Lincoln University grew from the efforts of the black enlisted men of the 62nd and 65th United States Colored Infantries and their white officers, who fought for the Union during the Civil War. Many of the black soldiers had been denied literacy by an 1847 Missouri law prohibiting blacks from learning to read and write, but during the war their white officers organized informal classes for them. As the war neared its end, these men resolved to found a school in Missouri for freed blacks, and by donating funds, in some cases as much as a year's salary, they raised more than $6,000. Their efforts established Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri, with Richard Baxter Foster, a former first lieutenant in the 62nd Infantry, as the first principle. The school opened on September 17, 1866, in an old frame building in Jefferson City. In 1870, Lincoln Institute received a $5,000 appropriation from Missouri for teacher training, college-level work was added in 1877, and after deeding its property to the state in 1879 it formally became a state institution. Under the Second Morrill Act of 1890, it became a land-grant institution. In 1921, a bill introduced by Walthall M. Moore, the first African American to serve in the Missouri Legislature, expanded the school's mission and changed its name to Lincoln University. The North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools accredited the high school division in 1925, the teacher-training program in 1926, and the four-year college of arts and sciences in 1934, and graduate instruction was added in the summer session of 1940. During the next four decades, Lincoln University grew into a culturally rich and diverse institution. In 1954, after Brown v. the Board of Education became law, Lincoln University opened admission to all applicants who met its entrance requirements, producing the school's most significant enrollment increase. Today it is a comprehensive land-grant institution serving both residential and commuter students through academic programs, research, and public service, fulfilling the soldiers' dream.
