Fisk University Yearbook~~ The Oval~~ 1968 Nashville Tennessee For Sale

Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1866 and its 40-acre (16 ha) campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1930, Fisk became the first historically black institution to gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Fisk is the oldest institution for higher education in Nashville.[4][5]

Fisk Free Colored School opened on January 9, 1866, during the Reconstruction era shortly after the end of the Civil War. It was founded by John Ogden, Erastus Milo Cravath, and Edward Parmelee Smith of the American Missionary Association for the education of freedmen in Nashville.[6] Fisk was one of several schools and colleges that the Association helped found across the South to educate freed slaves. The school is named for Clinton B. Fisk, a Union general and assistant commissioner of the Freedmen\'s Bureau of Tennessee. Fisk secured a site to house the school in a former military barracks near Union Station and provided $30,000 of government funds for its endowment.[7][8]

The American Missionary Association\'s work was supported by the Congregationalist church, which retains an affiliation with Fisk.[9] Fisk is the oldest higher education institution in Nashville.[10]

Enrollment rose to 900 in the first several months following the school\'s opening, indicating the strong desire for education among local freedmen. Student ages ranged from seven to 70.[7]

During the nation\'s Reconstruction era, the Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation to enable free public education, which caused a need to increase teacher training. In 1867 the Fisk Free Colored School was reorganized and incorporated as Fisk University to focus on higher education.[8][7] James Dallas Burrus, John Houston Burrus, Virginia E. Walker, and America W. Robinson were the first students to enroll at the institution. In 1875, the two Burruses and Walker graduated from Fisk and became the first African-American students to graduate from a liberal arts college south of the Mason–Dixon line.[11][12]

The Tennessee Constitution of 1870 was ratified with a provision, Article XI § 12, that prohibited public schools from enrolling both Black and White students.[13] In 1869, the University of Tennessee (then Eastern Tennessee University) had been designated a federal land-grant university, which meant that it was required to enroll all qualified citizens of the state, regardless of race or color. To get around the requirement of integration, ETU paid tuition for Black students with State Scholarships to enroll at Fisk University in 1881–83.[13] The contract was changed to Knoxville College in 1884.

In 1870, Adam K. Spence became the school\'s principal. Spence developed plans to expand and move the school to a larger campus in north Nashville on a site that had been Fort Gillem, a Union army base.[14][15] To raise money for the school\'s initiatives, his wife Catherine Mackie Spence traveled throughout the United States to set up mission Sunday schools in support of Fisk students, organizing endowments through the American Missionary Association.[16] With a strong interest in religion and the arts, Adam Spence supported the founding of a student choir; they were the start of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

With the school facing financial distress, the choir went on tour to raise funds in 1871, led by professor and university treasurer George L. White.[7][17] They toured the U.S. and Europe and became a sensation, singing before Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain, Queen Victoria; popularizing spirituals written by Wallace Willis such as \"Swing Low Sweet Chariot\"; and changing racial stereotypes.[18][19][17] Their tour raised nearly $50,000 (~$1.16 million in 2024) and funded construction of Jubilee Hall. (In W.E.B. Du Bois\' book The Souls of Black Folk, this number is quoted at $150,000).[20] It was the first building built for the education of freedmen in the South and is now a National Historic Landmark.[21]

Fisk co-founder Cravath returned in 1875 and became the institution\'s first president.[22] He oversaw an active construction program and expansion of the school\'s curriculum offerings to include liberal arts, theology, and teacher training. By the turn of the 20th century, it had strengthened its reputation, built several campus buildings, added African-American teachers and staff, and enrolled a second generation of students.[21][22]