All African American Class at HBCU Wiley College

[AFRICAN AMERICAN HBCU ] Vintage Silver Gelatin Photograph of a Class at HBCU Wiley College, 1946. Black and white photo of Professor Smith and 18 students. 5 x 6 ¾ in. Captioned recto center bottom image “Prof Smith and his German Class”. Handwritten in black in on verso: “Summer Class of 1946” and “Wiley College” along with Professor Smith and names of 15 students. Minor handling dents and light soiling to verso. Very good condition. Eighteen African-American college students stand on an outdoor flight of steps alongside their German instructor, Professor Smith. This photo comes from the first summer after the end of World War II, and one male student (truncated) is even wearing a t-shirt from the U.S. Army (left, second to last row). Wiley College was founded in 1873 as a historically black college in Marshall, TX, and became an important institution during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. An important photograph within the context of both African-American education and post-WWII college opportunities. (Inventory #: 16253)