Diversity Timeline 1880s

1740-1997

  1. 1740
  2. 1750
  3. 1760
  4. 1770
  5. 1800
  6. 1820
  7. 1830
  8. 1840
  9. 1850
  10. 1870
  11. 1880
  12. 1890
  13. 1900
  14. 1910
  15. 1920
  16. 1930
  17. 1940
  18. 1950
  19. 1960
  20. 1970
  21. 1980
  22. 1990

Thursday, January 1, 1880

The first female students admitted into degree programs were Mary Alice Bennett, M.D. and Anna H. Johnson, to the School of Auxiliary Medicine. Bennett received a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in June, becoming the first woman to receive a degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

A Certificate of Proficiency in Science was awarded to Mary Thorn Lewis.

Wharton

Saturday, January 1, 1881

The Wharton School was founded.

The Law School accepted its first female student, Caroline Burnham Kilgore.

James Brister graduated from the Dental School, the first African American to earn a degree from Penn.

Sunday, January 1, 1882

Nathan Francis Mossell graduated from Penn with a Doctor of Medicine after completing his undergraduate work at Lincoln University. He is the first African American admitted to the medical school and the first to graduate.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences was founded.

Monday, January 1, 1883

William Adger earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and is the first African American to graduate from the College. Adger planned a career in the ministry and was a student in the Divinity School of the Episcopal Church, Philadelphia. Unfortunately he died at a young age in 1885.

Vet School

Tuesday, January 1, 1884

The School of Veterinary Medicine was founded.

Rev. Sabato Morais

Saturday, January 1, 1887

Rev. Sabato Morais, Minister of the Congregation Mickvéh Israel, Philadelphia, founder and President of the Jewish Theological Seminar of America at New York City received an honorary LL.D. He was the first Jewish recipient of an honorary degree.

Hospital Training School for Nurses

Sunday, January 1, 1888

Elizabeth Weston, a Native American, graduated in the first class of the Hospital Training School for Nurses