Here's a time line of important Black History dates that mark African American milestones in college education.
1823 Alexander Lucius Twilight becomes the first African American to receive a bachelor's degree in the United States, from Middlebury College in Vermont.
1837 In Pennsylvania, the first historically black college is established. Founded by Philadelphia Quaker Richard Humphreys, The Institute for Colored Youth was originally a teacher training college. The school later became known as Cheyney University, which remains the oldest historically black institute of higher education in the United States.
1862 Mary Jane Patterson becomes the first African American woman to receive a bachelor's degree in the United States, from Oberlin College in Ohio.
1869 Howard University opens the first black School of Law in the United States. The school was founded in part to help address the legal needs of newly freed slaves.
1876 Edward Alexander Bouchet, a student at Yale University, becomes the first African American in the United States to earn a PhD. He also was only the sixth American ever to earn a PhD in Physics.
1881 In Atlanta, Georgia, the first traditionally black woman's college is founded by Harriet E. Giles and Sophia B. Packard. Originally called the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, it now is known as Spelman College.
1907 Alair Leroy Locke becomes the first African American Rhodes Scholar. A graduate of Harvard University, Locke earned his PhD from Harvard in 1918.
1922 At Howard University, William Leo Hansberry (uncle of the playwright Lorraine Hansberry) teaches the first course in the U.S. on African Civilizations. He also established the African Civilization Section of the Howard University History Department.
1921 The first three African American women earn doctoral degrees: Georgianna Simpson from The University of Chicago, Eva Beatrice Dykes from Radcliffe College, and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander from The University of Pennsylvania.
1944 The United Negro College Fund is established. This philanthropic organization raises money to support students at 39 historically black college and universities. Since 1972, the organization has been well known for its motto, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."
1960 Four college students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat down at an all-white Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina and politely refused to leave until they were served. Although they were not served lunch, their sit-in was a landmark moment in the Civil Rights Movement that sparked a wave of sit-ins and economic boycotts of Woolworth stores nationwide. Six months later, the students were served lunch.
1962 Escorted by federal marshalls under the orders of President John F. Kennedy, James Meredith becomes the first African American student to attend the University of Mississippi. Riots ensued, which led to two deaths and dozens of injuries. Meredith graduated in 1963.
1963 At the University of Alabama, Governor George Wallace tried to physically block the admission of Vivian Malone and James Hood, two African American students who had been admitted by court order into the university. The National Guard was present to protect the students. Governor Wallace eventually stepped aside, and two years later Vivian Malone became the first African American student to graduate from the University of Alabama.
1968 The first Black Studies Department in the United States is established at San Francisco State University.
1998. The University of California Berkeley establishes the first U.S. doctoral program is African Diaspora Studies.
2004 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 2.3 million African American college students enrolled throughout the nation. This number was almost double the number of African American college students 15 years earlier.
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