Milestones in African American Education

 1837
Institute for Colored Youth founded by Richard Humphreys; later became Cheyney University.
1856
Wilberforce University, first black school of higher learning owned and operated by African Americans, opens.
1876
Meharry Medical College, first U.S. black medical school, founded by the Freedman's Aid Society.
1881
Spelman College, first U.S. college for black women, founded by Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles.
1922
William Leo Hansberry teaches the first course in African civilization at an American university.
1944
Frederick Douglass Patterson establishes the United Negro College Fund to help support black colleges and black students.
1954
In the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., the Supreme Court rules unanimously that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends troops to ensure integration of the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Nine students enroll.
1960
Black and white students form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), dedicated to working against segregation and discrimination.
1962
James Meredith is the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
1963
Despite Gov. George Wallace’s physically blocking their way, two black students register for classes at the University of Alabama.