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| Established | April 29, 1854 |
| Type: | Public, state-related |
| President: | Dr. Ivory V. Nelson |
| Undergraduates: | 1,827 |
| Postgraduates: | 596 |
| Location | Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Campus: | Rural 350 acres (1.4 km²) |
| Colors: | Orange and Blue |
| Mascot: | Lions |
| Website: | www.lincoln.edu |
Lincoln University (LU) is an American historically black university located in southern Chester County , Pennsylvania. The University also hosts a Center for Graduate Studies which is located within the City of Philadelphia. Currently, Lincoln University provides undergraduate and graduate coursework to approximately 2,500 students. As Horace Mann Bond noted in his book Education for Freedom (A History of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania), "This was the first institution founded anywhere in the world to provide a higher education in the arts and sciences for youth of African descent." Today, Lincoln University is an institution of higher learning that provides a liberal arts and science-based undergraduate core curriculum and select graduate programs to prepare students of every race and nationality. Lincoln is a "state-related" university, meaning it receives public funds and offers reduced tuition for Pennsylvania residents but is under independent control. The Lincoln University Urban Center (LUUC) is an extension campus in the University City section of Philadelphia. This campus offers Graduate level programs and continuing education. [1] After the renovation that was started in Fall of 2007 is completed, the Urban Center will be known as Lincoln University Plaza. [2]
Contents |
History
Lincoln University was founded as Ashmun Institute in 1854 by the Rev. John Miller Dickey, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson (a Quaker) and named after Jehudi Ashmun, a religious leader and social reformer. Lincoln University's (Ashmun Institute's) ties to Africa and youth of African descent was a significant component of the framework for the institution's creation. Specifically, John Miller Dickey's first students - the Reverend James Ralston Amos, his brother the Reverend Thomas H. Amos, and the Reverend Armistead Miller - were trained to support the establishment of Liberia upon their graduation. In 1866, Ashmun Institute was renamed Lincoln University after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. In 1972 Lincoln University formally associated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a state-related institution. Lincoln also has a close relationship with the Barnes Foundation, with the privilege of naming four of the five directors delegated to it by Barnes in his will. The number of directors has since expanded as part of protracted financial difficulties, diluting Lincoln's influence over the valuable collection. Lincoln was chosen in the 1930s by philanthropist and art collector Albert C. Barnes to be the caretaker of his important collection of modern art, now valued at over two billion dollars. Barnes demanded that the collection be used primarily as a teaching resource. The local government has also restricted traffic to the current location. Both of these factors had the effect of limiting public access and pushed the Foundation near bankruptcy by the 1990s. Plans were made to move the collection to a more public spot and maintain it as a museum. In 2002, the Barnes Foundation contested Albert C. Barnes' will, arguing that the Merion location of the collective and the small number of Board members limited the Foundation's ability to sustain itself financially. A settlement was brokered between The Barnes Foundation and Lincoln by Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell in 2005.
Presidents
- 1854–1856 John Miller Dickey, Founder and President of the Board of Trustees Ashmun Institute and Lincoln University
- 1856-1861 John Pym Carter
- 1861-1865 John Wynne Martin
- 1865-1906 Isaac Norton Rendall
- 1906-1924 John Ballard Rendall
- 1924-1926 Walter Livingston Wright (Acting President)
- 1926-1936 William Hallock Johnson, Ph.D.
- 1936-1945 Walter Livingston Wright
- 1945-1957 Horace Mann Bond '23, Ph.D. (First Alumni President)
- 1957-1960 Armstead Otey Grubb, Ph.D. (Acting President)
- July 1960-June 1961 Donald Charles Yelton (Acting President)
- 1961-1969 Marvin Wachman, Ph.D.
- January 1970-July 1970 Bernard Warren Harleston (Acting President)
- October 1970-1985 Herman Russell Branson, Ph.D.
- 1985-1987 Donald Leopold Mullett '51, Ph.D. (Acting President)
- 1987-1998 Niara Sudarkasa, Ph.D.
- October 1998-August 1999 James Donaldson '61, Ph. D (Acting President)
- 1999-Present Ivory V. Nelson, Ph.D.
Notable Alumni
Lincoln University has many notable alumni, including Thurgood Marshall, Langston Hughes, Hildrus Poindexter, Horace Mann Bond, Roscoe Lee Browne, Robert L. Carter, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kwame Nkrumah, and Melvin B. Tolson. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Kwame Nkrumah were the first President/Prime Minister of Nigeria and Ghana respectively, fulfilling John Miller Dickey's vision of Lincoln University as a training institution for African leadership. At least 10 of its alumni have served as United States ambassadors or mission chiefs. Many are federal, state and municipal judges, and many others have served as mayors or city managers. Lincoln University alumni have held key leadership positions at more than 35 colleges and universities and scores of prominent churches. South Carolina State University, Livingstone College, Albany State University, Texas Southern University, Ibeme Memorial College (Nigeria), Ibibio State College (Nigeria), and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana) were all founded by Lincoln alumni. In alphabetical order and with class year in parentheses.
- Ebenezer Ako-Adjei
- Ghanaian politician, member of the United Gold Coast Convention and The Big Six (Ghana).
- Nnamdi Azikiwe (1930)
- First President of Nigeria.
- Harry W. Bass (1888)
- First African American elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1910.
- Horace Mann Bond (1923)
- Educator, scholar, first African-American and Alumnus to become President of Lincoln University.
- Oscar Brown, Jr. (1940)
- Singer, actor, playwright, director.
- Roscoe Lee Browne (1946)
- Actor, former 800-meters record holder.
- Cab Calloway
- Left Lincoln in 1930, entertainer, bandleader.
- Robert L. Carter (1937)
- General counsel of the NAACP, United States District Judge.
- Frank "Tick" Coleman (1935)
- Educator.
- Lillian E. Fishburne (1971)
- First African American woman promoted to the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.
- Christian Fleetwood (1860)
- Served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, earned the Medal of Honor.
- Archibald H. Grimke (1870)
- Lawyer, journalist, public speaker, member of the Niagara Movement.
- Francis J. Grimké (1870)
- Pastor of the 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C., member of the Niagara Movement.
- Gil Scott-Heron
- Attended in the early 1970s, activist, singer-songwriter.
- Joseph Winthrop Holley (1900)
- Founder of Albany State University.
- Langston Hughes (1926)
- Poet.
- Robert L. Ireland (1966)
- First African American associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
- Montford "Monte" Irvin
- New York Baseball Giants player.
- Brian Jackson
- Keyboardist, writer.
- Robert Walter "Whirlwind" Johnson (1924)
- Educator, tennis instructor (including tennis greats Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe).
- Thurgood Marshall (1930)
- First African-American Supreme Court Justice.
- Thomas E. Miller (1872)
- South Carolina Congressman, and First President of South Carolina State University (1896-1911).
- Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. (1932)
- NAACP lobbyist ("101st U.S. Senator"), civil rights leader.
- Aaron Albert Mossell (1885)
- Attorney, first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
- Nathan Francis Mossell (1879)
- Physician, first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
- Robert N.C. Nix, Sr. (1921)
- First African American elected to Congress from Pennsylvania.
- Sibusio Nkomo (1981)
- Chairperson, National Policy Institute of the Republic of South Africa.
- Kwame Nkrumah (1939)
- First President of the modern Ghana.
- Hildrus Poindexter (1924)
- Expert on tropical diseases.
- Charles L. Preston, Jr. (1950)
- First African American U.S. Postal Inspector.
- William Drew Robeson I (1876)
- Minister, father of Paul Robeson.
- James H. Robinson (1935)
- Founder of Crossroads Africa (a model for the Peace Corps).
- Wilbert "Bill" Tatum (1958)
- Publisher Emeritus of The New York Amsterdam News.
- Clive Terrelonge (1994)
- Olympic track and field athlete from Jamaica.
- Melvin Tolson (1924)
- Poet.
- James L. Usry (1946)
- First African American Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
- Herb J. Wesson Jr. (1999)
- Speaker of the California State Assembly.
- Albert H. Wheeler (1936)
- First African American Mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- Bruce M. Wright (1942)
- Judge in New York and Connecticut, author of "Black Robes, White Justice".
Athletics
Lincoln University participates in the NCAA Division III level. Lincoln has won 17 NCAA Division III Track & Field championships since 1985. Lincoln currently competes as a Division III independent, with no conference affiliation other than the Eastern College Athletic Conference, and the Association of D3 Independents. The success of the Track and Field program led to the creation of the co-ed athletic fellowship of Track Phi Track at Lincoln in 1983. Some of the requirements include being an All-American and/or striving to become an All-American, meeting and exceeding academic requirements in your major, and participation in Lincoln's Track & Field program for four years. The men's basketball team achieved a 46-12 record from 2004- 2006 seasons. The 2005-2006 season witnessed Lincoln's first national basketball ranking, led by All American, D3Hoops & Basketball News National Player of the Year Kyle Myricks who was dubbed by ESPN as D3's "Most Exciting Player". The Lions made the sweet sixteen for the first time in school history. On 2006-04-11, Lincoln's Board of Trustees voted to revive the Football program, and establish Marching & Pep Bands. The University has petitioned membership in the CIAA, of which Lincoln was a founding member of the league. Lincoln will be moving from the NCAA's Division III to Division II. A club football team is scheduled for the 2008 followed with a full Division II schedule in 2009. On 2006-12-02, Lincoln's basketball team set 5 Division III records in a 201-78 victory over Ohio State Marion. They included points in a half and a game, as well as the NCAA record for margin of victory. The record-setting game has received significant publicity, both positive and negative. The coach and team have been criticized for "humiliat[ing] a helpless opponent",[3] as Ohio State Marion is a non-NCAA school that only was able to suit six players. Lincoln played "full-court press in the second half" and one player "attempted 41 three-pointers, continuing to launch treys when the school was ahead by more than 100 points."[3] Lincoln coach Garfield Yuille defended the actions of himself and his team, saying that "he could not tell his team to stop playing hard" and "late in the game... [he] told his team to walk the ball up the floor, even at the risk of a shot-clock violation."[4]
Alma Mater
Dear Lincoln, Dear Lincoln To Thee We'll e're be true! The golden hours we've spent beneath The dear old Orange and Blue Will live fore'er in memory, As guiding stars through life; For thee our Alma Mater dear, We'll rise in our might. For we love every inch of thy sacred soil Every tree on thy campus green; And for thee with our might We will ever toil That thou mightest be supreme. We'll raise thy standard to the sky, Midst glory and honor fly; And constant and true, We will live for thee anew, Our Dear Old Orange and Blue Hail! Hail! Lincoln!
—A. Dennee Bibb, '13
Further reading
- Education For Freedom -A History of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania by Horace Mann Bond. Copyright 1976 by Lincoln University of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education of Pennsylvania. Printed by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
References
- The Einstein File - Fred Jerome; ISBN 0-312-28856-5
- Philadelphia Inquirer;TheDeal of the Art[dead link]
- ^ Lincoln University Urban Center
- ^ Press release about funding of Lincoln University Plaza renovations
- ^ a b Easterbrook, Gregg (2006-12-12). Tuesday Morning Quarterback - Ravens good, Manning bad. ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
- ^ Caldwell, Dave (2006-12-09). University on the Defensive for Scoring 201 Points. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
External links
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