FISK UNIVERSITY.
J. G. MERRILL, D.D., DEAN.
There was romance in its birth. Regimental bands headed the procession; army officers, men of renown, North and South, gathered in the hospital barracks; thousands of ex-slaves, were there. One passion animated this dusky throng. To learn to read was the ambition of the bright colored boy, of his sedate but none the less eager sire, and of the veteran grandparent with white hair and with eyes that must learn the alphabet by the aid of spectacles.
JUBILEE HALL.
Builded with money earned by the original Jubilee Singers.
THE RAW MATERIAL.
It was a moment of inspiration. The man to appreciate the hour and give utterance to its meaning, was there. He had hardly surrendered his commission as chaplain in the army. He had fought to win the freedom of a race. To make that race true free men was a task much more vast than to emancipate them. The parting of the ways had come. An illiterate people must be taught. No longer should it be a crime to instruct them. The rather was he the criminal who should deny them an education. It was an hour for the voice of a prophet. With the ken of a seer, Chaplain Cravath, representing the American Missionary Association, Jan. 9th, 1866, made the proclamation, that the founding of the school inaugurated that day was the beginning of a great educational institution, that should give to the emancipated race the opportunities and advantages of education which had so long been furnished to the white race in their colleges and universities.