Howe Institute (Louisiana)
African-American college in New Iberia, LA (c. 1888 to 1933)
The Howe Institute was an African-American private Baptist primary and grammar school in operation from c. 1888 to 1933 in New Iberia, Louisiana. The founding president of the school was Jonas Henderson. A historical marker for the school is located at the Iberia Parish Court Building in New Iberia.
History
The Wakefield Institute in New Iberia was an African-American private college that preceded Howe Institute, established by Samuel Wakefield. It closed in 1874 after damage from a tornado.
There is debate on the date of founding of the Howe Institute, some sources state it was opened in 1888,^ and others state it was either 1890 or 1896. The campus was located between Washington, Iberia, Madison, and Providence streets (present day 300 Iberia Street) in New Iberia. The founding president/principal of the Howe Institute was Jonas Henderson, and a sponsor for the school was the Union 6th District Missionary Baptist Association. The school opening was financed by the St. Paul Congregational Church (now known as Church of Jesus Christ New Iberia) under the church leadership of Byron Gunner, with assistance of the American Missionary Association and with an endowment from philanthropist Peter Howe of Illinois.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Howe Institute (Louisiana)” as african-American college in New Iberia, LA (c. 1888 to 1933). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as african-American college in New Iberia, LA (c. 1888 to 1933). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q118471436. Authority coordinates are 30.005, -91.821. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1888, 1933, 1874 and 1890.
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This entry incorporates text from “Howe Institute (Louisiana)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.