Morehouse College is a private historically black college (HBCU) for men. Morehouse opened its doors in 1867 to educated black males who were formerly enslaved to become ministers and teachers. It opened approximately 2 years after the close of the Civil War. Its original name was Augustus Institute and it was located in Augustus Georgia. The Augustus Institute relocated to Atlanta in 1879 and became the Atlanta Baptist Seminary. Classes were first held in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church. The school moved to its current location in the 1880’s after John D. Rockefeller donated land to the college.
Dr. Leonidas Harris Berry (1902-1995) was an African American trailblazer in gastroscopy and endoscopy. Berry served as the president of the National Medical Association (NMA). NMA was medical association for African American physicians. Berry invented the Eder-Berry biopsy gastroscope in 1955. This invention improved the way doctors collect tissue from the stomach without surgery. He also determined that it is not the stomach that was damaged by alcoholism, but rather the liver. This discovery would change the diagnosis and treatment of the disease forever. Continue reading “Dr. Leonidas Harris Berry: Ground Breaking Medical Doctor Who Would Forever Change The Diagnosis and Treatment of Alcoholism”→
Thomas Moorehead is the world’s first African-American Rolls Royce car dealer. Moorehead is 71 year old native of Monroe, Louisiana. Moorehead earned a bachelors degree in business administration from Grambling State University (an HBCU) in 1966. He earned a masters degree in social work from the University of Michigan. Prior to his success as an auto dealer, Moorehead worked as an analyst for Mobile and Chrysler and also as a director of community services at the University of Michigan. With just a few credits, and his dissertation remaining to obtain his Ph.d, he decided to leave his doctoral program and pursue a career in the automobile industry. Morehead’s mentor and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brother, James Bradley (Bradley Automotive Group) encourage him to pursue the opportunity. He told Moorehead that he could become a millionaire within 5 years if he was willing to step out and take a chance. Continue reading “Thomas Moorehead: The World’s 1st African American Rolls Royce Car Dealer”→
Lewis Business College – 1939 First Day of Class In Detroit
Lewis Business College was a trailblazer in providing business education to African American students. The college was launched by its visionary founder, Violet T. Lewis. Her dedication and perseverance paved the way for thousands of African Americans to access higher education. Continue reading “Lewis College of Business: A Detroit HBCU”→
Lincoln University is the first degree awarding historically black college and university in the United States. Located in Pennsylvania, it was founded in 1854, by John Miller Dickey and his wife Sarah Emlen Cresson. It was originally founded as Ashmun Institute; named after religious leader and social reformer, Jehudi Ashmun to provide education to young men of African descent. It is
John Dickey served as the first president of the university. The name was changed from Ashmun Institute to Lincoln University in 1866 after the assassination of President Lincoln. Lincoln University’s first African American president, Dr. Horace Mann Bond was appointed in 1945. The university began accepting female students in 1952. It is affiliated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is considered a state run coeducational accredited university. Famous alumni include poet, Langston Hughes, Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall, and microbiologist Hildrus A. Poindexter know for his work and research of tropical diseases. Nigeria’s first president, Nnamdi Aikiwe and the first Prime Minister of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah are also graduates.
In 1946, Nobel Prize winning physicist, Albert Einstein visited Lincoln University and gave a speech in which he called racism, “a disease of white people” and further added that he, “did not intend to be quiet about it”. Einstein was given an honorary degree by the University. Lincoln University current has about 2,000 students.
Albert Einstein lecturing on the theory of relativity at Lincoln University in 1946
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