nation's historically Black colleges and universities.
John Carroll University in Ohio to Explore Its Historical Ties to Slavery
John Carroll was the first Catholic bishop in the United States and was a founder of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He owned a least one slave and participated in the management of Jesuit-owned plantations in Maryland.
Bowie State University Study Examines the History of Lynchings in Maryland
The study documented 40 lynchings in the state during the period from 1854 to 1933. The research was conducted by Nicholas M. Creary and two students. Dr. Creary is an assistant professor of history and government at Bowie State.
New Online Archive Documents Bank Redlining Practices in the 1930s
A new website hosted by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond offers visitors a look at a series of maps from the Home Owners Loan Corporation that document the practice of redlining during the New Deal era.
Two African American Giants of Higher Education to Have Highways Named in Their Honor
The department of transportation in North Carolina plans to have stretches of interstate highways in the state named for Julius L. Chambers, who was chancellor of North Carolina Central University, and John Hope Franklin, the noted historian who was a long-time professor at Duke University.
Hamilton College’s Oral Histories of Jazz Greats Made Available Online
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first jazz recording, Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, has established a YouTube channel where it will share oral history interviews from its extensive Jazz Archive.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Study by Ohio State University Economists Shows Black Politicians Matter
A new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper by Trevon Logan, a professor of economics at Ohio State University, finds that when Blacks hold political power their economic status rises. But when they lose political power, their economic fortunes dwindle.
Brown University Cancels the Display of a Home Where Rosa Parks Stayed in Detroit
Brown University had planned to host an exhibit that included the reconstruction of a small home where Rosa Parks had stayed in Detroit after leaving Alabama. But the display of the home has now been cancelled.
Duke University Establishes an Online Archive of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, has established the SNCC Digital Gateway to make the story of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee available for students and researchers.
Historical Marker Honors a Tennessee State University Alumnus and Buffalo Soldier
A Buffalo Soldier, Lt. William McBryar earned the Medal of Honor for his "coolness, bravery and marksmanship" on March 7, 1890 when his 10th Cavalry troop was engaged with Apache warriors. He earned a bachelor's degree at the age of 74 at what is now Tennessee State University.
St. Cloud State University in Minnesota Names Building After Its First Black Graduate
Ruby Cora Webster, the daughter of former slaves, earned a degree in elementary education at what was then called St. Cloud Normal School in 1909.
