Both of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT) predecessor colleges (Lewis Institute founded in 1896; Armour Institute founded in 1892 and opened in 1893) 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 students of color 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.
Lewis Institute, Chicago, 1895–1940:
The student yearbooks of the Lewis Institute contain graduates’ photos, often accompanied by notations on their academic programs, extracurricular activities, and prior high school affiliations (Lewis awarded an Associate’s degree after two years of study and a Bachelor’s degree after four years). 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 notations 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, 1893–1940:
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). Please contact the University Archives for biographical information on some of the African-American students (mainly from the 1893-1901 period). Research on these and other individuals is an ongoing process (always incomplete) and being added to by interested community researchers and the archives staff.
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 Tech to become its law school. Some its earliest graduates, such as Robert Abbott and Ida Platt, were awarded law degrees Chicago-Kent’s predecessor schools but did not receive licenses to practice law in the State of Illinois due to discriminatory laws and practices.
Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), Chicago, 1940-present
As noted above, the new Illinois Institute of Technology, aka Illinois Tech (created by the merger of the Armour and Lewis institutes in 1940) continued Lewis’s racial and gender diversity while restoring that diversity to the programs inherited from the Amour Institute. After a brief period of retaining and operating both the Armour and Lewis campuses, by 1945 the Lewis campus (near West Side) was closed and the former Armour campus on the South Side became the main one for the entire university.
In addition to collecting information on African-American alumni, the University Archives also seeks to deepen its documentation and understanding of African-American student organizations and movements at Illinois Tech. The more recent groups owe their inception to the tragic events of 1968, when the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4 resulted in community unrest and protest.
On the Illinois Tech campus, a petition was signed by students and faculty members (61 in all) asking the university leadership to identify discriminatory practices at the school, remedy them, and broaden its efforts to discipline infractions against civil liberties on campus. The petitioners also made reference to the recently-released (February 29) Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (aka the Kerner Report) and its recommendations for new policies and procedures to address the root causes of racism nation-wide.
The Illinois Tech student newspaper now known as TechNews (published under a variety of titles back to 1928) is available in the University Archives. It contains information (from which the paragraph immediately above was extracted) on the Civil Rights activism of the 1960s and 1970s and the post-1968 IIT Black student organizations it inspired.
Institutional change on race issues began at Illinois Tech in the early 1970s and can be traced to individual staff, faculty and administration leaders. Nathanial “Nate” Thomas (b. 1936) is a Black man, born in the South, whose family brought him to Chicago and where he attended Wendell Phillips High School before completing his education at Fisk University and at Chicago’s Roosevelt University. In 1965 he became a staffer at the Computation Center at Illinois Tech; by 1973 he became its Assistant Director of Co-op Education. While in the latter position the university received a $25,000 towards the creation of a minority engineering co-op program, which Thomas established and directed. He recruited from Chicago area high schools and within a year Illinois Tech witnessed a 433% increase in minority students. In 1974 Thomas’ recruitment efforts crystallized in an Early Identification Program.
In that year, Thomas casually met Dr. Thomas L. Martin, Illinois Tech’s incoming president. Martin was eager not only to boost student enrollments but also diversify them. He soon made Thomas the Director of Admissions. In 1977 Thomas became the Executive Director of the Midwest Programs for Minorities and Engineering (MPME) and soon after headed the Minorities in Engineering Program (MEP) at the university. By 1980 Black enrollment reached 13.2% of the whole; by 1983 Black enrollment in undergraduate engineering reached 20% of the whole.
Thomas retired in 1988 as Assistant Vice President of External Affairs, not long after the departure of Dr. Martin as president. His leadership for minority recruitment was assumed by Irma Dobbins in her capacity as head of the Center for Multicultural Programs. Thomas’ outreach to area high school students was continued under Dobbins through a yearlong college prep program named Prep Trek. Dobbins also worked closely with the Organization of African American Students Impacting Society (OASIS).
In March 1997 Dobbins offered this assessment in a self-study of the resources available to her operation. She suggested that the mainstreaming of minority recruitment into larger university operations was problematic, given the continuing special needs of minority communities.
“Although the Center’s staff is considerably smaller than its predecessor organization had a decade ago, many of the services previously focused in the Center are now performed elsewhere: tutoring services and monitoring of first-year student performance are coordinated through the Undergraduate College, pre-college programs are coordinated through the Educational Technology Center, and the Office of Admissions employs minority admissions counsellors.”
“The activities of the center as currently defined are adequately supported by the resources available, but there is no doubt that additional staff help will be needed if the number of minority students increases much above its current value or if additional services are to be provided.”
In around 2003 the Center for Multicultural Programs became the Minority Access Program (MAP). Since then (to 2025) there have been numerous reorganizations of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at Illinois Tech, coordinated at many levels.
Researchers are also encouraged to contact Illinois Tech’s African American Alumni Association (4A), which has been at the forefront of research into the university’s Black alumni and their career accomplishments. https://www.iit.edu/lp/built-black-history
Useful UASC collections documenting African-American-related collections at IIT (Illinois Tech) and its predecessor schools
Accreditation review records, 1991-1997
Identifier: 026.10.03
Description: File on the Center for Multicultural Programs, headed by Irma Dobbins, can be found in box 5 of this collection
Alfred M. Jaques papers, 1993-1997
Identifier: 038.01.12
Description: Five books compiled by Alfred M. Jaques, 1959 graduate. Each volume contains several one-page biographies of IIT alumni representing a particular group. Titles are as follows: Unos Hispanos Graduados del Instituto Technologico de Illinois, Segunda Edicio, 1993; Some African-American Alumni of the Illinois Institute of Technology, Winter 1994; Some Presidents and CEOs from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Summer 1997; Some Women Alumni of the Illinois Institute of Technology, Winter. Some Presidents and CEOs from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Summer 1997; Some Women Alumni of the Illinois Institute of Technology, Winter 1997.
Biographical files collection, 1900-2014
Identifier: 039.01.69
Description: Largely printed materials (booklets, clippings from periodicals, etc.). Includes a file on Nathaniel “Nate” Thomas in box T1.
Diversity Program collection, 1993
Identifier: 026.05.01
Description: Materials produced by the Affirmative Action/ Diversity Program Department. Contains: 1) description and calendar for The IIT Advantage "a series of workshops, presentations, and student round table discussions on issues related to cultural diversity."
Enrollment Statistics collection, 1926-1950
Identifier: 026.03.03
Description: Enrollment figures by term and academic program for day, evening and summer divisions of Lewis, Armour and IIT, 1926-1950. Includes Navy, Army and George Williams (Navy) figures for war years; for veterans, civilians and women post-WWII; off-campus extension programs. Apparently compiled by Statistical Service/Registrar's Office starting 1933, but with retrospective statistics back to 1926.
IIT Bulletin collection, 1940-2012
Identifier: 036.02.23
Description: Printed copies of the IIT Bulletin and other incarnations of iterations the academic catalog of the university. Collection includes undergraduate, graduate, and specialized (e.g., summer school) catalogs, along with descriptions of campus staff programs. Bulletins from 1944-1963 are bound, loose copies are largely complete from the years 1940-2012.
Melvin T. Tracht papers, 1951-1980
Identifier: 030.04.03
Description: Appears to be the papers of Melvin T. Tracht in his role as Chief Financial Officer of Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago). Bulks with budget materials, much of which is probably duplicated in multiple folders. The folders "Nursing Homes" and "Research Park" files in box 2 concern campus development issues
Minorities in Engineering collection, 1979-1980
Identifier: 011.03.05
Description: Materials related to the Minorities in Engineering. Contains: Minorities in Engineering Programs, Second Annual Report, 1976 (2 copies); Minorities in Engineering Program, 1980 Report; informational booklet for High School Students, n.d. (2 copies)
National Society of Black Engineers/Essence Awards poster, 2001
Identifier: 000.01.25
Description: National Society of Black Engineers NSBE/Essence Awards poster.
Technology News print collection, 1940-2025
Identifier: 027.10.01
Description: IIT student newspaper with ample documentation of campus organizations, events, and campus administrative developments.