Wilberforce University male students or faculty   Save
National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center
Description: Group portrait of male students or faculty outside a brick building at Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio. The portrait depicts three rows of men (one standing, one seated on chairs and the third on the ground in foreground) in front of a building. The image has been damaged making it hard to see the seated figures. In 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church established Wilberforce University near Xenia, Ohio, to provide African Americans access to a college education. The university was the first private black college in the United States, and was named by its founders after William Wilberforce, a prominent eighteenth-century abolitionist. A number of African American Ohioans attended the school during its early years. During the American Civil War, attendance declined as many students enlisted in the Union army. Wilberforce University closed in 1862. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03810
Subjects: Greene County (Ohio); Multicultural Ohio -- African American Ohioans; Wilberforce University; Students -- Ohio
Places: Wilberforce (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)