Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
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Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, located in Cheyney, Pennsylvania, in the United States, was originally founded as the Institute for Colored Youth in 1837 by Richard Humphreys.
It is the oldest of the historically African-American colleges and universities in the United States. Humphreys was a Quaker philanthropist who bequeathed $10,000.00, one tenth of his estate, to establish a school for “the descendants of the African race”. Humphreys changed his will to include this bequest in 1829 after race riots occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Institute for Colored Youth provided educational opporunities to many African Americans in the Philadelphia area, and also employed the first female African American school principal, Fanny Jackson Coppin.
The school began in Philadelphia and moved in 1902 to George Cheyney’s farm, twenty-five miles west of the city. The name of the school was changed several times; to Cheyney State Teachers College in 1913, the State Normal School at Cheyney in 1921, and Cheyney State College in 1959. The current name was adopted when the school joined the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education in 1983.
Founded in 1837 by Reverend William Moshwan Walker, the University today is composed of buildings and grounds from a number of former private mansions.
Ed Bradley, reporter for the news magazine "60 Minutes", graduated from Cheyney in 1964.
Basketball Hall of Fame coach John Chaney, best known as head coach of the Temple University Owls from 1982 through 2006, began his head coaching career with then-Cheyney State, coaching the school from 1972 through 1982. At Cheyney, Chaney's record was 225-56, and he won his only national championship in 1978.
Cheyney State College was also the runner-up in the first ever NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship Tournament, in 1982. Cheyney State was defeated by Louisiana Tech, 76 - 62.