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Straight University (known as Straight College after 1915) was an American
historically black college Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...
that operated between 1868 and 1934 in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, Louisiana. After struggling with financial difficulties, it was merged with
New Orleans University New Orleans University was a historically black college that operated between 1869 and 1935 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It was founded by Freedmen's Aid Society and the Methodist Episcopal Church. It merged with Straight College in ...
to form
Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of C ...
.


History

Responding to the post-
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
need to educate newly freed African Americans in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the surrounding region, the
American Missionary Association The American Missionary Association (AMA) was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on in Albany, New York. The main purpose of the organization was abolition of slavery, education of African Americans, promotion of racial equality, and ...
of the Congregational Church founded Straight University on June 12, 1868. Straight University received its name as recognition for
Seymour Straight Seymour may refer to: Places Australia *Seymour, Victoria, a township **Seymour railway station * Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria * Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria * Sey ...
's initial endowment gift. Straight was a wealthy cheese manufacturer from
Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in northern Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan area. John Brown made his first public vow to destroy slavery here and the ci ...
. In 1915, the name "Straight University" was changed to Straight College, which more accurately represented the scope of the school's curriculum and program. Missionary work was a core concern, but was primarily prompted and championed by the post-war local need of providing a school where African Americans could aspire to the highest education available after Emancipation. Classes were first held in a Congregational church, but by 1871, a main university building was erected on the northeast corner of Esplanade Avenue and N. Derbigny Street. As Union soldiers left New Orleans in 1877, the main university building was set ablaze in an act of arson. The structure was completely demolished, and the campus was relocated to the corner of Canal Street and Tonti Street. In 1930, Straight merged with New Orleans University to form Dillard University, Louisiana's oldest historically black university. which extended from New Orleans to Africa. It was a college that admitted students regardless of their backgrounds, advertising in 1871:
The old and young can enter at this Institution any day, no distinction made in regard to race or color. The design of the Institution, is to furnish opportunities to those wishing a rapid, thorough and practical business education .. Parties having ordinary ability, who have entirely neglected their education now have the opportunity to qualify themselves for almost any position in the State, in an incredible short time. From two to three months is all that requires to complete the commeral 'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''course. Terms duced to suit the times [''sic''">sic">'sic<_a>''.html" ;"title="sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''course. Terms duced to suit the times [''sic''
Throughout its history, Straight offered courses of study ranging from Elementary education">elementary Elementary may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001 * ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007 * ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977 Other uses in arts, entertainment, an ...
- to college-level courses in music and theology. In 1934, after struggling with financial difficulties during the Great Depression, Straight College was merged with
New Orleans University New Orleans University was a historically black college that operated between 1869 and 1935 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It was founded by Freedmen's Aid Society and the Methodist Episcopal Church. It merged with Straight College in ...
to form
Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of C ...
.


Law department

Straight University also offered professional training, including a law department from 1874 to 1886. Its graduates participated in local and national
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
and post-Reconstruction era
civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
struggles. For example,
Louis André Martinet Louis André Martinet (December 28, 1849 - June 7, 1917) was a lawyer, publisher, medical doctor, civil rights activist and state legislator in Louisiana during the Reconstruction era. Biography He was born December 28, 1849, in St. Martinvill ...
, an 1876 graduate of Straight University Law School, published ''The Crusader''—a civil rights daily; co-founded the ''
Comité des Citoyens The (; ) was a civil rights group made up of African Americans, whites, and Creoles. It is most well known for its involvement in '' Plessy v. Ferguson''. The Citizens' Committee was opposed to racial segregation and was responsible for multiple ...
'' (Citizens' Committee) in New Orleans, which worked for civil rights; and played a significant role in setting up the challenge to segregation of ''
Plessy v. Ferguson ''Plessy v. Ferguson'', 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that ...
'', a landmark Supreme Court case. His classmate
Dan Desdunes Daniel F. Desdunes (c. 1870 – April 24, 1929) was a civil rights activist and musician in New Orleans and Omaha, Nebraska. In 1892 he volunteered to board a train car designated for whites in violation of the Louisiana 1890 Separate Car Act ...
joined him in this effort before moving to
North Omaha, Nebraska North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the ...
, to become a band leader. The Law department is historically notable as an integrated institution where blacks and whites were trained side by side. "It is an interesting fact of our 50 law graduates, 35 have been white." The school struggled to provide its law students with a proper research library. The students typically met for classes in the law professors' offices. In 1886, Straight discontinued the Law Department. It began to focus primarily on
liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...
,
industrial arts Industrial arts is an educational program that features the fabrication of objects in wood or metal using a variety of hand, power, or machine tools. Industrial Arts are commonly referred to as Technology Education. It may include small engine ...
, and teacher training.


Campus

The campus faced
Canal Street Canal Street may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Canal Street (Manchester), Manchester, England * Canal Street, Oxford, Jericho, Oxford, England United States * Canal Street (Buffalo), a street and district at the western terminus of the Er ...
, occupying the block between Tonti and Rocheblave streets backed by Gasquet (now Cleveland Avenue). After the university was merged with the newly created
Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of C ...
, the campus buildings served as a school and YWCA for nearly two decades. They were demolished in 1950.


Notable alumni

Some graduates brought education and medical care to
African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...
during the early part of the 20th century.
Physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
James W. Ames James W. Ames (October 12, 1864 in New Orleans, Louisiana – January 31, 1944 in Detroit, Michigan) was an American physician. Ames was educated at Straight University (later merged into Dillard University) in New Orleans, and then received ...
, for example, founded the first hospital for blacks in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
in 1910. He created
Dunbar Hospital The Dunbar Hospital was the first hospital for the black community in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is located at 580 Frederick Street, and is currently the administrative headquarters of the Detroit Medical Society. It was listed on the ...
for physicians and patients of color, as they were unable to practice in or be admitted to Detroit hospitals operated by whites.
Nellie A. Ramsey Leslie Nellie A. Ramsey Leslie (better known as N.A.R. Leslie; Coles; c. 1840s-c. 1920s) was notable as a teacher, musician and composer, working in Louisiana and Mississippi, and then in Indian Territory and Corpus Christi, Texas, where she founded a ...
became a pioneer teacher in
Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
and later in Texas. Other notable alumni include
Tom Yarborough Thomas R. Yarborough (July 23, 1895 – March 19, 1969) was an American civic leader and politician. In 1948, he became the first African American elected to a California city council. In 1966, Yarborough became the first African American mayor ...
, the first Black mayor in California;
P.B.S. Pinchback Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (May 10, 1837 – December 21, 1921) was an American publisher, politician, and Union Army officer who served as Governor of Louisiana from December 9, 1872 to January 13, 1873. Pinchback is commonly referr ...
(second African-American lieutenant governor of Louisiana and first African-American governor of any U.S. state);
Ernest Lyon Ernest A. Lyon (October 22, 1860 – July 17, 1938) was an African-American minister, educator and diplomat. Early life and education Lyon was born on October 22, 1860, in on the coast of Belize, British Honduras to Emmanuel Lyon and Ann ...
(educator and U.S. Ambassador to Liberia); Mary Booze (first African American to sit on the
Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...
, serving from
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
from 1924 to 1948);
Alice Dunbar Nelson Alice Dunbar Nelson (July 19, 1875 – September 18, 1935) was an American poet, journalist, and political activist. Among the first generation of African Americans born free in the Southern United States after the end of the American Civil War, ...
, forerunner of the
Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...
; and
Theodore K. Lawless Theodore Kenneth (T.K.)"Theodore La ...
, a dermatologist and philanthropist.


See also

*
Storer College Storer College was a historically Black college in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, that operated from 1867 to 1955. A national icon for Black Americans, in the town where the 'end of American slavery began', as Frederick Douglass famously put i ...


References


Bibliography

* *


External links


Straight University and Professor H.H. Swain Collection
a
The Historic New Orleans Collection
{{authority control Universities and colleges established in 1868 Universities and colleges in New Orleans Defunct private universities and colleges in Louisiana Educational institutions disestablished in 1934 Dillard University 1868 establishments in Louisiana 1934 disestablishments in Louisiana