SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LANGSTON HUGHES MEMORIAL LIBRAM LINCOLN UNIVERSITY LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA 193.52 iromtheBOCtoof Nj- J* - sic •V J >i1 ? v Gladys Renwick + A CENTURY OF ENDEAVOR IN BEHALF OF AN IDEAL .. 3 ree men in a free wor(d mmk':-s. • :%:t, ^Jhroufyli education >> an d brotherhood Lincoln University, Pennsylvania Published by the Senior Class of Lincoln University . .. MARKS FOREWORD LINCOLN—"1854-1954" Lincoln—"A Century of Heritage and Knowledge" "A century of endeavor in behalf of an ideal marks one hundred years at Lincoln University," clearly illustrates the dynamic challenge that Lincoln faced during the first century of her existence. During the course of those one-hundred trying years Lincoln has striven to promote the qualities of leadership and education through true brotherhood of men. The untiring efforts of Lincoln's faculty arid administration sought repeatedly to prepare the students to take their respective positions in the world. True to form Men of Lincoln set their standards high and progressed continuously to achieve the highest status possible in their respective undertakings. rfSr We who have witnessed the progress of Lincoln within the past four of Lincoln's one-hundred years have seen the many changes made to meet an accelerated society. As we, the class of '54, pass CONTENTS through the portals of our dear Alma Mater for the last time, in respect to our phases of academic work, we can't help taking with us School History Page 7 a deep sense of duty and responsibility to Lincoln. For it was through Administration Page 15 your varied efforts, Lincoln, that we approached the point where we stand ready to cope with any new challenge irrespective of its nature. Seniors You have taught us that our every effort can only be achieved through the promotion of an exacting sense of our theme, "Free Men in a Free World Through Education and Brotherhood." DEDICATION Dear Lincoln, our beloved, upon thee we bestow our highest praises. From within thy doors has come to us a token of remembrance, a scope of manhood and worldliness. Within the hearts of thy loyal Dolores Lee, of Brooklyn, New York, sons will ever live the love for scholarship and achievement, the a Junior attending the Eastern School love of freedom and brotherhood. for Physicians, salutes Lincoln Univer- In thine own ways, thou hast branded upon this Earth a unique sity. structure of mere simplicity—a tribute to the beauty of all which hast so long endured. In parallel with the alterations and improvements necessarily wit- nessed with the advent of time, you have been a vivid competitor, ever showing your merits for existence. In more than the value of one hundred years of development, may the aims thus far established be felt multifold in thy succeeding years. 2094 . X. ^U r^auULr, of t^U^ -a* • ''/<<'<:*"/• j M. eU*/. y Sty. */"<«>,•••/?'„..- / //>. »•</-, vt'/u hut/., tu*t/»c j (A. autAr-Jf s A :./> ,J IrfrU'rAt.rO ,<?/ fr *./LUU, CLU.*, U. '/- .•;. A,/,'/.. * f 6* r..ly .ft* tA* C di-utj.t,, (oUti.tU- <*- f ,1. y,«cA */ t/<- <Xy, Jytiu *«•<• 'J/u- " ourc y - p to./ ft W.y *L >>n>-/>r. u/„ f..'M Uu,\.- /„,,/. *,y<t<A/* *>« '<•/ /••'<'- <-' - a A e/u /,**..*>. ' ", WW, ^ A /.'.•/** «>•>»'> **'L <f"'f • trt/n+fc. A <*<•-/"• /' "" /-VA/V.A, <>/"'«'<< — V/'/' f,^/, a:'.*. " "]> ~ ./ <<•>•"" '*>•« ""«</'•""* * <v /it.rty. f, oj/ /;" , y /„,, , y *A . / f C / ~ A'"/-"- , "C/ / ./. , ,./„. J..'- A.. <*../>• A'" *»«•ff.. '•••J ; ./,., •/ •J 'ti- /• fa,././:/... C -'' '/ y.u,.. • •/./•• 1854—1954 A HISTORY I Lincoln University is an intellectual, spiritual and social, as well as an educational institution. Its history, therefore, is a drama meaningless aside from historical backdrop against which the actors in this long drama have portrayed their respective roles. This account, therefore, parallels the history of the institution with significant dates in the majestic panorama of the civilizations of which it is the child. Lincoln University is in fact much older than 100 years. The oldest, and most persistent thread finally woven into its fabric, is the idea that there is but one God. (2000 B.C.: the Ancients, principally the Jews, develop a monotheistic reli- gious faith). This great idea accepted, a necessary corollary is that God is the Father of all Man- kind: all men are Brothers. If every Man is your Brother, you owe to him every mutuality of love and helpfulness. We owe Judaism eternal grati- tude for this majestic conception. But with them the idea never fully outgrew a restriction of its application to their own people, who came to be a specially "chosen" people of God. Through the life and death of Jesus Christ (4 B.C .-29 A.D.), a Jew, the idea broadened to include men of every race and creed. All men who believed in Him as the Son of God, could by an Act of Faith become, a Chosen People, whether Jew or Gentile, white, black, brown or yellow. Old Postcard showing Lincoln University's Build- In itself a simple Faith, competition with ings. other religions, and Man's inveterate tendency to complicate his affairs, soon required the tech- nical apparatus of a philosophy, and Theology, to defend it against unbelievers. The early Chris- tians borrowed largely from Greek sources, mainly Aristotle and Plato. An important first systematizer was St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.). His theolog- ical system dominated the early Church, and were re-worked twelve hundred years later by John Houston Hall, Seminary Building. Calvin to undergird the Calvinistic version the Protestant Reformation. From 1350-1600 the Reformation, and the Catholic Counter-Reformation, gave impetus to the idea of education for everyone; the authority of clericals as the sole interpreters of the Scrip- tures had been undermined. In Scotland, John Knox, disciple of Calvin, developed a system of universal education (1561) that gave his Presby- terian followers a veritable passion for higher education. The pastor must also be the teacher; for both functions he needed to be a university- trained man. John Miller Dickey, Lincoln's Rendall Hall, Newest Dormitory. Founder, a Presbyterian minister, had the pro- foundest Christian conviction of human brother- hood under God, and shared Knox's faith in higher education. A second religious strain was the humanitarian zeal among people called Quakers. The Founder married a Quaker woman, Sarah Emlen Cresson. The Quakers were first in America to condemn human slavery. Their Founder, George Fox (1624- 1691), denounced slavery in 1672. The Quaker Saint, John Woolman, succeeded in 1754 in per- suading the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to take a definitively strong stand against the "peculiar institution." A third important influence was the more secular scientific "Enlightenment Philosophers": Voltaire, in France; Adam Smith, in England; Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Ben- jamin Rush in America. They developed the revolutionary idea of the "natural rights of man" and helped precipitate revolutions in Europe and America. (1775-1793). Their theories of human equality and brotherhood were part of the con- verging forces and personalities that, in 1854, chartered Ashmun Institute, now Lincoln Uni- versity. II A staccato of great events accompanies the corporate history of Lincoln University. (In 1853 Perry opened Japan to the West; the Crimean Ladies' Auxiliary and New Guest House, com- pleted in 1954. President J. N. Rendall and Faculty. The University Band in 1904 Four students admitted in 1873, before and after Baseball Team in 1912 graduation. Convocation at Tindley Temple, Philadelphia. The Class of 1934 with President William Hal President Bond confers Honorary D.D. Degree lock Johnson and Prefessor Walter L. Wright. upon Lt. Col. Elmer Gibson, '26. I W/ar began). The first Charter was granted onl Ashmiin Institute was renamed Lincolun Univer- April 29, 1854. (The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, sity in 1866. (In the South the Klu Klux Klan threatening extension of the slave states, passed was formed to suppress Negro rights; in Con- the Senate May 22, 1854). The institution at; gress, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed first directed its mission toward Africa, so hope- over Johnson's veto). Expansive plans were made less seemed prospects for Negroes in America. to establish full university schools of law, medi- Classes began January 1, 1857. (The Dred Scott cine, and Theology. (The 14th Amendment was Decision, denying that Negroes, either free or ratified in 1868, to protect the civil rights of slave, were citizens, was handed down March 6, Negroes. The 15th Amendment, to guarantee his 1857). With John Miller Dickey providing the citizenship and franchise rights, was ratified in principal support from his personal funds, the 1870). early years were poverty-ridden. In 1859 the first The financial panic of 1873 closed all but the three graduates went to Liberia, in Africa. (That College of Liberal Arts and the Theological Sem- October John Brown raided Harpers Ferry. The inary. It was slowly realized that the Civil War Civil War began in 1861). had not solved all of the bitter problems of racial Civil War emptied the school when most stu- inequality. (The Hayes-Tilden compromise of dents enlisted. John Carter served as President 1876 ended Reconstruction). from 1856-1862, John Martin from 1862-1865. From his election in 1865 to his retirement in (The Emancipation Proclamation took effect Jan- 1905, and, indeed, beyond his death in 1912, uary 1, 1863. The Civil War ended with Lee's Isaac N. Rendall placed his firm stamp on every surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865; aspect of the institution. Never married, he was Abraham Lincoln died of an assassin's bullet on "Pap" to the "boys," whom he insisted on treat- April 15; the 13th Amendment to the Constitu- ing as men.