Black History Month 2011 Day 5

The Country’s Oldest Black College



Cheyney State College, sometimes referred to as the oldest black college in the United States, had its beginning in 1832. Richard Humphreys, a Philadelphia Quaker, willed $10,000 to a board of trustees to establish a school for blacks. A school for black boys was eventually established in 1839 and incorporated in 1842. The school became known as the Institute for Colored Youth in 1852. It reorganized in 1902 and moved to Cheyney, Pennsylvania, where it was renamed. It became a teacher training school in 1914 and a normal school in 1921, when it was purchased by the state. Since 1932 Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania) has been a degree-granting institution.

Carney Smith, Jessie. Black Firsts: Groundbreaking Events in African American History. New York: Fall River Press, 2009.





For more information on Cheyney University of Pennsylvania look here:

http://www.cheyney.edu/
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/cheyney-pa/cheyney-university-3317
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyney_University_of_Pennsylvania