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LELAND COLLEGE
Circa. 1870
Leland University owes its existence to the wise forethought and broad generosity of Holbrook Chamberlain, a resident of Brooklyn, New York. Chamberlain came to New Orleans for the purpose of establishing an institution of higher learning for Blacks of Louisiana. Leland University was founded in 1870. Leland University was named after the wife of Chamberlain, whose father was Elder John Leland of Cheshire, Massachusetts. Leland University's charter extended to all people regardless of sex or color, but the institution's first educational recipients were the descendants of the Black race.
The school, at first a primary grade, gradually advanced to grammar and to high school instruction and for some years chiefly provided for the preparation of teachers to supply the needs of public and private schools then springing up in all the Southern States. Principals instead of presidents headed the institution from 1870-1876. Leland originated and was carried on for the purpose of promoting Christian education among the people of Louisiana and adjacent States. Its aims were to prepare ministers for the work of preaching the Gospel, to fit teachers for their important field of usefulness, to train mechanics for the trades, and, in a word, to qualify men and women to discharge efficiently all the responsibilities of life; thus seeking to advance religion, sound morality, intelligence, and prosperity among all classes.
In 1982, Leland was added to the National Register of Historic Places list (building #82000433). Though not much remains but an entry marker and a few walls in a state of disrepair, Leland College is remembered as one of the permanent sites of America’s first private college for African-Americans.
SOURCE: Southern University and A&M College-Archives Department-John B. Cade Library
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Read about Leland College:
The Architecture and People of Leland University and Leland College by Lionel Lee
La 378.763 L478a
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