Richard Humphreys

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This article is about the founder of Cheyney University. For the noted physicist, see Richard Franklin Humphreys

Richard Humphreys (1750 - 1832) was the founder of Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, the oldest black university in the United States.

Humphreys was a Quaker philanthropist who bequeathed $10,000.00, one tenth of his estate, to establish a school for "the descendants of the African race". This Institute for Colored Youth, later renamed Cheyney University, was founded in 1837 to provide educational opportunities for African Americans.^[1] Humphreys changed his will to include this bequest in 1829 after race riots occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Humphreys was born on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, and was one of a number of highly successful individuals whom came from the Quaker congregation in that Territory (others included William Thornton and John C. Lettsome).