Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, located in Cheyney, Pennsylvania was originally founded as the Institute for Colored Youth in 1837 by Richard Humphreys.
It is the oldest of the historically African-American colleges and universities in the United States. Humphreys was a Quaker philanthropist who bequeathed $10,000.00, one tenth of his estate, to establish a school for “the descendants of the African race”. Humphreys changed his will to include this bequest in 1829 after race riots occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The school began in Philadelphia and moved in 1902 to George Cheyney’s farm, twenty-five miles west of the city. The name of the school was changed several times; to Cheyney State Teachers College in 1913, the State Normal School at Cheyney in 1921, and Cheyney State College in 1959. The current name was adopted when the school joined the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education in 1983.
