From its founding in 1866 as a liberal arts institution committed to educating the newly freed slaves, Fisk University has been one of America's outstanding universities. Home of the Jubilee Singers and distinguished graduates and educators, artists and thinkers such as W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, Aaron Douglas, John Hope Franklin and Nikki Giovanni. Current Members of U. S. Congress, Representatives John Lewis (GA) and Alcee Hastings (FL) are Fisk graduates as is the former U.S. Secretary of Energy Hazel O’Leary.