Lincoln University (Missouri)

Not to be confused with Lincoln University (Pennsylvania).

Lincoln University (Lincoln U) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Jefferson City, Missouri. Founded in 1866 by African-American veterans of the American Civil War, it is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. This was the first black university in the state.^[4] In the fall 2023, the university enrolled 1,799 students.

Lincoln University

Former name	Lincoln Institute (1866–1921)
Motto	Laborare et studere
Motto in English	To labor and study
Type	Public historically black land-grant university
Established	January 14, 1866 (1866-01-14)^[1]
Academic affiliations	Space-grant
President	Dr. Stevie Lawrence II (Acting)
Students	1,799 (Fall 2023)^[2]
Undergraduates	1,730 (Fall 2022)
Postgraduates	103 (Fall 2022)
Location	Jefferson City , Missouri , United States 38°33′54″N 92°10′10″W / 38.565070°N 92.169470°W / 38.565070; -92.169470
Campus	167 acres (67.6 ha) (Main campus), 374.68 acres (151.628 ha) (University Farms)
Colors	Navy blue and white^[3]
Nickname	Blue Tigers
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division II – The MIAA
Mascot	Stripes
Website	www.lincolnu.edu

History

Lincoln University Hilltop Campus Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Young Hall
Show map of Missouri     Show map of the United States
Location	820 Chestnut St., Jefferson City, Missouri
Area	9.6 acres (3.9 ha)
Built	1923
Architectural style	Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	83000978^[5]
Added to NRHP	April 28, 1983^[6]

During the Civil War, the 62nd Colored Infantry regiment of the U.S. Army, largely recruited in Missouri, set up educational programs for its soldiers. At the end of the war it raised $6,300 to set up a black school, headed by a white abolitionist officer, Richard Foster, and founded by James Milton Turner, a student and protege of John Berry Meachum.

Foster opened the Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City in 1866. Lincoln had a black student body, both black and white teachers, and outside support from religious groups. The state government provided $5,000 a year to train teachers for the state's new public school system for blacks, including mostly formerly enslaved men and women. ^[7][8]

Under the Morrill Act of 1890, Missouri designated the school a land-grant university, emphasizing agriculture, mechanics and teaching. This provision helped to establish funding for its operations.

By 1921, the college had expanded to offer graduate programs. It was officially designated a university by the state of Missouri. It changed its name to Lincoln University of Missouri. In 1954, it opened its doors to applicants of all ethnicities. It provides both undergraduate and graduate courses.

On May 22, 2019, Jefferson City was hit by an EF-3 Tornado, causing significant damage to the historic President's Residence near the campus.

In May 2021, Lincoln University President Jerald Woolfolk announced her plans to step down at the end of that school year.^[9]

In 2024, Lincoln University alumni called for president John B. Moseley to step down following the suicide of vice-president Antoinette Candia-Bailey.^[10] She had complained of harassment and unfair treatment by him.

Presidents

• Richard Baxter Foster (1866 to 1870)^[11]
• W. B. Payne (1870 to 1871)
• Samuel T. Mitchell (1875 to 1878)
• Inman E. Page (1880 to 1898)^[12][13]
• John H. Jackson (1898 to 1901)
• Edward E. Clarke (1902)
• Benjamin F. Allen (1902 to 1918)
• Clement Richardson (1918 to 1922)^[14][15]
• Inman E. Page (1922 to 1923)^[12][15]
• Nathan B. Young (1923 to 1927)^[15]
• William B. Jason (1927 to 1929)^[15]
• Nathan B. Young (1929 to 1931)^[15]
• Charles W. Florence (1931 to 1937)^[15]
• William B. Jason (1937 to 1938)^[15]
• Sherman D. Scruggs (1938 to 1956)^[15]
• Earl Edgar Dawson (1956 to 1969)^[15]
• Walter C. Daniel (1969 to 1972)^[15]
• James Frank (1973 to 1982)^[15]
• Thomas Miller Jenkins (1984 to 1986)^[16]
• Wendell G. Rayburn (1988 to 1996)^[17]
• David B. Henson (1997 to 2005)^[18]
• Carolyn Mahoney (2005 to 2012)^[19]
• Kevin D. Rome, Sr. (2013 to 2017)^[20]
• Jerald Jones Woolfolk (2018 to 2021)^[21][22]
• John B. Moseley (2022 to present)^[23]

Athletics

Main article: Lincoln Blue Tigers

The Lincoln University athletic teams are called the Blue Tigers. The university is a member of the NCAA Division II ranks, primarily competing in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) since the 2010–11 academic year (which they were a member on a previous stint from 1970–71 to 1998–99, but later left because it had not had a football team since after the 1989 fall season). The Blue Tigers previously competed in the Heartland Conference, of which it was a founding conference member, from 1999–2000 to 2009–10.

Lincoln competes in twelve intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball and track & field.^[24]

The school revitalized its football program and re-entered the MIAA in 2010.^[25] The Lincoln University Women's Track Team made NCAA Division II history by winning the Outdoor Track and Field Championships five consecutive times.^[26]

Alma Mater "Lincoln, O, Lincoln"

The alma mater is sung to the tune of "Ach wie ist's möglich dann", a German folk song published in 1827 and variously credited to Georg Heinrich or Friedrich Silcher Kuchen (the West Point and Wake Forest alma mater songs use the same melody).^[27]

Student activities

Founder's Day, traditionally held on the first Saturday of February, pays tribute to the founders of Lincoln University. Homecoming, usually held in October, is a celebratory time when family and friends of Lincoln University convene to participate in gala activities. Springfest, usually held in late April, celebrates the arrival of spring with games and other activities throughout the week.

Marching Musical Storm

The "Marching Musical Storm" is the university's marching band. It was founded in 1948 and is one of the largest student organizations on campus. The band performs at all home football games, select basketball games, and other school-sanctioned functions throughout the year.^[28]

Student media

• The Clarion (university newspaper)
• KJLU (radio station)
• JCTV (Public-access television)

Notable faculty and staff

• Alan T. Busby (1895–1992), first African American alumnus of the University of Connecticut in 1918.
• Antoinette Candia-Bailey (1974–2024), vice president of student affairs at Lincoln University
• Joseph Carter Corbin (1833–1911), first principal of University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
• Myrtle Craig Mowbray (1883–1974), first African-American woman to graduate from Michigan State University in 1907^[29]
• Oliver Cromwell Cox (1901–1974), member of the Chicago School of Sociology and early world-systems theorist who taught at Lincoln (1949–1970) ^[30]
• Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882–1943), classical composer
• Althea Gibson (1927–2003), black tennis pioneer, Wimbledon, French Open, and US Open champion; athletics instructor in the early 1950s
• Lorenzo Greene (1899–1988), historian who taught at Lincoln University (1933–1972)
• Eugene Haynes (1927–2007), Artist in Residence at Lincoln University (1958–1974)
• Armistead S. Pride (died 1991), journalist and head of Lincoln's journalism department from 1943 to 1976
• W. Sherman Savage (1890–1981), professor of history at Lincoln from 1929 to 1960

Notable alumni

• Antoinette Candia-Bailey (1974–2024), academic administrator
• Maida Coleman (born 1954), senate minority leader in Missouri
• Oleta Crain (1913–2007), advocate for black women's rights and desegregation^[31]
• Rita Heard Days (born 1950), member of both houses of the Missouri State Legislature
• Lloyd L. Gaines (born 1911 – disappeared 1939), disappeared mysteriously after fighting for the right to equal education
• Dorothy Butler Gilliam (born 1936), first African-American female reporter at The Washington Post, co-founder of the National Association of Black Journalists.
• Exie Lee Hampton (1893–1979), active in YWCA, NAACP, Urban League, and settlement work in southern California
• Julius Hemphill (1938–1995), jazz musician
• George Howard, Jr. (1924–2007), first African-American federal judge in Arkansas
• Ann Walton Kroenke (born 1948), Walmart heiress and sports team owner, nursing degree
• Oliver Lake (born 1942), jazz musician
• Leo Lewis (1933–2013), member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame
• Blaine Luetkemeyer (born 1952), U.S. Congressman
• Anderson Delano Macklin (1933–2001), American artist, educator^[32]
• Carey Means (born 1966), voice of Frylock on Aqua Teen Hunger Force
• Zeke Moore (born 1943), football player, former NFL defensive back
• John Collins Muhammad (born 1991), City of St. Louis alderman and Ferguson activist
• Lemar Parrish (born 1947), football player, former eight-time pro bowl National Football League (NFL) defensive back in the 1970s and early 1980s, and former head coach of the Blue Tiger football team from 2004 to 2009
• Joshua Peters (2009), one of the youngest members of the Missouri State House of Representatives, and a former SGA president
• Wendell O. Pruitt (1920–1945), a fighter pilot with the famed 332nd Fighter Group (the Tuskegee Airmen)
• Romona Robinson (born 1969), award-winning Cleveland television news presenter^[33]
• Ted Savage, Major League Baseball Player for multiple teams from 1962 - 1971, Lincoln University Alumni Hall of Fame
• U.S. Grant Tayes (1885–1972) class of 1936; painter, educator, barber, columnist, and musician^[34]
• Moddie Taylor (1912–1976), African-American chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project and became the head of Howard University's Chemistry Department from 1969 to 1976
• Joe Torry, actor and comedian
• Ronald Townson (1933–2001), vocalist, who was an original member of The 5th Dimension, a popular vocal group of the late 1960s and early 1970s
• Leroy Tyus (1916–1998), American politician, real estate developer, and state legislator in Missouri^[35][36]
• William Tecumseh Vernon (1871–1944), Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and a former president of Western University
• A. Wilberforce Williams (1865–1940), American doctor and journalist; attended the normal school associated with Lincoln Institute^[37]

References

1. . Lincolnu.edu. Archived from the original on October 15, 2018. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
2. "Enrollment Report for Missouri Public and Comprehensive Independent Institutions". Missouri Department of Higher Education. December 1, 2024. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
3. This Is Lincoln. A guide to branding our Lincoln University. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
4. "Douglass University Opening". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. December 13, 1926. p. 18. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
5. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
6. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Lincoln Univ. Hilltop Campus Historic District". National Park Service. Retrieved September 8, 2023. With accompanying pictures
7. Lawrence O. Christensen (1999). Dictionary of Missouri Biography. U of Missouri Press. p. 312. ISBN 9780826260161.
8. Brenc, Willie (July 29, 2014). "John Berry Meachum (1789-1854)". Retrieved February 14, 2022.
9. "Lincoln University president resigning after three years". San Francisco Chronicle. May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
10. Edgell, Holly (January 19, 2024). "Lincoln University alumni call for president's ouster after vice president's suicide". STLPR. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
11. Christensen, Lawrence O., William E. Foley, and Gary Kremer, eds. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. University of Missouri Press, 1999, pp. 311–313.
12. Christensen, Lawrence O., William E. Foley, and Gary Kremer, eds. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. University of Missouri Press, 1999, pp. 590-591.
13. "Clipped From The Pittsburgh Courier". The Pittsburgh Courier. January 4, 1936. p. 7. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
14. Marshall, Albert P., "Soldiers' Dream: A Centennial History of Lincoln University of Missouri" (1966). LU History Book Collection, 2., via https://core.ac.uk/download/235156089.pdf
15. Parks, Arnold G. (September 18, 2012). Lincoln University: 1920-1970. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-1-4396-1892-9.
16. "Obituary - Thomas Miller Jenkins, 70". Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 18 , Virginia Tech Scholarly Communication University Libraries. January 25, 1996. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
17. Gale Group; York, J.M. (2003). Who's Who Among African Americans. Gale / Cengage Learning. ISBN 9780787659158. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
18. "David B. Henson, Lincoln U's 17th president". St. Louis American. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
19. "Lincoln University President to retire". KBIA. April 24, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
20. "Fisk names new president". Nashville Post. March 23, 2017.
21. "Jerald Jones Woolfolk, president, Lincoln University". Jefferson City Magazine. October 30, 2018. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
22. "Lincoln University President Woolfolk moves on".
23. "21st Lincoln University President Moseley bio".
24. lubluetigers.com
25. Lincoln returns to MIAA – St. Joseph News-Press – February 2, 2009^{[permanent dead link]}
26. . Lincoln University. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
27. . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
28. . Bluetigerportal.lincolnu.edu. Archived from the original on November 16, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
29. Widder, Keith R. (2005). Michigan Agricultural College: The Evolution of a Land-Grant Philosophy, 1855-1925. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. pp. 346–348. ISBN 0870137344.
30. Hier, Sean P., "The forgotten architect: Cox, Wallerstein, and world-system theory," Race & Class, Vol. 42(3): 69–86.
31. "Oleta L. Crain - Military Officer and Civil Servant" (PDF). Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library.
32. Who's Who in the South and Southwest. Marquis Who's Who. 1976. p. 478. ISBN 978-0-8379-0815-1.
33. "Romona Robinson". WOIO. February 3, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
34. "U.S. Grant Tayes". Missouri Remembers. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
35. "Leroy Tyus, 83; former 20th Ward committeeman, state representative". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 18, 1998. p. 47 – via Newspaper.com.
36. Official Manual of the State of Missouri. Secretary of State. 1957. pp. 164, 167.
37. Richardson, Clement (1919). "A. Wilberforce Williams, M.D.". The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. National Publishing Company. p. 150.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lincoln University (Missouri).

• Official website  
• Official athletics website