Howard University: Leadership through Scholarship
Howard University is one of the oldest historically black universities in the United States. It was established by act of Congress in 1867 and named for Oliver Otis Howard, a Union general in the Civil War and a director of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
Howard provided education in social sciences, physical sciences, fine arts, law, and medicine at a time when most African American programs were devoted to vocational education. Many Howard graduates became national and international leaders.
Howard Univeristy Faculty
Howard University’s faculty included some of the intellectual leaders of the nation. Ironically, they came together at Howard and mounted an effective challenge to segregation partly because they were excluded from teaching positions at white universities.
This photograph from 1950 shows, left to right, professors James M. Nabrit, Jr. (law), Charles Drew (medicine), Sterling Brown (English), E. Franklin Frazier (sociology), Rayford W. Logan (history), and Alain LeRoy Locke (philosophy).
(Courtesy of Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University Archives)
Howard University library, about 1890
(Courtesy of Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University Archives)
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As a symbol of black aspirations, Howard University had a special purpose. From Howard’s founding, its graduates and faculty have responded to racism in society with service to the African American community.(Lent by Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University Archives)
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