Fisk University

Fisk University is a private, historically Black university at 1000 17th Avenue North in North Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1866, just after the Civil War ended, it is Nashville's oldest college or university. One of the country's most respected historically Black colleges, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. What began as a school for formerly enslaved people in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War has become an internationally recognized liberal arts institution whose alumni and students have shaped American history, culture, and civic life for more than 150 years.

Founding and Early History

In 1865, John Ogden arrived in Nashville as superintendent of education for the Freedmen's Bureau in Tennessee. The Reverend Edward P. Smith of the American Missionary Association and the Reverend Erastus M. Cravath met with him and agreed that Nashville could be the home of a normal school for African Americans. Later that year, the organizers purchased land on the city's outskirts, and General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen's Bureau secured former Union Army hospital barracks for the school's use. The institution was named in his honor.

Located near what is now Union Station, the institution held its first classes on January 9, 1866. That opening class was remarkable. Students ranged in age from 7 to 70. Every student had known slavery and poverty, yet they came with an extraordinary desire for education. Within weeks, enrollment reached 900, demonstrating the profound hunger for learning among freedpeople.

The American Missionary Association, which would later become part of the United Church of Christ, sponsored the school's founders. Fisk retains that affiliation today.

During Reconstruction, Tennessee's General Assembly passed laws enabling free public education, which meant more teacher training was needed. In 1867, the Fisk Free Colored School was reorganized and incorporated as Fisk University to focus on higher education. A major achievement came in 1875, when James Dallas Burrus, John Houston Burrus, and Virginia E. Walker graduated, becoming the first African-American students to complete a liberal arts college curriculum south of the Mason-Dixon line.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers

By 1871, the university faced a genuine crisis. Buildings were deteriorating, enrollment kept growing, and closure seemed likely. The student choir proposed a solution: they would tour and raise money through concerts. Eleven students left Nashville on October 6, 1871, carrying the entire university treasury with them to fund travel costs.

Early performances drew little interest. But that changed quickly. Soon their concerts moved audiences across America and Europe to tears, and the group performed before figures including William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Ulysses S. Grant, William Gladstone, Mark Twain, Johann Strauss, and Queen Victoria. The world came to know them as the Fisk Jubilee Singers. They introduced audiences everywhere to the Negro spiritual as a distinct American musical form, fundamentally changing how American and European listeners understood Black music and culture.

After a year touring Europe, the singers returned to Nashville in May 1874. They had raised nearly $50,000, enough to construct a new building called Jubilee Hall on the new campus. It was the South's first permanent structure built specifically for the education of Black students. Designated a National Historic Landmark, Jubilee Hall remains the symbolic center of Fisk's campus today.

Every October 6, Fisk honors that original departure. The modern Jubilee Singers, a Grammy Award-winning ensemble, perform at a university convocation and then make a pilgrimage to the graves of the original singers, connecting the institution's present to its founding story.

Campus and Historic Designation

The campus was dedicated in 1876. It sits on a low hill roughly two miles northwest of downtown Nashville, on the former site of Fort Gillem, a Union fortification during the Civil War. The campus lies near Jefferson Street, historically the commercial and cultural heart of Nashville's African-American community. At 47 acres, it's an intimate setting. The student-to-faculty ratio is 8 to 1.

In 1978, the Fisk University Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the broader campus received National Historic Landmark status that same year. A U.S. Congressional grant helped fund substantial restoration work during the 1990s.

Carnegie Hall stands out architecturally. Originally built as a library in 1908, it was the first major building designed by Moses McKissack III, co-founder of the first African-American-owned architecture firm in the United States. The Carl Van Vechten Gallery, built in 1888 and originally a gymnasium, became an art gallery named for photographer Carl Van Vechten. It houses Fisk's renowned Stieglitz Collection of modern art, which includes works Georgia O'Keeffe donated from photographer Alfred Stieglitz's estate, along with paintings by O'Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Cézanne. The university library holds papers belonging to John Mercer Langston, George Gershwin, W.C. Handy, and alumnus W.E.B. Du Bois.

Fisk's fine arts resources are substantial. The Aaron Douglas Gallery, named for the Harlem Renaissance painter who taught at Fisk for decades, holds significant works from the African-American artistic tradition. The university is recognized in Nashville as a regional resource for fine arts expertise, and its collections draw researchers from across the country.

Fisk announced in March 2026 plans to move forward with a multi-phase renovation project intended to modernize facilities across the historic campus while preserving its landmark character.

Academics and Rankings

The university offers undergraduate degrees across four broad areas: business administration; humanities and fine arts, including religion and philosophy; natural science and mathematics, including computer science; and social sciences, including psychology and public administration. Graduate programs are available in biology, chemistry, physics, general and clinical psychology, sociology, and social gerontology. A joint MBA program with Vanderbilt University extends the academic options available to students.

In 1930, Fisk became the first African-American institution accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a significant achievement that predated broad regional accreditation access for historically Black institutions. Phi Beta Kappa selected Fisk in 1952, making it the first historically Black college or university to host a chapter of that honor society.

Research is an active part of campus life. The Center for Photonic Materials and Devices, funded by NASA, and the Molecular Spectroscopy Research Laboratory reflect Fisk's strength in the natural sciences. In 2025, the university received a $100,000 grant to launch a Student Success Center, which will expand academic support services and work to improve student retention and graduation outcomes.

For the 2026 edition of Best Colleges, U.S. News & World Report ranked Fisk No. 156 among National Liberal Arts Colleges and No. 35 among Top Performers on Social Mobility. Fall 2024 undergraduate enrollment was 1,035 students. The Bulldogs, Fisk's varsity athletic teams, compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

In October 2025, Fisk appointed Dr. Brian L. Nelms as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, with a focus on strengthening academic programs and institutional partnerships.

Leadership

Dr. Agenia W. Clark serves as president of Fisk University. In early 2026, as the university marked its 160th anniversary, Clark finalized her senior cabinet, setting the administrative direction for the university's next chapter. The cabinet appointments were part of a broader effort to position Fisk for long-term growth in academics, enrollment, and institutional partnerships.

Also in 2026, Fisk announced that Academy Award nominee Delroy Lindo would serve as commencement speaker for its 152nd commencement ceremony, a reflection of the university's continued ties to American cultural life.

Civil Rights Legacy

Fisk occupies a central place in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. Its students led some of the most consequential activism of the era, especially during the Nashville sit-ins of 1960.

That year, Fisk students joined other Black leaders in nonviolent protests against segregation at lunch counters throughout Nashville. Sitting silently in the "white only" sections of local stores, student activists including Diane Nash, Marion Barry, and John Lewis faced violence from white onlookers in the form of rocks, cigarettes, and physical assault. Authorities jailed more than a dozen demonstrators, but Mayor Ben West released them and formed a biracial committee on integration. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Fisk in May 1960 in response to the movement, and that same month, downtown Nashville stores began serving African-American customers. Nashville became the first major Southern city to desegregate its lunch counters.

John Lewis and Diane Nash didn't stay local. Both became early leaders of the national Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), carrying the Nashville movement's strategies across the country. Thurgood Marshall, who would later become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, participated in Charles S. Johnson's influential Race Relations Institute at Fisk.

In 2026, Fisk and the Brennan Center for Justice launched a new initiative on democracy and justice in the South, continuing the university's tradition of civic engagement rooted in its civil rights history.

Notable Alumni and Faculty

The university's alumni list is extensive. W.E.B. Du Bois, the writer, civil rights activist, and NAACP co-founder, graduated from Fisk in 1888 and later taught here. Ida B. Wells, the journalist and anti-lynching crusader, attended Fisk. Poet Nikki Giovanni is another notable graduate.

John Lewis and Diane Nash, central figures in both the Nashville sit-ins and the national civil rights movement, studied at Fisk. Robert McFerrin Sr. was the first African-American man to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. John Hope Franklin, one of the most significant historians of the African-American experience, earned his undergraduate degree from Fisk before going on to a career that shaped the field.

See Also

• Jefferson Street
• Vanderbilt University
• Meharry Medical College
• Nashville sit-ins
• North Nashville

References

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