Oakwood University

In January 1896, the committee bought for $6,700 the 360-acre (1.5 km2) plantation that had been owned by the enslavers of Dred Scott. That same year, Oakwood University was founded as Oakwood Industrial School in Huntsville, Alabama, under the authority of the General Conference.
Named for the oak trees surrounding it and the white SDA Church leaders' belief that industrial work is fitting for southern African-Americans, students were initially required to work in industrial positions on-campus to pay for their tuition. Their jobs included machine shop and farm work for male students and print shop, laundry and tailor shop work for female students. Classes commenced in November 1896 with 16 students enrolled. Solon Marquis Jacobs served as the school's first principal beginning in 1896 and, in 1917, James Irving Beardsley was appointed the first president. By that same year, the school offered a theology program as well as a programs for various trades, such as farming, teaching, masonry, and pre-nursing. Prior …