1867

Howard University was chartered by an act of Congress in March 1867, named for General Oliver O. Howard of the Freedmen's Bureau. Located in Washington DC, it became the nation's premier HBCU, training generations of Black doctors, lawyers, engineers, and leaders — earning the designation 'The Capstone of Negro Education.'

The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 dissolve former Confederate state governments and require Black male suffrage for readmission to the Union. The result: over 2,000 Black men serve as elected officials across the South between 1867 and 1877, including 16 congressmen, 2 senators, and hundreds of state legislators.

The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 dissolve former Confederate state governments and require Black male suffrage as a condition of readmission to the Union. The result is an unprecedented democratic flowering: over 2,000 Black men serve as elected officials across the South between 1867 and 1877, including 16 congressmen, 2 senators, and hundreds of state legislators.

Morehouse College was founded on February 14, 1867 as the Augusta Institute in the basement of Springfield Baptist Church, the oldest independent Black church in America, by freed slaves and a Baptist minister. It relocated to Atlanta and eventually became the nation's preeminent historically Black liberal arts college for men, producing graduates including Martin Luther King Jr., Spike Lee, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Morehouse College was founded on February 14, 1867 as the Augusta Institute in the basement of Springfield Baptist Church by freed slaves and Baptist minister William Jefferson White. It relocated to Atlanta and eventually became the nation's preeminent historically Black liberal arts college for men, producing graduates including Martin Luther King Jr., Spike Lee, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Congress passed the First Reconstruction Act on March 2, 1867, dividing the former Confederate states into five military districts, disfranchising unrepentant Confederates, and requiring new state constitutions with Black male suffrage as a condition of readmission. The act enabled the election of Black delegates to constitutional conventions and ushered in the most democratic period in Southern history.

Hundreds of Black women from the North volunteered as teachers in Freedmen's Bureau and missionary schools from 1865–67. Edmonia Highgate, Sara Stanley, and Blanche Harris taught in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Virginia despite death threats and arson. Highgate sent detailed reports of Klan intimidation while continuing to teach.

Hundreds of Black women from the North volunteered as teachers in Freedmen's Bureau and missionary schools beginning in 1865–67. Figures including Edmonia Highgate, Sara Stanley, and Blanche Harris taught in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Virginia despite death threats and arson. Highgate wrote detailed reports of Klan intimidation while continuing to teach. Their work was foundational to Black literacy gains.

Rebecca J. Cole graduated from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1867, becoming the second Black woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. She worked alongside Elizabeth Blackwell in New York and later ran the Woman's Directory Center in Philadelphia for decades, providing medical care and social services to women and children in poverty.

Over a dozen Black colleges were founded during Reconstruction: Atlanta University (1865), Morehouse (1867), Hampton Institute (1868), Talladega College (1867), and others. These institutions trained the teachers who staffed freedpeople's schools. By 1875 Hampton had produced hundreds of Black teachers spreading across the South.

A flagship HBCU is chartered in Washington, D.C.