# Lane College

Lane College is a private historically black college associated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and located in Jackson, Tennessee. It offers associate and baccalaureate degrees in the arts and sciences.

## History

Lane College was founded in 1882 by the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church (C.M.E.; now known as Christian Methodist Episcopal Church) as the C.M.E. High School. It was named after Methodist Bishop Isaac Lane, who co-founded the school. Planning for the school had begun in 1878, but the establishment was delayed by a yellow fever epidemic in the region in 1878. Its primary purpose was the education of newly freed enslaved persons, and the original curriculum focused on the preparation of "teachers and preachers." It became Lane Institute in 1883.
In 1887, Rev. T. F. Saunders, a White former enslaver, and a member of the Memphis Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was appointed the first president of Lane Institute. In 1896 the college department was formed, and the Board of Trustees voted to change the name to Lane College. Around 1902, many letters were written calling for a Black president for Lane College to the Christian Index, a magazine published by the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1903, James Albert Bray, a Black graduate of Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) was elected president of Lane College, after T. F. Saunders resignation.

## Presidents

* T. F. Saunders, 1887–1903
* James Albert Bray, 1903–1907
* James Franklin Lane, 1907–1944
* Peter Randolph Shy, (interim) 1944–1945
* D.S. Yarbrough, 1945–1948
* James H. White, 1948–1950
* Richard H. Sewell, (interim) 1950
* Chester Arthur Kirkendoll, 1950–1970
* Herman Stone Jr., 1970–1986
* Alex A. Chambers, 1986–1992
* Arthur L. David, (interim) 1992
* Wesley Cornelious McClure, 1992–2013
* Logan C. Hampton, 2014–2024
* Donald W. Comer (Interim), 2024-Present

## Academics

Lane College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate's and bachelor's degrees.

## Athletics

The Lane College Department of Athletics sponsors men's intercollegiate baseball, basketball, football, cross country, and tennis, along with women's intercollegiate softball, basketball, cross country, volleyball, and tennis. The school's athletic teams are nicknamed the Dragons and compete in Division II of the NCAA. The athletic teams compete in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Former Lane football player Jacoby Jones became the first player in history to score a receiving touchdown and a return touchdown in a Super Bowl as a member of the Baltimore Ravens.

## Notable alumni

| Name | Class year | Notability |
| Dennis Henry Anderson | 1893 | Methodist minister, educator, and author |
| Walt Bond | | American professional baseball player |
| Jason Brookins | 2001 | Former professional football player |
| Dave Clark | 1934 | Pioneering African-American record promoter |
| Tequila Harris | 2000 | American mechanical engineer and professor |
| Donald L. Hollowell | 1947 | Civil rights lawyer and first African-American to be named regional director of a United States government agency (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). |
| Fred Lane | 1997 | Former professional football player |
| Beebe Steven Lynk | 1892 | Clubwoman and professor of medical Latin botany and materia medica at the University of West Tennessee |
| Jacoby Jones | 2007 | Former professional football player and college football coach |
| Fatima Massaquoi | 1936 | Liberian educator and writer |
| Chuck Rainey | 1959 | Legendary musician with recording credits on thousands of recordings |
| Elma Stuckey | | Poet and school teacher |
| Leroy Tyus | | American politician, real estate developer, and state legislator in Missouri |
| George L. Vaughn | | lawyer and judge in St. Louis, Missouri; involved in a prominent civil rights cases |

## Namesake

SS Lane Victory, a World War II Victory Ship, one of the few surviving, was named for Lane College. It is now docked in San Pedro, California (which is part of the commercial harbor area of Los Angeles to the south of downtown). It is now open as a museum.