"The story of Cheyney University comes with an ironic twist. The school was founded in 1837 with a bequest of $10,000 from the son of a plantation owner on the British Island of Tortola. Put plainly, money earned from slave labor was employed to fund America’s first historically black college. This was money to fund the school. The land on which it is located comes from another Quaker family, the Cheyneys. The donor of the funding for the school itself was a Philadelphia silversmith, Richard Humphreys. It is said he acted in response to anti-black riots which occurred in Philadelphia in 1829. Today’s Cheney first opened in Philadelphia as the Institute for Colored Youth."

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- Mark Ashton, Chester County: A Modern History