by the Cincinnati Conference.
==== Founding ====
Wilberforce University was the third historically black college (HBC) founded in the United States, and the last HBC established prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War. Some sources describe Wilberforce University as the oldest or first HBC because it was the first HBC to graduate students with an accredited bachelor's degree in 1857; an achievement not reached by another HBC until 1868 when Lincoln University awarded its first bachelor's diplomas.
Wilberforce University (WU) was officially incorporated in accordance with the laws of Greene County, Ohio on August 30, 1856. It was earlier established by a ratification of first the Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) on October 31, 1855 and later a vote of the MEC's national general assembly in May 22, 1856. The process of bringing this initiative to vote was done after a committee was founded on September 28, 1853 by the MEC to study founding a black college in consultation with …
