Langston University

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Langston University is an institution of higher learning located in Langston, Oklahoma, USA. It is the only historically black college in the state, and the westernmost historically black college in the United States.

History

Langston University is named for John Mercer Langston (1829-1897), civil rights pioneer, first African American member of Congress from Virginia, founder of the Howard University Law School, and American consul-general to Haiti. The school was founded in 1897 and was known as the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University. Though located in a rural setting just 10 miles east of Guthrie, Langston also serves an urban mission with University Centers in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The first African American woman pilot and the first American woman to obtain an International Pilot's license; Bessie Coleman enrolled in 1910. For lack of funds, she only completed one term. Langston graduates include Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, who stood at the forefront of the fight to integrate historically white law schools in the South; Marques Haynes, who starred in basketball and football at Langston before going on to captain the Harlem Globetrotters and induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame; and Nathan Hare, who wrote the conceptual proposal for the first department of black studies and was the first person hired to coordinate a black studies program in the United States.

Programs and Students

The University offers associate's, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in a variety of disciplines. It is known as a leader in the field of agricultural research, and hosts the internationally recognized E (Kika) de la Garza Institute for Goat Research. LU has nearly 4,000 students from all 50 states and several foreign countries representing the most diverse student body at an Oklahoma college. The University boasts one of the nation's top choral programs and its nearly 150 piece show band is sought after for bowl games, parades, government ceremonies and marching competitions across the nation and abroad. The student life at Langston University garnered the attention of BET and the second season of the reality television show College Hill was filmed there.

Expansion

The university was accredited with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy program in 2005.

Footnotes

External links

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Last updated on Sunday February 10, 2008 at 14:59:38 PST (GMT -0800)
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