Fisk University

Fisk University is the oldest university in Nashville. The first African American university to receive accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Fisk University students were instrumental in many of the sit-in demonstrations throughout Nashville. You can learn about the university’s history and some of its famous alumni including Ida B. Wells-Barnett and U.S. Representative John Lewis. Thurgood Marshall (the first African American Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court) was among the early participants in Charles S. Johnson’s famous Race Relations Institute at Fisk. You can also visit the extensive art collection in the Carl Van Vechten Gallery.