About Fisk University
Jubilee Hall—the most striking of Fisk's campus buildings—is perhaps the most famous college residence hall in the world
Fisk University is a historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tenn., with strong academic programs in the humanities and fine arts, natural sciences, mathematics, and the social sciences.
Among currently practicing African American physicians, lawyers, and dentists, one in six is a Fisk graduate. In proportion to its size, Fisk contributes more alumni to the ranks of doctorally prepared African American scholars than any institution in the United States.
A dream open to all
Fisk University has a long and storied history. Barely six months after the end of the Civil War, and just two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, John Ogden, the Rev. Erastus Milo Cravath, and the Rev. Edward P. Smith established the Fisk School in Nashville. It was named in honor of Gen. Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen’s Bureau, who provided the new institution with facilities in former Union army barracks. Fisk convened its first classes on January 9, 1866.
The work of Fisk’s founders was sponsored by the American Missionary Association, later part of the United Church of Christ, with which Fisk retains an affiliation today. Ogden, Cravath, and Smith, along with others in their movement, shared a dream of an educational institution that would be open to all, regardless of race, and would measure itself by “the highest standards, not of Negro education, but of American education at its best.” Their dream was incorporated as Fisk University on August 22, 1867.
Tradition of excellence
The tradition of excellence at Fisk has developed out of struggle and uncertainty. Its world-famous Jubilee Singers originated as a group of traveling students who set out from Nashville in 1871, taking the entire contents of the university treasury with them for travel expenses, hoping that, through their music, they could raise enough money to keep open the doors of their debt-ridden school. They traveled throughout the United States and Europe, singing before audiences that included William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Ulysses S. Grant, William Gladstone, Mark Twain, Johann Strauss, and Queen Victoria. The Jubilee Singers introduced much of the world to the spiritual as a musical genre and, in the process, raised funds that preserved their university and permitted construction of Jubilee Hall, the South’s first permanent structure built for the education of black students.
Today as a designated National Historical Landmark, Jubilee Hall remains the dramatic focal point of Fisk’s campus. Each October 6, Fisk celebrates Jubilee Day to commemorate the original group. The contemporary Jubilee Singers perform in university convocation and conclude the day’s
ceremonies with a pilgrimage to the gravesites of the original singers.
Intellectual, artistic, and civic leaders
Fisk faculty and alumni have been among America’s intellectual, artistic, and civic leaders in every generation since the university’s beginnings. Charles Spurgeon Johnson, Fisk’s first black president, helped to conceive the modern science of sociology. Professor St. Elmo Brady, one of the first African Americans to achieve eminence in chemistry, was for many years on the Fisk faculty. Probably no single institution has played so central a role as Fisk in the shaping of black learning and culture in America.
Among those who have made major contributions (including alumni, faculty and staff), are Fisk alumnus W.E.B. Du Bois, the founder of the NAACP; poet Nikki Giovanni; John Hope Franklin, an eminent historian of the African-American experience; Arna Bontemps, Sterling A. Brown, Robert Hayden, and James Weldon Johnson, who served on the faculty and emerged as major literary figures; and faculty member and renowned artist Aaron Douglas, whose murals adorn the walls of the administration building.
A history of firsts
Even before regional accreditation was available to African American institutions, Fisk had gained recognition by leading universities throughout the nation, and by such agencies as the Board of Regents of the State of New York. This recognition enabled Fisk graduates to enter graduate and professional schools to study for advanced degrees.
In 1930, Fisk became the first African American institution to gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It was also the first such institution to be placed on the approved lists of the Association of American Universities (1933) and the American Association of University Women (1948). In 1952, Fisk received a charter for the first Phi Beta Kappa chapter on a predominantly black campus. In 1954, Fisk became the first, private, black college accredited for its music programs by the National Association of Schools of Music. Today, Fisk also holds memberships in a number of nationally recognized professional accrediting associations.
Historical Video Documentary
This 30 minute documentary was produced by Malcolm Muggeridge and the BBC during the 1960s. It offers an intriguing look at a different era, a time when historically black colleges such as Fisk, were more commonly preferred by the majority of African-American students.
Explore more videos of Fisk.