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HOWARD UNIVERSITY HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

In the days immediately following emancipation, freedom held exciting prospects for blacks. For many, it meant the opportunity to experience landownership, obtain food, shelter and clothing ---minus the watchful eye of the former slave master. But for growing numbers, it meant a chance to explore openly for the first time opportunities available in the already established educational institution or in the many other rapidly springing up across the country.

To those who sought to improve the lot of blacks in the mid-1800's including many blacks themselves, the ministry and the teaching profession were primary fields of interest. This, despite the fact that there were many blacks who , by 1866, had obtained degrees in fields such as medicine and law.

Undoubtedly influenced by this knowledge, ten members of the First Congregational Society of Washington gathered on the morning of November 20,1866. After earnest and prayerful deliberation, they founded the Howard Normal and Theological Institute for the Education of Teachers and Preachers. The institute was named for General Oliver Otis Howard, commissioner at the time of the Freedman's Bureau and one of the ten founding society members.

General Howard, a devoutly religious man. was prominent in national affairs and n the promotion of the welfare of slaves and freedmen. A visit to the South just prior to the founding of Howard had particularly aroused his interest in providing educational opportunities for freedmen, so much so that his fellow society members chose to name the proposed institution after him. General Howard served as Howard's president from 1869 to 1873.

As the concept of Howard ad more than a mere institute grew, so did plans for Congressional support. The somewhat narrow scope implicit in the concept of "theological institute" was thought to be an impediment to these plans. Thus, on January 8, 1867, the board of trustees voted to change the name to "Howard University." About three weeks later, Congress passed a bill officially incorporating the University.

On March 2, 1867, during the last session of the 39th Congress, a charter was given to the " University" organizing the board of trustees, president, secretary, treasurer, and executive committee. The charter specified the following departments: normal and preparatory, collegiate, theological, medical, law and agriculture.

In the spring of that year, five white females, daughters of two board members, enrolled in the normal and preparatory department of the University. The department was located in a three-story brick frame house leased from the Freedmen's Bureau. It was situated north of the "Boundary" (now Florida Avenue) which separated the City of Washington from the County of Washington, on Seventh Street (now Georgia Avenue), south of Pomeroy Street (now W Street). It was designed to give students a solid English education and all the other necessary requirements for admission to college. Tuition was one dollar per month to be paid monthly in advance. As student enrollment increased, arrangements were made for remitting a part or whole of the tuition for indigent students, The earliest catalogs of the University show listings of students from such places as Okalona, Mississippi, Quincy, Illinois, and Georgetown, D.C. A boarding house nearby accommodated students at 25 cents per week, $3 per term for 12 weeks, payable in advance. Limited accommodations for students from abroad shows the University's early interest and practice of liberal admissions policies.

Soon after the establishment of the normal and preparatory department, a 150-acre farm overlooking Washington, D.C's "public buildings" (as the government buildings were the called) was purchased by the board of trustees. Of this land 59 acres were retained for construction of University facilities.

By the fall of 1867, the construction of the main building called the "University building," a dormitory, a medical building, a hospital, to be called Freedmen's Hospital, as well as the private residence of General Howard was well underway. Still standing today, Howard Hall, as it is officially called, is listed in the National Register of Historical Places. It is one of the few remaining original buildings of the University. Freedmen's Hospital and Andrew Rankin Chapel re also originally constructed buildings.

Most of the University's early financial support came from the Freedmen's Bureau. When this aid was discontinued in 1873, Howard was dependent upon private support. In 1879, Congress authorized and annual subsidy to the University. The charter was amended on December 18, 1928 authorizing federal appropriations for construction, development and maintenance of the University.

It has been through the dedication and foresight of Howard's board of trustees and presidents that much of Howard's steady progress over the years has been made. In 1873 the University counted among its board members Frederick Douglas who served until his death in 1895.

Howard's first black president, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, served from 1926 to 1960. Johnson gained almost worldwide recognition as an educator, actor, university administrator and defender of academic freedom. Johnson noted upon his retirement that the survival of the "free world" might depend upon universities such a Howard which teach the true meaning of democracy and the inherent dignity of all men.

James M. Nabrit, former Howard University law school professor and former Secretary of the University succeeded Johnson, presiding until 1968. It was in the courtroom that Nabrit had, while serving as a law school professor, brought nationwide attention to the University, He either argued or otherwise participated in most of the civil rights cases which led to the May 17, 1954 United States Supreme Court decision declaring segregation in state public schools and in the District of Columbia unconstitutional.

Throughout this era, Howard's administrative officers, teachers, alumni, and students continued to be, as they are today, in the forefront of the quest for constitutionally guaranteed rights to equality and justice for all United States citizens.

And so from this heritage, Howard University as we know it today has evolved. Fittingly, it is often called the "capstone" of higher education among traditionally black institutions.

Today, as the question of viability and financial stability plagues the existence of all traditionally black institutions of higher learning, Howard president, James E. Cheek says, "over a period of 100 years or more, they have been the providers of education and the leavening influence in the communities in which they are located in helping to educate the entire community to what America is as a country and what all of us should be as a people."

Howard University continues to be steadfast in this purpose.

THE UNIVERSITY TODAY

The dreams of the early visionaries who painstakingly charted the course of academic diversity and excellence at Howard have become reality today.

With a diversified financial base consisting of support from the federal government, corporations, foundations and its own alumni, Howard University is the only truly comprehensive black institution of higher learning in the world.

Its more than 12,000 student come from every state and more than 90 countries. Their interaction both in and outside the classroom contribute to a highly stimulating learning environment. Howard's more than 1,900 faculty members represent the largest concentration of black scholars in any single institution of higher education in the world.

Among Howard's more than 40,000 living alumni are many of the nation's leading professionals in the fields of medicine, dentistry, law, social work, religion, business, education and communications.

The 17 fully accredited schools and colleges offer more than 72 undergraduate and graduate degrees. During the past 15 years, the College of Nursing, the School of Architecture and Planning, Business and Public Administration, Communications, Education, Human Ecology and Allied Health Sciences have all been added.

The University operates two campuses. The main campus in the heart of Washington, D.C., covers more than 75 acres. The 22-acre West Campus near Rock Creek Park in northwest Washington was acquired by the University in the spring of 1974. This campus now houses the School of Law, Howard University Press, several of the University's institutes, programs, and administrative offices. The university owns 108 acres in Beltsville in Prince George's County, Maryland which will be the site of the Center for Advanced Research in the Life and Physical Sciences. The Center will have the following components: (1) an animal resource center, (2) a center for botanical and environmental science, (3) an engineering experiment station, (4) a center for soil erosion and surface hydrology, and (5) and astrophysics center. The Divinity School (formerly the School of Religion) is located in northeast Washington. The combination dormitory-dining-teaching and conference facility was dedicated in the winter of 1980.

Addressing the special concerns of black people both on a national and local level are institutes emphasizing such areas as urban affairs and research, arts and humanities, educational policy, child development and family life, drug abuse and addiction.

The Howard University Press, the first publishing house founded by a predominantly black academic institution (formerly authorized in 1919), has published more than 60 books since it was reestablished in 1972.

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