Fisk University From a Spark to a Flame: The Dream and Perseverance of Fisk University
J
anuary 9, 1866, was an important day. Nine months before, General Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Union troops, leaving the Southern black population with a spark of hope. But on that cold winter day in Nashville, students walked through the doors of the old Union army barracks holding onto that small spark. It’s hard to know whether they knew they were on the threshold of something so big that it would open doors and create the much-needed leadership for a desperate post-war black community. Founders John Ogden, the Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath, and the Reverend Edward P. Smith aimed to create a place that would be measured “by the highest standards, not of Negro education, but of American education at its best.” And that’s exactly what they did. On August 22, 1867, Fisk University was incorporated on land donated by and named for General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen’s Bureau. Since then, Fisk has seen more than its share of prestigious alumni and faculty. Co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, W.E.B. Du Bois, graduated in 1888. Booker T. Washington, served on Fisk’s Board of Trustees, married a Fisk graduate, and sent his children to the university. Other notable Fisk alumni include journalist Ida B. Wells, poet Nikki Giovanni, and Diane Nash, leader of the Nashville Civil Rights movement. Fisk has become most well-known for the arts that once saved the struggling school in the late 1800s. Funding for black education was scarce and
144
despite the support Fisk received through donors and the sponsorship of the American Missionary Association, the institution found itself drowning in debt. Saving the beloved school would require a leap of faith. And a song. The Fisk Jubilee Singers® left for a concert tour in the fall of 1871 in hopes of raising money to save the school. They performed for the likes of Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain, and Queen Victoria. Fisk University has long been a friend to the arts community. With an art collection to rival major galleries around the world, Fisk claimed Harlem Renaissance artist Aaron Douglas as an art professor and founder of the art department. The Aaron Douglas Gallery features pieces from the university’s permanent collections, along with work from faculty, students, and contemporary artists. The Fisk University Galleries’ permanent collection contains over 4,000 pieces, including work from Diego Rivera, Georgia O’Keefe, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, and Auguste-Pierre Renoir to name a few. Fisk University has come a long way since the first day students, most of them former slaves, trudged into the army barracks. With that small spark of hope, seeking an education and a future were the goals. Everyone involved knew there would be mountains to climb and hurdles to jump. But despite setbacks, the dreams of the founders have not only been fulfilled but exceeded. Fisk University was and remains an educational institution with the highest of standards, “not of Negro education, but of American education at its best.” Reprinted with Permission from PorterBriggs.com