In the spring of 1865 General Oliver Otis Howard accepted appointment as Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, an agency designed to aid former slaves in their transition to freedom. This work with the Freedmen's Schools helped launch Howard's postwar legacy as a pioneering philanthropist and advocate of biracial education.
By 1870, more than one hundred schools had been established under Howard's watch, including Chattanooga's first institution for public education, The Howard School.
Upon retirement from the army, the General was moved to support a new endeavor, separate from his work with the Freedmen's Bureau but equally close to his heart. It was the creation of a living memorial to 16th President Abraham Lincoln, and the fulfillment of the President's wish that the isolated people of the Cumberland Gap region be rewarded for their unwavering loyalty to the Union during the Civil War.
In 1897, Lincoln Memorial University was chartered as a University "to make education possible to the children of the humble common people of America, among whom Abraham Lincoln was born."
In testament to the desires of the General and his President and in harmony with the CMSOE’s commitment to serve all students of Appalachia, the O.O. Howard Minority Teacher Scholarship has been established to support teachers in Hamilton County, Tennessee, in pursuing a graduate degree in education.
Applicants must be qualified non-majority educators employed in Hamilton County, Tennessee schools. The scholarship is calculated at 10 percent of tuition for any of Lincoln Memorial University's graduate education programs. For more information, please contact the School of Education.
