Introduction
Fisk University -- located in Nashville, Tennessee -- started out as the Fisk
School in former Union army barracks in 1866, two years after the Emancipation
Proclamation. It became Fisk University on August 22, 1967. Its founders hoped
it would be an educational institution that would be open to all, regardless
of race, and that would measure itself by "the highest standards, not of
Negro education, but of American education at its best."
From its earliest days Fisk has played a leadership role in the education of African
Americans. Fisk faculty and alumni have been among America's intellectual, artistic
and civic leaders in every generation since the University's beginning. Among
its alumni are W.E.B Du Bois (class of 1888), social critic and cofounder of
the NAACP; John W. Work, Sr., John W. Work Jr. and John W. Work III, acclaimed
composer-musicologists; Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice; John Hope
Franklin, eminent historian; and Nikki Giovanni, poet.
More African-American alumni of Fisk go on to get their PhDs than any institution, black or white, in the United States.
SLU - Fisk Exchange
Since 1995 St. Lawrence University has offered students the opportunity to study
at Fisk University during the spring semester. The agreement between Fisk and
St. Lawrence University is reciprocal; Fisk students spend fall semester on
the St. Lawrence University campus.
