African Americans have long been serious about education. Even when education was denied to black Americans through law, custom, and physical violence, blacks exerted relentless self-determination in the pursuit of literacy. The black church, because of its growth in size, power, and influence, became the logical institution for assisting blacks…

Examining Black church support of higher education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this article highlights the longstanding project of African-American self-determination. Motivated donors, many of who would not in their lifetime see the fruits of their gifts, made faithful investments in the project of racial uplift.…

Religious denominations have a long history of benevolent outreach to individuals considered "less fortunate." The institution of slavery in the United States created an opportunity for most denominations in the North to advance an image of "patron saint" to an oppressed African American community. Immediately following the…

A cultural history of Simmons University from 1879 to 1930 is presented, based primarily on original records, including slave narratives, school annuals, denominational minutes, and newspapers. The account is also a cultural study of black Baptists, especially in their Kentucky denominational institution. This black-owned and controlled school of…

The presence of whites at traditionally black public colleges and universities (TBPCUs) is examined for six periods: the pre-Civil War period, 1837-1859; the period of the educational missionary, 1860-1885; the period of reaction to white control, 1886-1916; the decade of the great philanthropists, 1917-1927; the era of the Bureau of Education,…