Claver College
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Claver College was a Black Catholic institution of higher education in Guthrie, Oklahoma, founded in 1933 by the Benedictine Sisters of St. Joseph's Monastery in Tulsa.
History
Claver College was founded in 1933 by Sr Joseph O'Connor, a Benedictine religious sister from St. Joseph's Monastery in Tulsa, to serve the African American population of Guthrie, Oklahoma.{{Cite web |title=St. Joseph Monastery {{!}} The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=ST007 |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=www.okhistory.org}}{{Cite news |last=Tinner-Williams |first=Nate |date=26 November 2021 |title=Remembering Claver College—the nation's second Black Catholic college |work=Black Catholic Messenger |url=https://www.blackcatholicmessenger.com/remembering-claver-college/}} The college was supported with funding from Katharine Drexel (who had founded Xavier University of Louisiana, the nation's only Catholic HBCU, in 1925).{{Citation |title=Stories of the Ages: Endangered Black History - Guthrie (2012-01-26) | date=2 January 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb47FWRqX58 |language=en |access-date=2022-09-20}} The college was named after Peter Claver, a Jesuit missionary and the patron saint of African-American ministry.{{Cite web |last=O'Dell |first=Larry |title=Colleges, African American |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CO026 |website=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture}}
The college, a night school, operated out of a building that also hosted a grocery store.{{Cite news |last=Spaulding |first=Cathy |date=1989 |title=A century of care // Benedictine nuns have had a significant impact on state |work=Tulsa World |url=https://tulsaworld.com/archive/a-century-of-care-benedictine-nuns-have-had-a-significant-impact-on-state/article_bc478e17-2895-5623-911b-63949af9e66c.html}} It ceased operations in 1944, and its former place of operation, the floodplain neighborhood of "Little Africa", was later destroyed. It has since experienced sustained restoration efforts.{{Cite web |date=2021-03-30 |title=Planning of The Elbow renovation receives a $26,000 boost |url=https://guthrienewspage.com/planning-of-the-elbow-renovation-receives-a-26000-boost/ |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=Guthrie News Page |language=en-US}} The school is scheduled to be included in an upcoming book from Dr. Katrina Sanders, “The Rise and Fall of Black Catholic Education in a Changing South, 1886-1976”.{{Cite web |title=The Rise and Fall of Black Catholic Education in a Changing South, 1886-1976 |url=https://louisville-institute.org/our-impact/awards/sabbatical-grant-for-researchers/14409/ |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=Louisville Institute |language=en-US}}
References
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{{coord missing|Oklahoma}}
Category:African-American Roman Catholic schools
Category:African-American Catholic colleges and universities
Category:Higher education in the United States
Category:African-American history of Oklahoma
Category:Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
Category:Benedictine colleges and universities
Category:Catholic universities and colleges in Oklahoma
Category:Schools founded by St. Katharine Drexel
Category:Universities and colleges established in 1933
Category:Educational institutions disestablished in 1944
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