Page:The New Negro.pdf/359

Rh ciency. It was in this wise that Howard University and its sister institutions were born.

Howard University assumed the name and rank of a uni- versity from the beginning. To project an institution of learning on the highest intellectual standards for a race that had not yet learned the use of letters was an astounding feat of faith. But the faith of the founders has been abundantly vindicated by the fruits of their foundation. Howard University not only assumed the name, but the several departments with range and reaches of studies which justified the title of university according to the prevailing standards of American institutions of learning. In addition to the regular collegiate courses, it carried departments of agriculture, theology, law and medicine. These have been continued practically as projected down to the present time. This institution, like all others of its class, had to begin with the primary grades of instruction, as it was intended to meet the needs of a race at the zero point of culture. But by reason of the rapid progress of the education of the Negro race at large, it soon found it expedient to eliminate the lower grades one by one, until it now operates only degree courses of a collegiate and professional character. Howard University has thus modernized and extended its curriculum until it now has a recognized place in the sisterhood of American colleges. It is on the accredited list of the Association of Schools and Colleges of the Middle States and Maryland, which includes such nationally known institutions as Columbia, Cornell, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

Howard University was chartered as a university for the education of youth in the liberal arts and sciences. At that time education was extolled chiefly in its cultural and humanitarian aspects. The stress of emphasis was laid on manhood rather than mechanism. The man was educated for his worth rather than his work. To be somebody counted for more than to do something. Produce the man, the rest will follow. The chief aim of the founders of Howard University as of other Negro institutions of like character was to develop a body of Negro men and women with disciplined faculties and liberal-