Allen’s Legacy The Allen University story begins seven years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and five years after the end of the American Civil War. The end of that conflict saw significant expansion of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the former Confederate States. Allen University grew out of the church’s desire to educate newly freed slaves and to ensure a well-trained clergy for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The Right Revered John Mifflin Brown and the assembled clergy of the Columbia District of the AME Church, on July 29, 1870, agreed to raise funds to purchase a 150-acre farm in Cokesbury, South Carolina. They did so in hopes of locating a school there that would be the “FIRST INSTITUTION OF LEARNING CONSECRATED TO NEGRO SELF ACTIVITY AND NEGRO MANHOOD,” in the state of South Carolina. The Reverend Simon Miller led a five-person committee in the actual development of a school on that land. Reverend Miller, who served as Presiding Elder of the Abbeville District of the AME Church and as founding past of Miller Chapel AME Church in Newberry, saw that hope become reality in the establishment of Payne Institute. The school was named in honor of Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne, a native South Carolinian, the founder of Wilberfoce University and the driving force behind the quest for an educated clergy and laity in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Payne Institute came into being in spite on objections of white South Carolinians who had a fear of educated African-Americans, and of black and white missionaries from the northern states, who questioned the ability of the AME Church to undertake such an educational enterprise. Through God’s grace, the Reverend Miller presented the deed for the land and buildings to the Columbia Annual Conference of the AME Church in 1871, making Payne Institute the property of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The next significant development in the history of Allen University came during the Episcopal leadership of the Right Reverend William Fisher Dickerson. Bishop Dickerson saw the opportunity to create a stronger and larger institution by relocating Payne Institute to Columbia, the centrally located capitol city of South Carolina and led the way in doing so in 1880. Property was purchased in Columbia for $6,000, and Payne Institute was relocated and renamed Allen University. The University is the only institution of higher learning named for the Right Reverend Richard Allen, the first consecrated Bishop and acknowledged founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Allen University is the first such institution in South Carolina founded by African-Americans with the purpose of educating African-Americans. The prophetic nature of Bishop Dickerson’s vision for the University was affirmed by the University’s rapid growth in Columbia. Within nine years of Allen University’s establishment and with the leadership of Presidents J.C. Walters and J.W. Morris, the institution produced 75 graduates. Twelve earned baccalaureate degrees, 15 were graduated with degrees in law, and 48 finished the Normal (teaching) Department. A Theological Department was established and named in honor of Bishop Dickerson. Allen University’s initial mission included the education of students at all levels and ages. The University offered not only degrees in law, theology, and arts, but included elementary and high school courses of study. One could at that time enter Allen University as a child in the first grade and leave prepared to teach, preach, or plead in the courts. The grammar school was discontinued in the mid-twenties, and the high school was closed after the graduation of the class of 1933. The University only accepted those who had completed high school for the 1929-33 school term. Allen University has consistently met the challenges of a changing state and nation. The University managed to keep its doors open during the Great Depression and added the Departments of Science and Languages in 1930. The University remained opened during World War II, and welcomed an influx of veterans pursuing college studies following the war. The Departments of Humanities, Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion were added to the existing curricula in 1945. The campus saw major physical expansion from 1940 to 1950, with the construction and acquisition of several buildings. Students of that era and of the sixties have fond memories of a competitive football team, spirited band, and a concert choir that toured nationally as recruiters and fundraisers for the University. Faculty and students of the University were soldiers in the modern battle for civil rights in the fifties and sixties. The productivity of Allen University is reflected in the accomplishments of the graduates of the institution. Alumni of Allen University have distinguished themselves in almost every field of endeavor. Eight graduates of Allen became Presidents of Colleges and Universities. The list includes: •Dr. William C. Brown (Barber Scotia College and Fayetteville State University) •Dr. Lewis Dowdy (North Carolina A&T State University) •Dr. Jerome L. Gresham(Barber Scotia College) •Dr. John Middleton (Morris Brown College) •Dr. Iona B. Mishoe (Delaware State College) •Dr. Wardell Nichols (Allen University) •Dr. Sylvia P. Swinton (Allen University) •Dr. Frank R. Veal (Allen University) Allen University’s leading role in the preparation of clergy for the African Methodist Episcopal Church is reflected in those alumni who have become Bishops of the Church That list includes: •Harrison James Bryant (Deceased) •Vernon Randolph Byrd •William David Chappelle (Deceased) •Monroe Hortensius Davis (Deceased) •Zedekiah Lazett Grady •Lawrence H. Hemingway (Deceased) •Richard Allen Hildebrand •Frederick Calhoun James •Henry Wendell Murph •George Dewey Robinson (Deceased) •Frederick Hilborn Talbot •David R. Daniels, Jr. Allen University alumni continue to prove to the world even in the present century that black people can and do produce worthwhile and needed services in the governmental forces of our state and nation. As a result of the type of training offered at Allen University, several alumni have been elected, served and are still serving in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Allen University celebrated its centennial year in 1970, thus closing a century of fulfilling its educational mission. The institution, founded in 1870 by former slaves, still provides undergraduate education with an unalterable commitment to teaching, research and community service, undergirded by the faith expressed in the motto of the African Methodist Episcopal Church: “God our Father, Christ our Redeemer, Man our brother.” Allen University celebrates each year with a renewed commitment to prepare its students to meet the challenges of this century. That commitment is reflected in the University’s attainment and maintenance of accreditation to award the baccalaureate degree by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and its accepted membership in the UNCF (United Negro College Fund). The University remains faithful to the dreams of its founders and to its historic mission and purpose as expressed in its motto, “We teach the mind to think, the hands to work, and the heart to love.” Past Presidents and Board Chairmen CHAIRMAN OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1870-Present Daniel Alexander Payne 1865-1869 John Mifflin Brown 1876-1880 Bishop William F. Dickerson 1880-1884 Bishop James A. Shorter 1884-1888 Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett 1888-1892 Bishop Moses B. Salter 1892-1896 Bishop James C. Embry 1896-1897 Bishop Abraham Grant 1897-1900 Bishop Wesley J. Gaines 1900-1904 Bishop Levi J. Coppin 1904-1908 Bishop Benjamin F. Lee 1908-1912 Bishop Henry M. Turner 1912-1913 Bishop Levi J. Coppin 1913-1916 Bishop William D. Chappelle 1916-1925 Bishop William W. Beckett 1925-1926 Bishop John Hurst 1926-1930 Bishop Reverdy C. Ransom 1930-1932 Bishop Noah W. Williams 1932-1936 Bishop William D. Johnson 1936-1936 Bishop Joseph S. Flipper 1936-1944 Bishop Frank Madison Reid, Sr. 1944-1956 Bishop Isaiah H. Bonner 1956-1960 Bishop Samuel Richard Higgins 1960-1961 Bishop Carey A. Gibbs 1962-1968 Bishop William F. Ball, Sr. 1968-1972 Bishop Decatur Ward Nichols 1972-1976 Bishop Frank Madison Reid, Jr. 1976-1984 Bishop Frederick Calhoun James 1984-1992 Bishop John Hurst Adams 1992-2000 Bishop Henry A. Belin, Jr. 2000-2004 Bishop Preston Warren Williams II 2004-2012 Bishop Richard F. Norris 2012- PRESIDENTS 1870-Present Rev. J. C. Watts 1881-1885 Joseph W. Morris 1885-1894 Rev. John Q. Johnson 1894-1895 Joseph W. Morris 1895-1897 Rev. William David Chappelle 1897-1899 Rev. David H. Johnson 1899-1904 Rev. William D. Johnson 1904-1908 Rev. David Chappelle 1908-1912 Rev. William W. Beckett 1912-1916 Rev. Robert W. Mance 1916-1924 Rev. David H. Sims 1924-1932 Abram L. Simpson 1932-1937 Eugene Howard McGill 1937-1939 Samuel Richard Higgins 1939-1956 Frank R. Veal 1956-1961 Howard E. Wright 1961-1965 Benjamin J. Glover 1965-1967 James W. Hairston 1967-1973 Benjamin Glover 1973-1976 Ruben S. Turner 1976-1977 Alvis Adair 1977-1977 G. W. Nichols 1979-1981 David W. Williams 1981-1983 Sylvia Swinton (Interim) 1983-1984 Collie Coleman 1984-1994 David T. Shannon, Sr. 1994-1997 John K. Waddell 1997-2001 Charles E. Young 2001-2010 Pamela M. Martin 2010-2013 Allen’s Legacy Administration – See more at: http://www.allenuniversity.edu/about-us/allens-legacy/#sthash.P5rhE7cq.dpuf