Recent from talks
Langston University
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Langston University
Langston University (LU) is a public, land-grant, historically black university (HBCU) in Langston, Oklahoma. It is the only historically black college in the state and the westernmost four-year public HBCU in the United States. The main campus in Langston is a rural setting 10 miles (16 km) east of Guthrie. The university also serves an urban mission with centers in Tulsa (at the same campus as the OSU-Tulsa facility) and Oklahoma City. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In March 2025, Langston University was named a Carnegie Research College and University.
The school was founded in 1897 and was known as the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University. From 1898 to 1916, its president was Inman E. Page. LU was created as a result of the second Morrill Act in 1890. The law required states with land-grant colleges (such as Oklahoma State University, then known as Oklahoma A&M) to either admit African Americans or provide an alternative school for them to attend as a condition of receiving federal funds. The university was renamed as Langston University in 1941 in honor of 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.
Poet Melvin B. Tolson taught at Langston from 1947 until 1964. Tolson was portrayed by Denzel Washington in the film The Great Debaters.
In August 2021, former university President Kent J. Smith Jr announced the university would use COVID-19 relief money to forgive the debt of students enrolled between spring 2020 and summer 2021, forgiving $4.65 million in student debt.
Langston University commemorated the opening of a new allied health facility on its Tulsa campus on March 30, 2023. The facility was dedicated as the Jack Henderson Allied Health Facility on August 2, 2024. The 17,000-square-foot building is home of the Langston University School of Nursing and Health Professions.
President Kent J. Smith Jr announced his retirement as the university's 16th president effective at the end of the Spring 2023 semester. The Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges Board of Regents unanimously appointed Ruth Ray Jackson as interim president beginning July 6, 2023. In April 2024, she was appointed the institution's 17th president with the investiture on March 14, 2025.
A law school was established at LU in 1948 after Langston University graduate Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher was denied access to the University of Oklahoma's law school because she was black. She won the case at the U.S. Supreme Court and Oklahoma responded by establishing the law school at LU. Because it was not equivalent to the existing law school, she sued again and finally won access to the law school at the University of Oklahoma.
Six schools house the degree programs of Langston University: Sherman Lewis School of Agriculture and Applied Sciences; School of Arts and Sciences; School of Business; School of Education and Behavioral Sciences; School of Nursing and Health Professions; and the School of Physical Therapy. Thirty undergraduate and six graduate degree programs are offered at LU.
Hub AI
Langston University AI simulator
(@Langston University_simulator)
Langston University
Langston University (LU) is a public, land-grant, historically black university (HBCU) in Langston, Oklahoma. It is the only historically black college in the state and the westernmost four-year public HBCU in the United States. The main campus in Langston is a rural setting 10 miles (16 km) east of Guthrie. The university also serves an urban mission with centers in Tulsa (at the same campus as the OSU-Tulsa facility) and Oklahoma City. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In March 2025, Langston University was named a Carnegie Research College and University.
The school was founded in 1897 and was known as the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University. From 1898 to 1916, its president was Inman E. Page. LU was created as a result of the second Morrill Act in 1890. The law required states with land-grant colleges (such as Oklahoma State University, then known as Oklahoma A&M) to either admit African Americans or provide an alternative school for them to attend as a condition of receiving federal funds. The university was renamed as Langston University in 1941 in honor of 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.
Poet Melvin B. Tolson taught at Langston from 1947 until 1964. Tolson was portrayed by Denzel Washington in the film The Great Debaters.
In August 2021, former university President Kent J. Smith Jr announced the university would use COVID-19 relief money to forgive the debt of students enrolled between spring 2020 and summer 2021, forgiving $4.65 million in student debt.
Langston University commemorated the opening of a new allied health facility on its Tulsa campus on March 30, 2023. The facility was dedicated as the Jack Henderson Allied Health Facility on August 2, 2024. The 17,000-square-foot building is home of the Langston University School of Nursing and Health Professions.
President Kent J. Smith Jr announced his retirement as the university's 16th president effective at the end of the Spring 2023 semester. The Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges Board of Regents unanimously appointed Ruth Ray Jackson as interim president beginning July 6, 2023. In April 2024, she was appointed the institution's 17th president with the investiture on March 14, 2025.
A law school was established at LU in 1948 after Langston University graduate Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher was denied access to the University of Oklahoma's law school because she was black. She won the case at the U.S. Supreme Court and Oklahoma responded by establishing the law school at LU. Because it was not equivalent to the existing law school, she sued again and finally won access to the law school at the University of Oklahoma.
Six schools house the degree programs of Langston University: Sherman Lewis School of Agriculture and Applied Sciences; School of Arts and Sciences; School of Business; School of Education and Behavioral Sciences; School of Nursing and Health Professions; and the School of Physical Therapy. Thirty undergraduate and six graduate degree programs are offered at LU.