Editing Langston University (section)

==History==
The school was founded in 1897 and was known as the '''Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University'''. From 1898 to 1916 its president was [[Inman E. Page]]. Langston University was created as a result of the second [[Morrill Land-Grant Acts#Expansion|Morrill Act]] in 1890. The law required states with [[land-grant university|land-grant colleges]] (such as [[Oklahoma State University]], then known as Oklahoma A&M) to either admit African Americans or provide an alternative school for them to attend as a condition of receiving federal funds.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/L/LA021.html| title=OHS Publications Division| access-date=26 January 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007035506/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/ENCYCLOPEDIA/entries/L/LA021.html| archive-date=2014-10-07| url-status=dead}}</ref> The university was renamed as '''Langston University''' in 1941 in honor of [[John Mercer Langston]] (1829–1897), [[civil rights]] pioneer, first [[African-American]] member of [[U.S. Congress|Congress]] from [[Virginia]], founder of the [[Howard University Law School]], and American consul-general to [[Haiti]], though it was always referred to as "Langston".

Poet [[Melvin B. Tolson]] taught at Langston from 1947 until 1964. Tolson was portrayed by [[Denzel Washington]] in the film ''[[The Great Debaters]]''.

In August 2021, former university President Kent J. Smith Jr announced the university would use [[COVID-19]] relief money to forgive the debt of students enrolled between spring 2020 and summer 2021, forgiving $4.65 million in student debt.<ref name="Debt Forgive">{{cite news |last1=Martinez-Keel |first1=Nuria |title=Langston University erases $4.65 million in student debt |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/education/2021/08/07/langston-university-only-oklahoma-hbcu-forgives-millions-in-student-debt/5515686001/ |access-date=8 August 2021 |publisher=The Oklahoman |date=7 August 2021}}</ref>

Langston University commemorated the opening of a new allied health facility on its Tulsa Campus on March 30, 2023. The facility was dedicated as the Jack Henderson Allied Health Facility on August 2, 2024. The 17,000 square-foot building is home of the Langston University School of Nursing and Health Professions.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/langston-university-dedicates-the-jack-henderson-allied-health-facility |title=Langston University dedicates The Jack Henderson Allied Health Facility | first=Sharon |last=Phillips |work=[[KJRH-TV]] |date=August 2, 2024 |accessdate=September 2, 2024}}</ref>

President Kent J. Smith Jr announced his retirement as the university's 16th president effective at the end of the Spring 2023 semester. The Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical Colleges Board of Regents unanimously appointed [[Ruth Ray Jackson]] as interim president beginning July 6, 2023. In April 2024, she was appointed the institution's 17th president with the investiture on March 14, 2025.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2024-05-06 |title=Ruth Ray Jackson Named the Seventeenth President of Langston University in Oklahoma |url=https://jbhe.com/2024/05/ruth-ray-jackson-named-seventeenth-president-of-langston-university-in-oklahoma/ |access-date=2024-05-12 |website=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education |language=en-US}}</ref>