The oldest of the country’s historically black colleges and universities, Cheyney was founded in 1837 as the Institute for Colored Youth, per the will of Quaker silversmith Richard Humphreys. By the turn of the century, the school relocated from 9th and Bainbridge Streets in South Philadelphia to George Cheyney’s farm in Delaware County.
Whatever the name, Humphrey’s intent had always been to establish a school for boys of African descent, after personally witnessing their plight while growing up on a plantation in the West Indies.
Once a free high school that trained future teachers, Cheyney now confers undergraduate degrees in 30 disciplines and counts the late journalist Ed Bradley among its alumni.