Lincoln University of Missouri

The founders of Lincoln University were the white officers and the black enlisted men of the 62^nd and 65^th United States Colored Infantries who fought for the cause of the Union during the Civil War. The black soldiers of those two regiments had been victimized by an 1847 Missouri law which prohibited them from learning to read and write. They overcame that obstacle during the war, however, in the informal schools established for them by their white officers. When war’s end came, they resolved to pass on their fellow blacks in Missouri the legacy of literacy which they had so dearly paid for.

The soldiers of the 62^nd and 65th colored Infantries wanted to establish a school in Missouri which would devote itself to teaching freed blacks. They began to solicit funds for that purpose. Many of the enlisted men donated nearly a year’s salary to the cause. Within a few days, more than 6,000 dollars had been collected.

This money was entrusted to Lieutenant Richard Baxter Foster, a white officer of the 62^nd regiment. Foster traveled to Jefferson City, hoping to find aid and assistance from the Radical Republicans who controlled state government. It was the Radicals who had supported the emancipation of blacks from the very beginning of the war.

Fosters task was not an easy one. Racism was still rife in Missouri and the capital city was no exception. In fact, racism was a double edged sword, as Foster discovered in his search to find a building for the school.

I applied for the colored Methodist Church for their house, promising that we would repair it and pay rent.

The trustees consented, but the minister refused, alleging as a reason, that the teacher would be white.

I applied to the white Methodist Church, sometimes called the north Methodist, for the basement of their house, promising that we would put it in order and pay rent.

The trustees were willing, but the minister refused, alleging as a reason that the scholars would be black.

Ultimately, Foster appropriated the use of a vacant building on what was called Hobo Hill, the site of present day Simonsen Junior High School. The building had once been used as a rural school house but had long since been abandoned. This is Foster’s description of the scene as he first discovered it.

The rain is pouring in torrents. As I approached the schoolhouse, I am stopped by a creek, the bridge over which has been swept away usually fordable, but now impassable by reasons of the flood. A half hour’s detour and the scrambling of several fences bring me to the sanctuary of learning. What a sanctuary! The rains pour through the roof scarcely less than outside. I could throw a dog through the side in twenty places. There is no sign of a window, bench, desk, chair or table. In this temple of the muses I meet two pupils. On the next day the same scene is repeated. The third day the rain ceased, the creek has become formidable, and seventeen pupils are enrolled; and for more than six weeks, new names are added to the register every year.

“Lincoln Institute”, as it was then called was on its way. In 1870 white political leaders such as T.A. Parker and black political leaders such as James Milton Turner joined forces to gain the first state appropriation for Lincoln Institute. That 5,000 appropriation and the assistance of twenty-five Missouri State Missouri State Penitentiary convicts, made it possible for the school to erect in 1871 its first new building on what is now the campus. More buildings were soon needed, however, as the school continued to grow. By the mid 1880;s, twenty years after the founding of black students there grew to two hundred. A college department was created in 1887.

One of the most important occurrences in Lincoln’s history took place in 1921, with the designation of the school as a University. The task of making the transition from Institute to University was placed in the hands of the newly elected President Nathan B. Young. Certainly one of Young’s greatest contributions was his concerted effort to attract best minds to the Lincoln faculty. Young and his successor, President Charles W. Florence saw the wisdom of hiring black intellectuals whose training and abilities were exceeded by few other educators of any ace anywhere in the country. Many of those professors employed in the 1920’s and 1930 remained at Lincoln University for forty years and more.

Young and Florence brought us men such as poet Sterling Brown, short story writer Cecil A. Blue, historians W. Sherman Savage and Lorenzo J. Greene, and artist James D. Parks. It was the accomplishment for later scholars such as journalist Armistead S. Pride, sociologist Oliver Cromwell Cox, musician O. Anderson Fuller, agriculturalist William Wallace Dowdy. Without the contributes of these persons and Professors Emeriti such as William G. Brooks, Milton G. Hardiman, Charles M. Hoard, and Sidney J. Reedy, Lincoln University could not have survived.

In the mid-1950’s, as the nation was torn apart by racial strife, Lincoln University quietly and peacefully integrated. In the process, it established itself as a beacon light of hope for all those who wish to see the family of the man united in a common purpose.

That is the legacy we celebrate today.