The MIT Black History Project and the Black Alumni/ae of MIT (BAMIT) present a history of the MIT BSU in honor of the 50th anniversary of the MIT Black Students' Union. ;xNLx;;xNLx;http://www.bamit.org/bamitcapstone/
William Barton Rogers drafts a plan for a scientific school, the Plan for a Polytechnic School in Boston
Harvard Medical School accepts its first three black students, one of whom was Martin Delany. But Harvard later rescinds the invitations due to pressure from white students.
MIT's charter, the "Act to Incorporate the Massachusetts Institute of Technology" is passed by the legislature and approved by Governor Andrew (Chapter 183, Acts of 1861).
The American Civil War, also known as the War Between the States, or simply the Civil War in the United States (see naming), was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 in the United States after seven Southern slave states declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America (the "Confederacy" or the "South"). The states that remained in the Union were known as the "Union" or the "North". The war had its origin in the fractious issue of slavery, especially the extension of slavery into the western territories.[3] Foreign powers did not intervene. After four years of bloody combat that left over 600,000 soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of restoring national unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began.
Few blacks were part of early MIT, even though founder William Barton Rogers had shown a keen interest in issues relating to race. In 1863, Rogers praised blacks–particularly the bravery exhibited by black troops during the Civil War–noting “the capacity of these people for knowledge and training.”
The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, as a war measure during the American Civil War, to all segments of the Executive branch (including the Army and Navy) of the United States. It proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion,[1] thus applying to 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. at the time. The Proclamation was based on the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces;[2] it was not a law passed by Congress. The Proclamation also ordered that "suitable" persons among those freed could be enrolled into the paid service of United States' forces, and ordered the Union Army (and all segments of the Executive branch) to "recognize and maintain the freedom of" the ex-slaves. The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not itself outlaw slavery, and did not make the ex-slaves (called freedmen) citizens. It made the eradication of slavery an explicit war goal, in addition to the goal of reuniting the Union.
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Harvard College graduates its first black student, Richard Theodore Greener, who goes on to a career as an educator and lawyer.
Ellen Henrietta Swallow, having graduated in chemistry from Vassar College, is admitted as a special student in chemistry and graduates two years later.
Robert H. Richards, '68, founds the MIT Alumni Association and is elected its first president
