Tougaloo College

In 1869, the American Missionary Association of New York purchased 500 acres (202 ha) of one of the largest former plantations in central Mississippi to build a college for freedmen and their children, recently freed slaves. The purchase included a standing mansion and outbuildings, which were immediately converted for use as a school.[2] The next year expansion of facilities began in earnest with the construction of two new buildings — Washington Hall, a 70-foot-long edifice containing classrooms and a lecture hall, and Boarding Hall, a two-story building which included a kitchen and dining hall, a laundry, and dormitories for 30 female students.[2]

Costs of construction were paid by the United States government through the education department of its Bureau of Refugees and Freedmen.[2] Additional funds, totaling $25,500 in all, were provided for development of the school farm, including monies for farm implements and livestock.[2]

In 1871, the Mississippi State Legislature granted the new institution a formal charter under the name of Tougaloo University. No contingency fund was provided for the day-to-day operation of the school, with some students paying a tuition of $1 per month while others attended tuition free, contributing labor on the school farm in lieu of fees.[2] The cost of two teachers at the school for five months were paid by the county boards of education of Hinds and Madison Counties; all additional operating funds were provided by the American Missionary Association.[2]

In its initial incarnation, Tougaloo University was not a university in the modern sense of the term, instead serving as an institution which provided basic education of black students born under slavery along with the training of capable African-American students for service as teachers. At the end of 1871, the school included 94 "elementary students", 47 that were part of the "normal school", and 1 categorized as "academic" — a total student body of 142.[3] At this time the school found itself in dire need of expanded facilities and operational funds and an appeal was made by three leaders of Tougaloo University to the Mississippi Superintendent of Public Education for a state role in the institution.[3] Legislation followed authorizing the establishment of a State Normal School on the grounds of Tougaloo and providing a total of $4,000 for two years to help provide teachers' salaries, student aid, and for the purchase of desks.[3]

As part of the establishment of the Normal School at Tougaloo, each county in the state was provided with two free scholarships, and every student declaring an intention to teach in Mississippi's common schools was to be allotted a stipend of 50 cents per week out of the state funds for student aid, an amount capped at $1,000 per year.[4]

In 1873, Tougaloo University added a theological department for students intending on entering the Christian ministry and expanded its industrial department, adding a cotton gin, apparatus for grinding corn, and developing capacity for the manufacture of simple furniture on site.[4]

On January 23, 1881, Washington Hall — the main classroom building — caught fire during religious services and was entirely destroyed.[5] For the rest of the academic year, classes were conducted in a new barn recently constructed on campus, nicknamed "Ayrshire Hall".[5] In the spring, a brickyard was established on campus and on May 31, 1881, the foundation was laid for a new classroom building, a three-storey facility named Strieby Hall after Reverend M.E. Strieby of New York, a venerated leader of the American Missionary Association.[5]

Courses for college credit were first offered in 1897, and the first Bachelor of Arts degree was awarded in 1901.

In 1916, the name of the institution was changed to Tougaloo College.

Tougaloo remained predominantly a teacher training school until 1920 when the college ceased receiving aid from the state.

Six years after Tougaloo's founding, the Home Missionary Society of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) obtained a charter from the Mississippi State Legislature to establish a school at Edwards, Mississippi, to be known as Southern Christian Institute. That same year, Sarah Ann Dickey, who had worked with the American Missionary Association since the 1860s, established the Mount Hermon Female Seminary, which would later merge with Tougaloo in 1924,[6] as the two schools had similar ideals and goals. Similarly, the Southern Christian Institute would merge with Tougaloo in 1954.

The new college combined the resources of the two supporting bodies and renewed its dedication to educational advancement and the improvement of race relations in Mississippi. The alumni bodies of the two institutions united to become the National Alumni Association of Tougaloo Southern Christian College. In 1962, by vote of the board of trustees, and with the agreement of the supporting bodies, the school's name was returned to its last before the 1954 merger, Tougaloo College.

Carmen J. Walters, the fourteenth president (and second female president), began her tenure July 1, 2019. She stepped down in June of 2023 and Donzell Lee was appointed interim president.[7]

In 2020, Tougaloo received $6 million (~$6.25 million in 2021) from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. It is the largest gift from a single donor in Tougaloo's history.[8]

• Ernst Borinski (1901–1983), sociologist and intellectual[27]
• L. Zenobia Coleman (1898–1999), librarian[28]
• James W. Loewen (1942–2021), author.[29]
• John U. Monro (1912–2002), director of the writing center[30][31]