Fisk University was established in Nashville, Tennessee, on Aug. 22, 1867. Just one year before, John Ogden, Rev. Erastus Milo Cravath and Rev. Edward P. Smith held the first day of class at what was then known as the Fisk School. "The first students ranged in age from seven to seventy, but shared common experiences of slavery and poverty — and an extraordinary thirst for learning," the university writes on its website. Acclaimed historian and Medal of Freedom recipient John Hope Franklin and award-winning poet Nikki Giovanni are counted among the university's alumni.
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