consisted of the colleges of liberal arts and medicine. The new institution was named for General Oliver Otis Howard, a Civil War hero who was both the founder of the university and, at the time, commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau. Howard later served as president of the university from 1869 to 1874.
The U.S. Congress chartered Howard on March 2, 1867, and much of its early funding came from endowment, private benefaction and tuition. (In the 20th and 21st centuries, an annual congressional appropriation, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, funds Howard University and Howard University Hospital.)
Many improvements were made on campus. Howard Hall was renovated and made a dormitory for women.
=== 20th century ===
From 1926 to 1960, preacher Mordecai Wyatt Johnson was Howard University's first African-American president.
The Great Depression years of the 1930s brought hardship to campus. Despite appeals from Eleanor Roosevelt, Howard saw its budget cut below Hoover administration levels during …
