Fisk University Campus History Tour

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Fisk University was founded in 1866 by the American Missionary Association to provide a liberal arts education for African Americans after the Civil War. It was one of the first such schools established after the war. Completed in 1876, this building, Jubilee Hall, is the oldest structure on campus. Designed by Stephen D. Hatch, it is an excellent example of Victorian Gothic architecture and is the oldest building on campus. Notably, it is also the oldest remaining building constructed for the higher education of African Americans in the country. Jubilee Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark. Today the building serves as a dormitory. It is named after a student vocal chorus called the Jubilee Singers, who toured the United States and Europe to help raise funds for the university and the building's construction. The interior features a floor to ceiling mural of the singers commissioned in 1873 by Queen Victoria, who was impressed by their performance. The group continues to perform today.

2. Fisk University Academic Building (formerly Carnegie Library)

The Fisk University Academic Building (formerly Fisk University Carnegie Library) is located on the campus of Fisk University, a historic Black college in Nashville. The Fisk University Carnegie Library was constructed in 1908 partly through a grant by millionaire philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It was the very first large building designed and built by Moses McKissack III, one of the first professional African-American architects in America, and was constructed in the so-called Classic Revival style. McKissack would later be a co-founder of the firm of McKissack and McKissack, the first Black-owned architectural firm in the United States. This and three other buildings in the Nashville area were designated by the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as the most important structures designed and built by McKissack between 1908 and 1930, the years in which he established his reputation. Along with the three other Nashville buildings designed by McKissack, it was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

3. Talley-Brady Hall

Talley-Brady Hall on the Fisk University campus is named after two notable African-American chemistry professors, Thomas Talley (1870-1952) and Saint Elmo Brady (1884-1966). Talley earned his B.A. and M.A. at Fisk and spent most of his career here from 1903 to 1942. He taught chemistry and biology and served as chair of the chemistry department for 25 years. He was also a noted collector of African-American folk music and stories. In 1922, he published the first scholarly work of secular folksongs in Tennessee called Negro Folk Rhymes. Brady was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry (1916) and, like Talley, also served as chair of the Fisk University chemistry department.

4. Lyttle Hall at Meharry Medical College

The brown brick, three-story building at 1005 Dr. JB Todd Jr Blvd. is Lyttle Hall on the campus of Meharry Medical College. Originally named Nurses Hall, the collegiate Gothic style building dates to 1930. The building is named in honor of Hulda Margaret Lyttle (1889-1983), who served Meharry as Head Nurse, and dean of the nursing school. Lyttle Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 for its significance in architecture, education, and medicine. It now houses Meharry Medical College offices and medical offices, including Meharry Family Practice.

5. Little Theater at Fisk University

The building on Dr. DB Todd Jr. Blvd. opposite the Albion Street intersection is the Little Theater at Fisk University. The one-story, wood-frame building was built in the early 1860s by the Union Army as "The Railroad Hospital," making this the oldest building on campus. The building originally stood on West Church Street in Nashville and was moved here in 1873. It was repurposed as a classroom building for Fisk, opened in January 1866 as Fisk Free School, named after General Clinton B. Fisk of the Freedman's Bureau of Tennessee. The official charter was granted in 1867, creating Fisk University. The building was remodeled into a theater in the 1930s and housed the Fisk University Speech and Drama Department. The Little Theater is one of a number of buildings that make up the Fisk University Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

6. Fisk University Galleries

The Fisk University Galleries consists of two galleries, the Carl Van Vechten Gallery and the Aaron Douglas Gallery. The Carl Van Vechten Gallery is housed in this building, which was built in 1889 as the university's first gymnasium. The Aaron Douglas Gallery is located on the third floor of the John Hope and Aurelia Elizabeth Franklin Library. The Galleries' collection contains more than 4,000 works of art, the oldest of which are three hundred years old. Several world-renowned artists are represented in the collection including Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Diego Rivera, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Alfred Stieglitz.

7. Cravath Hall and Murals by Aaron Douglas

This nine-story neo-Gothic structure was completed in 1930 as the Erastus M. Cravath Memorial Library and replaced a previous library that had been partially funded by Andrew Carnegie. In that same year, Fisk became the first African American institution to gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The building is named in honor of Fisk University's first president. The building is best-known today for a series of murals by the artists Aaron Douglas. These murals can be found on the building's second floor. The nine-story building was recently restored and renovated by I. C. Thomasson Associates, Inc., and the murals were restored by Cunningham-Adams Fine Arts Painting Conservation of Washington, D.C

8. Harris Music Building

Fisk University's Harris Music Building was constructed around 1876. At that time, it was a one-story brick home designed in the Italianate style and the property of Richard Harris, a local African American entrepreneur. The home was built on the future location of the university. Mr. Harris was born a slave and became the first African American trustee of Fisk University in the 1880s. Harris gave one of the speeches at the dedication of Fisk University in January of 1866. A professor at Fisk, W. G. Waterman, later owned the house and transferred its ownership to the university in 1909. The building became the Music Annex in 1927 and the Harris Music Building in 1991.

9. Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery

The Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery at Fisk University resides in an 1889 Victorian building constructed as the college's gym. The building became an art gallery in the 1940s, when New York art collector, photographer, author, and critic Carl Van Vechten gave Fisk 400 of his photographic portraits, and convinced artist Georgia O'Keeffe to donate a collection of works by (and collected by) her late husband, the photographer and art collector Alfred Stieglitz. The collections feature both American and European modern art, including works by Picasso, Cezanne, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and O'Keeffe, as well as African art [2; 4; 5]. The gallery features both permanent collections and traveling exhibitions and will accommodate school and tour groups with prior notification [2].

10. Fisk Memorial Chapel

Completed in 1892, Fisk Memorial Chapel continues to serve as the primary space on the Fisk campus for important events such as graduation ceremonies, lectures by guests of the university, and academic convocations. The chapel has hosted lectures by prominent historians such as John Hope Franklin and historic addresses by African-American leaders from Booker T. Washington to Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall and Jesse Jackson. The chapel's 40 rank pipe organ was designed by Walter Holtkamp Sr. and is estimated to be worth over $2.5 million. The chapel was restored in 1992 by the National Park Service with U.S. Congressional funding to celebrate the building's centennial.

11. Boyd House at Fisk University

The red brick building near the southwest corner of Meharry Blvd. and 16th Ave. N. is Boyd House, on the Fisk University campus. The two-story building dates to around 1910 to 1914 (it is standing on a 1914 map), when it was the residence of Dr. Henry A. Boyd, a leading African American local entrepreneur. Fisk University purchased the house in October 1938 to become a dormitory for women. Boyd House was most recently used at Fisk as a Living-Learning Center but has been vacated to be renovated after a fire and water damage. It was almost demolished in 2020 but was saved after a petition drive. Boyd House is one of numerous buildings that make up the Fisk University Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

12. John Wesley Work House

The Queen Anne style house at 1030 17th Avenue N. is the John Wesley Work House, a historic building on the Fisk University campus. The 2.5-story residence dates to 1878 and was built next to the Fisk campus by a dean, Adam K. Spence; the upper story and a half date to after 1914 and the porch used to be on the south side of the building. Decades later, the house became the residence of John W. Work III, a music teacher at Fisk beginning in 1937 and director of the Jubilee Singers. Work was a composer who specialized in the study of rural African American folk music. An award-winning restoration of the building was conducted in 2011 by a major African American owned and operated architectural firm, Moody-Nolan of Columbus, Ohio. The John Wesley Work House is one of the historical buildings that make up the Fisk University National Register Historic District, listed in 1978.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Fisk University Campus History Tour

Created by Clio Admin on May 18th 2018, 9:11:55 pm.

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Established just one year after the end of the Civil War, this institution trained thousands of teachers and in 1930 Fisk became the first black institution to be accredited by the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools. Highlights of the campus tour include Jubilee Hall which is a National Historic Landmark and Cravath Hall, home to world-famous murals by Aaron Douglas. The tour also includes one stop at neighboring Meharry Medical College along the route.

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Fisk University Campus History Tour

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