Lincoln University
Lower Oxford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Chartered as Ashmun Institute, April 29, 1854. Founded by Rev. John Miller Dickey for the purpose of providing liberal higher education for people of African ancestry in America. In 1866, it became Lincoln University, interracial and international.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Chartered in 1854 as the Ashmun Institute, this school was founded by the Rev. John Miller Dickey to provide higher education to men of African ancestry at a time when almost no such opportunity existed in America. Renamed Lincoln University in 1866, it opened its doors as an interracial and international institution. It became one of the nation's first degree-granting historically Black colleges, educating generations of leaders across the United States and Africa.
Why it matters
As a pioneering historically Black university, Lincoln shaped African American intellectual and political leadership for over a century, its alumni including some of the most influential figures of the twentieth century.
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Related people
- · John Miller Dickey
Themes & tags
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