University History

Dillard's history begins in 1869. On June 12, 1869, the American Missionary Association of the Congregational Church founded Straight University; on July 8, 1869 the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church established Union Normal School. Straight University and Union Normal School were subsequently renamed Straight College and New Orleans University, respectively. Initially, both institutions offered instruction on the elementary level, then expanded to include the secondary, collegiate, and professional levels.

Straight operated a law department from 1874 to 1886. Gilbert Academy, a secondary school, was a unit of New Orleans University. New Orleans University in 1889 opened a medical college, including a school of pharmacy and a school of nursing. The medical college was named Flint Medical College and the affiliated hospital the Sarah Goodridge Hospital and Nurse Training School. The medical college was discontinued in 1911, but the hospital and the nursing school were continued under the name of Flint-Goodridge Hospital.

On June 6, 1930, New Orleans University and Straight College merged to form Dillard University, which elected to follow the practices of the two parent institutions in making no distinction as to race, religion or sex in the admission of students or in the selection of faculty.

The trustees of Dillard elected to continue as a part of the university the work of the hospital but not that of Gilbert Academy. The latter continued operation as a separate institution under the sponsorship of the Board of Education of the Methodist Church until 1949. The university operated Flint-Goodridge Hospital of Dillard University from 1932 until 1983.

In September 1935, on a new site with a new physical plant, Dillard University began instruction. The university was named in honor of James Hardy Dillard, whose distinguished service in the education of African Americans in the South forms an important chapter in the history of American education.