LibGuides: University Archives &amp; Special Collections (UASC): African-Americans at IIT and its predecessor schools

AFRICAN AMERICANS AT IIT AND ITS PREDECESSOR SCHOOLS

African-Americans at IIT and its predecessor schools (Armour Institute, Lewis Institute, and the Chicago-Kent College of Law before 1969)

Both of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT) predecessor colleges (Lewis Institute founded in 1896; Armour Institute founded in 1892) accepted Blacks from the time they opened and awarded degrees to them. However, though Lewis continued to do so until it merged into IIT in 1940, Armour Institute severely restricted African-American admissions after 1901 (though it continued to admit some “colored” students from colonial areas around the globe. After Amour and Lewis merged in 1940 to create IIT, the new combined university admitted students on the basis of academic merit only.

Such student records from Armour and Lewis institutes (plus IIT) that have been transferred to the archives by the university (which, in any case, are under conditions of restricted use as mandated by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act—commonly referred to as FERPA) do not indicate the students’ race. The best approach to determining the racial composition of the student bodies at IIT and its predecessor colleges (using materials in the archives) is for researchers to search our collection of student yearbooks, which almost always provided student head shots; and sometimes the names of their predecessor schools (which might include historically-Black high schools and colleges). Once you have identified students who might have been African-American, the archives staff will undertake a limited search in their surviving student files (on your behalf) to see if any racial or ethnic information was recorded.

The list below includes people who MAY BE the earliest African-American graduates of Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago) and its various predecessors. Note that this does not necessarily make them the earliest graduate "of color," however (e.g., we have found an earlier graduate of Lewis who was a native of Calcutta, India).

Lewis Institute, Chicago, 1895–1940:

Photos of African-Americans appear frequently in the school’s yearbooks. Graduates’ photos (Lewis awarded an Associate’s degree after two years of study and a Bachelor’s degree after four years) are usually included each year, though frequently with lists of “graduates without photos” at the end. As many Lewis Institute students transferred credits from historically Black colleges or attended Chicago’s Black high schools (Wendell Phillips and Dunbar served the African-American community prior to 1940), these identifiers are useful in determining racial identity. As noted above, Lewis Institute always accepted students without regard to race, religion, or ethnicity and had numerous international students of color (Philippine, Indian subcontinent, Caribbean Island, etc.) in addition to African-Americans.

Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago, 1892–1940:

Armour Institute initially accepted students without regard to race, religion, or ethnicity, but radically restricted African-American enrollments after 1901 (the same year it did the same with women of all races).

Kent College and Chicago College of Law:

These two schools, both started in the mid- to late-1800s, merged with each other ca. 1902 to become Chicago-Kent College of Law. In 1968, they merged with Illinois Institute of Technology to become IIT’s law school. Note that while both Robert Abbott and Ida Platt were awarded law degrees from these schools as noted below, they could not receive a license to practice law in the State of Illinois.

What follows is a very random list and is not intended as a representative sample or a comprehensive listing. Individuals, as shown here, should not be considered to be “the first…” or “the only…” unless so identified. Note that Institute of Design, Stuart School of Business, College of Architecture, and Institute of Psychology (all of which are current graduate schools of IIT) were not researched for this paper. Additional information on the individuals listed here may be available in the IIT Archives.

Last Name	First Name	Date	Date/Degree	School	Notes
Abbott	Robert Sengstacke	1900	1900	Kent College	Founded The Chicago Defender newspaper
Albright	Arthur C.	1924	A.A. degree in 1924 (per Lewis Annual, 1924, p. 35)	Lewis Institute	Attended Wendell Phillips High School
Booth	Teresa	1977	Class of 1977 ?	IIT	Homecoming court attendant per photo in IIT News & Views, Vol. 4, # 3, April 1977
Boykin	Otis	1946	Attended IIT graduate school, 1946 – 1947		African-American inventor of electronic devises, including a control unit for the artificial pacemaker; died 1982.
Brown	Dorothy	1996	LAW – 1996		First African American To be elected clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County
Burks	Stephen	1992	ID – 1992	IIT
Carroll	Jeff	1994	ME – 1994	IIT
Colter died 4/15/2002	Cyrus	1936	Ca. 1936 (graduated?)	“attended” Chicago-Kent	Per obituary in New York Times, Colter received his law degree from Chicago-Kent and practiced law prior to becoming a noted author of short stories and novels.
Crawford	Irma Eloise	1927	A.A. degree in 1927 (per Lewis Annual, 1927, p. 22)	Lewis Institute	Transferred from Campbell College, Jackson, Wis. [or Jackson, Miss.?] and West Kentucky Industrial College
Creed	Danny	1979	BS - EE, 1979	IIT	Member of IIT’s National Society of Black Engineers chapter; serves on the Alumni Board as the vice President for Alumni Services
Crossley	Frank A.	1945	B.S., 1945; M.S., 1947; PhD, 1950;	IIT	May be the first African-American to graduate from IIT who wasn’t a continuing student from either Armour or Lewis. Naval ROTC student & ship commander.
Friedman	Edward	1917	B.S. in Chem. Eng., 1917 (per The Cycle, 1917, p. 50)	Armour Institute of Technology	Attended Wendell Phillips High School
Frost	Wilson	1958	JD, 1958	Chicago-Kent	Former Chicago alderman
Hartsfield	Lori	1986	BA – Bus. Admin., 1986	IIT	Organized 1996 reunion of African- American alumni. Others in attendance included those listed below:
Hartsfield reunion attendees: Denise Allen-Brazil, BA, 1988; Deneen Avery; Shelia Anderson-Green; Tanger Dunn; John German, EE, 1988; Natasha Mitchum; Oneida Pate, CRP, 1985; Kwame Raoul, LAW, 1993; Kevin Smith, CS, 1989; Peggy Strong, CS, 1981; Darryl Taylor; Chris Winston, ME, 1982; Michael Duncan, CS, 1988; Harold Morrow, ME, 1985; Marguerite Chapman; Felanice Duncan; Mechell Boynes

Hilliard	LeRoy	1933	1933 B.A. in Architecture	(?) Armour Institute of Technology
Holly	Tim	1960	1960s	IIT
Hubbard	Christian	2008 (?)	Architecture	IIT
Irmer	Perri	1981	BA- Architecture, 1981	IIT	CEO of Illinois Sports Facilities Authority
Jones	Floyd	1924	A.A. in 1924 (per Lewis Annual, 1924, p. 42)	Lewis Institute	Transferred from Arkansas Baptist College and Howard University
Karlmark	Gloria Ray	1965		IIT	One of the “Little Rock Nine”
Leach	Hattie	1929	B.S. in Arts & Sciences in 1929 (per Lewis Annual, 1929, p. 20)	Lewis Institute	May be the first African-American female to get a bachelor’s degree from Lewis Institute. No photo is included in the yearbook, but she had attended Wendell Phillips High School and Howard University.
Lucas	James William	1923	A. A. degree in 1923 (per Lewis Annual, 1923, p. 27), and a B.S. – Mechanical Engineering in 1924 (per Lewis Annual, 1924, p. 29)	Lewis Institute	May be the first African-American male to graduate from Lewis Institute. Transfer student from Tuskegee Institute
McGee	Henry W.		[1949 degree in Public Administration is from U. of Chgo.}		Chicago’s first black postmaster; delivered IIT commencement address “The Mounting Crisis in Black-White Relationships,” 1970
Peters, II	James S.	1952	MS – Psych.	IIT
Pierce	Charles	1901	1901 B.S. – Chem. Eng.	Armour Institute of Technology	May be the first African-American to graduate from Armour Institute of Technology. Believed to be the first African-American chemical engineer in the USA
Platt	Ida	1894	1894	Chicago College of Law	First African-American to pass the Bar in Illinois
Sharpe	David C.	1960	BS – Architecture, 1960; MS, 1962	IIT	Student of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; IIT College of Architecture faculty member (as of 2007).
Templeton	Lester	1949	BS – Chem Eng., 1949	IIT	Served as VP of the class of 1949; graduated in Jan. 1949. Info. given to C. Bruck by Bob Guthrie (ME, 1949) who was Templeton’s classmate.
Threatt	Tyrone	1978	BS – EE, 1978	IIT	Homecoming court attendant per photo in IIT News & Views, Vol. 4, # 3, April 1977
Weather	Armada T.	1919	B. S. – Chem. Eng., 1919; (per The Cycle, 1919, p. 58)	Armour Institute of Technology	Attended Wendell Phillips High School
Wilkerson	Gregory	1981	BS – EE, 1981	IIT	Participated in the Minorities in Engineering program in 1970s
Zimmerman	Arnold	1917	B.S. in Elec. Eng., 1917; (per The Cycle, 1917, p. 44)	Armour Institute of Technology	Attended Wendell Phillips High School