Material on the Institute for Colored Youth

The Institute for Colored Youth was established in 1837 at the bequest of Richard Humphreys, a Philadelphia Quaker who bequeathed $10,000 in 1832 for the purpose of establishing a school for "instructing the descendants of the African Race in school learning, in the various branches of the mechanical arts and trades and in Agriculture...in order to prepare and fit and qualify them to act as teachers in such of those branches of useful business as in the Judgment of the said society they may appear best qualified for." Originally known as the African Institute, the Institute for Colored Youth again changed its name to the Cheyney School for Teachers after relocating in 1905. In 1922, the State of Pennsylvania assumed control of the School, and the corporation changed its name to Richard Humphreys Foundation, with funds from the endowment to be used for promoting education of Black teachers.

Sourced from https://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu//resources/4059rihu