Richard Humphreys’ vision for a school created and designed “for the descendants of the African Race” that provided rigorous academics, mechanical arts, trade, and agricultural training was kept alive originally by his hand-picked fellow Quakers who executed his will and later by the Humphreys Foundation that was created to keep his legacy alive. From 1837 to 1921, the Quakers administered, maintained, and put their unique pedagogical stamp on the institution, stressing educational excellence, social and moral uplift, and service to humanity.
In 1921 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the Cheyney Training School for Teachers for $75,000 and in 1922, assumed total control over the schools’ operations and curriculum. The state did not share the same zeal and philosophy as the Quakers or their commitment to the school. For decades prior to the purchase by the Commonwealth, there were discrepancies and disparities in how the state treated Cheyney as opposed to how they treated the other Normal schools within the state. That pattern would continue for decades.
The discrimination and disparity were so great the Federal government was forced to intercede several times. Only through a faculty and student-initiated lawsuit in 1983 and intervention by the then US Department of Health, Education and Welfare and its successor the US Department of Education was the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania forced to do right by Cheyney! Despite these efforts, the Commonwealth’s racist policies and treatment continued.
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