Named after the famous African American abolitionist and orator Henry Highland Garnet, The Garnet Literary Association (also occasionally spelled “Garnett” and sometimes referred to as a “lyceum” or a “literary society”) was one of two such societies formed shortly after Lincoln University’s founding, in association with the Collegiate Department. As documented in the college catalogues, students joined one of the two societies and through them had extensive practice in debate and oratory. These literary societies remained vitally important through the nineteenth and even into the twentieth century, at least until the arrival of intercollegiate football and Greek fraternities on campus.
Click here to access that collection, which is organized chronologically, oldest to newest.
Links to online Garnet Society documents:
