Harris Stowe State University celebrated 165 years of educational excellence during a Founders Day Convocation event on Friday Oct. 28, 2002 on the HBCU’s campus.
Dr. Lynn Beckwith, Jr., retired educator, HSSU alum Class of 1961, and St. Louis American 2013 Salute to Excellence in Education Lifetime Achievement Award recipient served as the Founders Day keynote speaker.
Beckwith spoke candidly about his upbringing and his more than 50-year professional career in education including his journey with the former Harris Teachers College.
“I was shocked when my guidance counselor told me she didn’t think I should go to Harris Teachers College when I told her those were my plans,” Beckwith said. “In that moment my mind said you aren’t going to stand in my way of going to the only college I can afford to go to.”
Cameron Lowery, HSSU Student Government president, is in her senior year majoring in biology and plans to pursue a medical degree or a joint medical degree MD/PhD program. She shared similar thoughts with Beckwith about how people often overlook the university, but believes the school is still special regardless of naysayers.
“In comparison to St. Louis schools not being HBCUs, we are still the underdog,” Lowery told the St. Louis American.
“A lot of students overlook us and don’t believe in us. It feels as though everyday we are working toward gradually proving ourselves as African Americans. It feels amazing to be part of 165 years of history. I’m happy to be here and I love my university.”
Like Beckwith and Lowery, HSSU President Dr. LaTonia Collins Smith also expressed pride in the university and its illustrious 165-year legacy.
“It is truly a great day to be a Hornet. We’re joyful to be together to celebrate this very special founders day; 165 years of serving our students, and their families with a stellar education.,” Collins Smith said. “This is more than a homecoming, it is a remarkable anniversary. We are creating history today.”
She added how she has seen exponential growth and change in HSSU as a native St. Louisan and as its 21st president.
“I think we’ve accomplished just as much in this last year as we have in the first 165,” Collins Smith said. “We plan to keep going. We have big plans which I cannot wait to share. Since its historic beginning in 1857 the university has had quite a transformation—63 majors, minors, and certificates, partnership with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Saint Louis University, and more.
Congresswoman Cori Bush, once walked the halls of HSSU as an undergraduate student. She shared how she holds celebrating the university’s legacy close to her heart.
“I had no idea who I would be, but seeds were sown, and seeds were planted that are now blossoming into who I am today,” Bush said.
Bush emphasized the important pillar HSSU is to our community and how instrumental it is in helping shape the minds and hearts of students.
“Every single student here today the sky is not even your limit, your passion and your intellect will change the world and Harris Stowe will help you do it.” Bush said.
In 1857, The St. Louis Board of Education founded St. Louis Normal School to prepare white teachers to teach in white elementary schools; it was later changed to Harris Teachers College.
The St. Louis Board of Education opened Sumner Normal School to train Black teachers in 1890; Sumner Normal School became a college in 1925 and its name was changed to Stowe Teachers College in 1929.
Both colleges reorganized themselves and formed two academic levels; junior college division and a senior college division in 1938.Â
The St. Louis Board of Education merged the two colleges and became Harris Teachers College in 1954. The St. Louis Board of Education changes its name to Harris-Stowe College.
In 1979, The state of Missouri passed legislation making Harris-Stowe College a part of the state’s system of public higher education. The State of Missouri approved baccalaureate degree programs in Early Childhood Education, Middle School Education and Urban Education in 1981.
Harris-Stowe College became one of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities under the U.S. Department of Education in 1987.
In 1993, The state of Missouri required the college to expand its mission by offering baccalaureate degree programs in Business Administration, Secondary Teacher Education and Criminal Justice, and add the word “state” to its title.
