By A.J. Dugger III
Roger Williams University was a legendary historically black college (HBCU) based in Nashville during the 1800s and early 1900s. Though it has been defunct for nearly 100 years, the seeds planted by this university changed history by becoming involved in the mergers to create current historically black colleges such as LeMoyne-Owen College. The school was established by the American Baptist Denomination at a time when African-Americans in the South were not being educated by Baptist universities.
Roger Williams University began as The Nashville Institute in 1866. In 1874 it was renamed The Roger Williams University after the famous long-haired English Protestant Theologian Roger Williams. Williams was known for starting the Providence Plantation Colony, which was a refuge for religious African Americans. Later, Williams started the first Baptist Church in America, also recorded as the first Baptist Church of Providence.
During its time, Roger Williams University became the largest Baptist college in the area for schooling African Americans. William Madison McDonald, an influential Republican politician, was educated there before having a successful political career in Texas. A white minister freedmen’s missionary from Massachusetts named Daniel W. Phillips taught the first classes at the university. (Prior to the official founding of the university, Phillips taught Bible classes in his home).
At the time of its founding, Roger Williams University was one of several schools founded in the South by the American Baptist denomination. Protestant mission groups stepped in to sponsor the brand new educational buildings for the freedmen.
From 1874 until 1905, the university was located on a 28-acre campus near Hillsboro Pike. Unfortunately, the main building was demolished by two fires in 1905. The school re-opened after the first fire in January, but after a second fire took place in May, things fell apart for good. The American Baptist Home Mission Society stepped in and closed Roger Williams University.
They sold some of the land to realtors and the rest of it to George Peabody College for Teachers. By 1911, all of the land had been sold. Roger Williams University was re-opened in North Nashville in 1909. But things were never the same. By 1922, there were only 12 faculty members and 159 students. In 1929, the school merged with Howe Institute, which later became LeMoyne-Owen College.