EVENT ALERT: On the eve of its 160th Anniversary Lincoln University Alumni Association Sponsors Meet & Greet for NY's LU Alumni October 22 at the Dwyer Cultural Center

ALUMNI ARCH AT LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA

 
By Gloria Dulan-Wilson

Hello All Lincoln University Lions and Lionesses:

Most of you know how much I love my Alma Mater, Lincoln University (PA), and how proud I am of the fact that we are the first and oldest HBCU in the US.  

"Lincoln University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was chartered in April 1854 as Ashmun Institute. As Horace Mann Bond, '23, the eighth president of Lincoln University, so eloquently cites in the opening chapter of his book, Education for Freedom, this was "the first institution found anywhere in the world to provide a higher education in the arts and sciences for male youth of African descent." The story of Lincoln University goes back to the early years of the 19^th century and to the ancestors of its founder, John Miller Dickey, and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson. The Institute was re-named Lincoln University in 1866 after President Abraham Lincoln. "

I do have a tendency to brag about the fact that we're the only college that gave Africa two presidents, Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and Nigeria's Nnamdi Azikewe.  We're the only Black school to have a Black Supreme Court Justice graduate from there Thurgood Marshall; the father of one of our greatest Civil Rights Leaders, Julian Bond, was president at Lincoln U for 12 years - Horace Mann Bond; and was likewise the founder of the Africa America Institute, which just celebrated its 60th anniversary in New York City, recently.  Langston Hughes, one of the greatest poets and playwrights ever, likewise is a Lincoln grad.

"The University is proud of its faculty for the high quality of their teaching, research, and service, and of its alumni, among the most notable of whom are: Langston Hughes, '29, world-acclaimed poet; Thurgood Marshall, '30, first African-American Justice of the US Supreme Court; Hildrus A. Poindexter, '24, internationally known authority on tropical diseases; Roscoe Lee Browne, '46, author and widely acclaimed actor of stage and screen; Gil Scott-Heron musician and revolutionary poet; Randy Cain, vocalist artist, co-founder of the Delphonics, Jacqueline Allen, '74, judge for the Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia; and Eric C. Webb, '91, author, poet and editor-in-chief of Souls of People.  Many of Lincoln's international (African)graduates have gone on to become outstanding leaders in their countries, including Nnamdi Azikiwe, '30, Nigeria's first president; Kwame Nkrumah, '39, first president of Ghana; Rev. James Robinson, '35, founder of Crossroads Africa, which served as the model for the Peace Corps; and Sibusio Nkomo, Ph.D., '81, chairperson, National Policy Institute of South Africa.

Lincoln University accorded honorary Dual Doctorates to former President Jerry John Rawlings and wife Nana Rawlings; and honorary Doctorate to President Joshua Nkomo of  Zimbabwe. (for a more comprehensive list see below).*

The great Albert Einstein loved Lincoln University so much that he dedicated a large portion of his work to the school, which can be viewed at the Langston Hughes Library on the campus. 

Lincoln University was the first Black college to have its own full fledged African Museum, with Nkrumah, Azikewe and other notables sending contributions from their own collections to be housed there.  The museum's collection was so unique, it was let out on loan to other local schools and programs in the area.   Black in the day, Lincoln was the only Black college to have a program for African student refugees from non-independent African countries such as Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Southwest Africa (Namibia), Basutoland (Lesotho), Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Congo (Kinshasha and Brassaville), and a host of other countries working to throw the yoke of colonialism off their backs.  *

Our student population at the time I attended - also Black in the day - was at least 1/3 African and Caribbean, many of whom have gone forward to work in major capacities either with the United Nations, or in key roles in their own countries.   New York City has one of the largest number of Lincoln Alumni outside of Pennsylvania.  

With 160 years of accomplishments looming large, the Lincoln University Alumni Association is reaching out to all of its alumni in the Greater New York Area to re-establish connections, friendships, communications, upgrade memberships, and to plan for an all out gala to celebrate Lincoln's great contributions past, present and future.  I mean it's not every day a Black college turns 160 years old.  This is something special.  This requires a celebration.  

Newly minted President of the Lincoln University Alumni Association, Robert "Bob" Ingram, is coordinating with Dr. Sam E. Anderson (Brooklyn) and yours truly (Gloria Dulan-Wilson - Brooklyn) to put together a Meet and Greet for Lincoln Alumni.

It will be held in the Dwyer Cultural Center, located in the Village of Harlem, at 258 St. Nicholas Avenue - at 123rd Street, on Tuesday, October 22, from 6:00 - 8:30PM.  All Lincoln University, PA alumni are invited to come out.  Bring your pictures, your memories, your creativity, your ideas, and let's how the world how we celebrate Lincoln University.

This is likewise an invitation to all those who were members of Sororities and Fraternities - Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sigma Gamma Rho, Zeta Phi Beta, Omega Psi Phi, Kappa Alpha Psi, Alpha Phi Alpha, Phi Beta Sigma - at Lincoln to come and be a part of this process.  It's a PanHellenic thing.  Wear your colors or wear Lincoln's colors (optional) if you wish.  

Got year books? Bring what you looked like at LU Black in the day.  Time to share.  After all, a lot has changed in 160 years.  What has not changed is that abiding Lincoln Spirit that undergirds us all and gives us the impetus to move forward.

During the first one hundred years of its existence, Lincoln graduated approximately 20 percent of the Black physicians and more than 10 percent of the Black attorneys in the United States. Its alumni have headed over 35 colleges and universities and scores of prominent churches. At least 10 of its alumni have served as United States ambassadors or mission chiefs. Many are federal, state and municipal judges, and several have served as mayors or city managers.

 
If you're reading this and know someone who graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (not Missouri), please pass this on to them, and urge them to attend.  

Lincoln's rich heritage is one that must be shared, honored and expanded.  There area great Lincolnians whose names are not on that list.  You could be one of them. 

Those interested in attending, or for additional information, contact either gloriadulanwilson@gmail.com, seanderson@aol.com,  carol.black@verizon.net, or bingram77

@hotmail.com. 

We look forward to seeing you Tuesday, October 22, as we begin the countdown to year 160.  

HAIL! HAIL! LINCOLN!!!

NOTABLE LINCOLN UNIVERSITY ALUMNI - PARTIAL LIST (per Wikipedia)

Name	Class year	Notability	References
Ebenezer Ako-Adjei		Ghanaian politician, member of the United Gold Coast Convention and The Big Six (Ghana)
Alexander Darnes	1876	Born into slavery, owned by Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, became the second African-American physician in Florida
Walter G. Alexander	1899	first African American to serve in the New Jersey Legislature
Charles E. Anderson	1941	first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Meteorology
Nnamdi Azikiwe	1930	First President of Nigeria
Harry W. Bass	1888	First African American elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1910
A.A. Birch, Jr.	1952	First African-American to serve as Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court
Donald Bogle	1966	Film Historian, Author, Educator
Horace Mann Bond	1923	Educator, scholar, first African-American and Alumnus to become President of Lincoln University
Oscar Brown, Jr.	1940	Singer, actor, playwright, director
Roscoe Lee Browne	1946	Actor, former 800-meters record holder
Maria Louisa Bustill		Teacher and mother of Paul Robeson.
Cab Calloway	1930	entertainer, bandleader
Robert L. Carter	1937	General counsel of the NAACP, United States District Judge
Frank "Tick" Coleman	1935	Educator/ALUMNI GURU
Lillian E. Fishburne	1971	First African American woman promoted to the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.
Christian Fleetwood	1860	Served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, earned the Medal of Honor
William Fontaine	1930	Philosopher
Archibald H. Grimke	1870	Lawyer, journalist, public speaker, member of the Niagara Movement
Francis J. Grimké	1870	Pastor of the 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C., member of the Niagara Movement
Gil Scott-Heron		Attended in the late 1960s, activist, singer-songwriter
Joseph Winthrop Holley	1900	Founder of Albany State University
Langston Hughes	1929	Poet
Roderick L. Ireland	1966	First African American associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court	[2]
Montford "Monte" Irvin		New York Baseball Giants player; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.
Pee Wee Kirkland	2000	former street basketball player from New York City, he played at Rucker Park in the 1970 and 1971 season is regarded as legendary	[3]
Brian Jackson	1973	Keyboardist, writer
Halvern H. Johnson M.D.	1931	Author, organizer and Physician-to-the-Stars
Scott Johnson, Ph.D.	1973	First minority President, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
Saara Kuugongelwa	1994	Namibian politician
Robert Walter "Whirlwind" Johnson	1924	Physician, Educator, Tennis Instructor (including tennis greats Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe)
Robert Lee	1941	South Carolina-born dentist who emigrated to Ghana in 1956 and operated a dental practice there for nearly five decades until his retirement in 2002	[4]
Thurgood Marshall	1930	First African-American Supreme Court Justice
Thomas E. Miller	1872	South Carolina Congressman, and First President of South Carolina State University (1896-1911).
Joseph Miró	1970	politician, Member of the Delaware House of Representatives from the 22nd district
Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.	1932	NAACP lobbyist ("101st U.S. Senator"), civil rights leader
Aaron Albert Mossell	1885	Attorney, first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law
Nathan Francis Mossell	1879	Physician, first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Larry Neal	1961	One of the leaders of the Black Arts Movement in the sixties.	http://www.umich.edu/~eng499/people/neal.html
Robert N.C. Nix, Sr.	1921	First African American elected to Congress from Pennsylvania
Sibusio Nkomo	1981	Chairperson, National Policy Institute of the Republic of South Africa
Kwame Nkrumah	1939	First President of the modern Ghana
Sheila Y. Oliver	1974	First African American Woman Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly
Barrington D. Parker	1936	U.S. Court of Appeals Justice
Fayette Pinkney	1984	singer, One of the original members of the singing group, The Three Degrees
Hildrus Poindexter	1924	Bacteriologist; head of Howard University Medical School in 1934
Charles L. Preston, Jr.	1950	First African American U.S. Postal Inspector
Dr. Joseph Charles Price	1879	Founder of Livingstone College
Brigadier General Harold E. Pierce	1942	internationally renowned African-American Dermatologist and Cosmetic Surgeon
William Drew Robeson I	1876	Minister, father of Paul Robeson
James H. Robinson	1935	Founder of Operation Crossroads Africa (a model for the Peace Corps); Chapters 8, 9 and 10 of Robinson's 1950 autobiography, Road Without Turning, describe life at Lincoln in the early 1930s	[5]
Francis Cecil Sumner	1915	Father of Black psychology, He is the first African American to receive a Ph.D in psychology
Dr. Abdulalim A. Shabazz	1949	Professor of Mathematics, Chairman of the Mathermatics and Computer Science Department at Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) from 1998 to 2000
Wilbert "Bill" Tatum	1958	Publisher Emeritus of The New York Amsterdam News	[6]
Clive Terrelonge	1994	Olympic track and field athlete from Jamaica
Mose Penaani Tjitendero	1968	Namibian politician; former Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia ;Chairman, SWAPO Central Committee
Tjama Tjivikua	1983	Rector of the Polytechnic of Namibia
Melvin B. Tolson	1924	Poet, Educator, Columnist, and Politician
James L. Usry	1946	First African American Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey
Joseph Cornelius Waddy	1935	Federal Judge
Herb J. Wesson Jr.	1999	Speaker of the California State Assembly
Albert H. Wheeler	1936	First African American Mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Boyce Courtney Williams	1974	Vice President, National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education
Bruce M. Wright	1942	Judge in New York and Connecticut, author of "Black Robes, White Justice"	a/k/a "turn 'em loose, Bruce"

• 
•