March 15, 1967
Page 6780
HOWARD UNIVERSITY'S CENTENNIAL AND GEN. OLIVER OTIS HOWARD
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, as Howard University celebrates its centennial this year, it is appropriate to recall the life of the university's principal founder and third president, Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, of Maine.
The general would be proud indeed of the growth and achievements of the university. It has more than vindicated his convictions of a century ago. It is a living tribute to his vision.
General Howard was a national leader in an era of rapid change. The university is a leader in national and academic affairs today, an era of unparalleled change.
General Howard's career is remarkable in its variety and achievement. The university's contribution is as remarkable in its variety as it is rich in distinction.
General Howard worked to establish the university when he was commissioner of the Bureau of Freedmen, following the Civil War.
As commissioner, General Howard believed vocational and normal schools were essential for the former slaves. He also was convinced that there had to be opportunities for Negroes to study the higher disciplines, including law, medicine and theology.
These were essential, he believed, to give inspiration to other Negroes and to convince white persons that freedmen were capable of college work.
He found Federal funds to help support such schools as Hampton Institute, Fisk University, Atlanta University, and Lincoln University. And he envisioned Howard University to be the crown for the program of educating the freedmen.
It is significant to remember that the Andrew Johnson administration was not always sympathetic to General Howard's plans, and that his program frequently was criticized by the North as well as the South.
General Howard was born in the farming community of Leeds, Maine, about 20 miles west of Augusta, the State's capital. If such an environment would have an effect on a growing boy, he would probably have a healthy body, a familiarity with hard work, and a respect for learning and piety. Such a boy was Oliver Otis Howard.
He attended Monmouth Academy and North Yarmouth Academy. In 1850,he was graduated from Bowdoin College near the top of his class, and 4 years later from West Point, ranking fourth of 46.
During the Civil War, he rose from first lieutenant to major general in 2 years, a record at the time. He learned the humiliation of defeat at such famous battles as Fair Oaks, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He also lost an arm. But he learned from his mistakes, gaining his first partial military success at Gettysburg and then proving his leadership capacity as an officer in the Atlanta and Carolina campaigns. Always, he showed great courage in battle.
He once described his early experiences in the war this way:
When a lad, a larger boy gave me a drubbing, but I grew in size and strength till he could do it no longer. The war experience of some of us was like that.
He never stopped growing. Throughout his life, General Howard was a deeply religious man. During and after the war, he was renowned for his concern and kindness for the defeated enemy and the Negroes. It was President Lincoln's personal wish that General Howard administer the Freedman's Bureau at the close of the war.
When the appointment was made, Gen. William T. Sherman, the tough professional soldier, wrote:
I cannot imagine that matters, that may involve the future of four millions of souls, could be put in more charitable and conscientious hands.
Another contemporary described General Howard as "the true friend of the downtrodden and oppressed of every color and nation of the earth."
General Howard's career had many other facets. He took part in the pacification of the Apaches, and the pursuit of Chief Joseph in the epic campaign of 1877. He commanded the Department of the Platte and later the Department of the East. He returned to West Point as its Superintendent in 1881-82.
After he retired in 1894, he crisscrossed the country and traveled abroad lecturing on his experiences. He wrote voluminously for the periodicals of the day. And he helped found Lincoln Memorial University near Cumberland Gap, Tenn., to educate the poor mountain people of the area.
While a student at Bowdoin, General Howard wrote his mother
Education is my first aim.... I seek not mere money, but a cultivated and enlightened mind, becoming and corresponding with the age which we live in.
General Howard pursued this goal throughout his life, and he also worked to enable others, less fortunate than he, to do the same.
Nowhere is the fruit of his work more evident than at Howard University. More than 50 percent of Negro doctors, nearly as many Negro engineers and architects, and about 25 percent of Negro lawyers in America have studied at Howard.
Its alumni include Senator EDWARD W. BROOKE, Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall, Ambassador to Luxembourg Patricia R. Harris, and many other prominent Americans in all fields. The faculty has included such leaders as Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, under secretary of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and the late Dr. Charles R. Drew, world acclaimed authority on blood plasma.
Howard graduates have been leaders in the work for racial progress. Abroad, more than 50 percent of the doctors in the West Indies are Howard alumni. In the newly independent nations of Africa, Howard graduates can be found at every echelon. In the Middle East, India, and Iran especially, Howard men and women hold positions of responsibility. One student in seven comes from a foreign country.
Clearly, Howard University has justified the confidence of its founder.
The State of Maine can be proud of General Howard. He made a lasting impact on American culture. His character was molded by the State's environment, and the virtues of his character are still prized by Maine people.