For Generations to Come: Southern HBCUs and their Colored Conventions Roots
The Colored Conventions were invested in education for African Americans since their inception, and the importance of building and sustaining educational institutions dominated many conversations in postbellum Southern Conventions. This exhibit explores three conventions: the 1865 Colored Men’s Convention in Mobile, the 1871 Southern States Convention of Colored Men, and the 1884 State Conference of the Colored Men of Florida, to trace early supporters, legislation, and popular memory of the founding of Talladega College and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. These institutions have their roots in the Colored Conventions Movement, and it was through the collective action of delegates that they were established and sustained.
Credits and Citations
Curators: Rachel Nelson for ENGL/HIST 677, taught by P. Gabrielle Foreman, University of Delaware, Spring 2019, and Samantha de Vera, University of California, San Diego.
Edited by P. Gabrielle Foreman.
Acknowledgements: Michelle Byrnes for further edits, visualization contributions, and technical assistance. Samantha de Vera for edits, revisions, and content contributions.
Proofread and technical review by Kaitlyn Tanis, University of Delaware, Eunice Toh, Penn State University, and Lauren Cooper, Penn State University.
Additional contributions: Exhibit migration at Dream Lab 2025 by Christiana Dillard, University of Pennsylvania, and Lauren Cooper, Penn State University.
Images: “Philander Smith College; Adeline Smith Industrial Home; Student choir; Main building; Young Men’s Bible Class; A picnic party” and “The new J.A. Shorter Hall, Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio,” Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library; “Howard University” New York Public Library Digital Collections, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.
