Lincoln University, Chester County

University History

In 1854 Rev. John Miller Dickey, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson, a Quaker, founded Ashmun Institute, later named Lincoln University. They named it after Jehudi Ashmun, a religious leader and social reformer. They founded the school for the education of African Americans, who had few opportunities.

John Miller Dickey was the first president of the college. He encouraged some of his first students: James Ralston Amos (1826-1864), his brother Thomas Henry Amos (1825-1869), and Armistead Hutchinson Miller (1829/30-1865), to support the establishment of Liberia as a colony for African Americans. Each of the men became ordained ministers.

In 1866, Ashmun Institute was renamed Lincoln University after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

The college attracted highly talented students from numerous states, especially during the long decades of legal segregation in the South. As may be seen on the list of notable alumni (link below), many went on to achievements in careers in academia, public service, the arts and many other fields.

In 1945 Dr. Horace Mann Bond, an alumnus of Lincoln, was selected as the first African-American president of the university. During his 12-year tenure, he continued to do social science research, and helped support the important civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education, decided in 1954 by the US Supreme Court. He established an important relationship with the collector Albert C. Barnes, who ensured Lincoln University had a role in the management of his art collection, the Barnes Foundation.

In 1972 Lincoln University formally associated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a state-related institution.