In 1880 four African Americans were elected to the Tennessee State Legislature (T. A. Sykes, Davidson County; T. F. Cassels and I. F. Norris, Shelby County; and John M. Boyd, Tipton County). Following their election, Representatives Sykes, Cassels, and Norris (as well as two white representatives, James Trimble and J. W. Baker of Davidson County) wrote to UT President Humes indicating their intention to appoint, for the 1881–82 session, Negroes to receive State Scholarships at UT.
The Legislative Act of 1869, which granted the 1962 Morrill Act funds to UT, required that “no citizen . . . otherwise qualified shall be excluded from the privileges of said University by reason of his race or color; provided, that it shall be the duty of the Trustees . . . to make such provision as may be necessary for the separate accommodation or instruction of any persons of color who may be entitled to admission.” The Tennessee Constitution of 1870 (Article XI, Section 12) prohibited “white and Negro children to be received as scholars together in the same school” but added that the provision “shall not prevent the Legislature from carrying into effect any laws that have been passed in favor of the Colleges, Universities or Academies.” The trustees contracted with Fisk University to enroll Negro State Scholarship students, with the university paying Fisk tuition of $30 per session. In 1881–82, ten Negro State Students enrolled at Fisk. In 1884 the contract was changed from Fisk University to Knoxville College, with those already attending Fisk (14) being able to finish there if they chose.
In 1890 a new contract was negotiated with Knoxville College because of federal passage of the Second Morrill Act. This act provided an additional federal subsidy of $15,000 for land-grant colleges, rising to $20,000 after five years, and contained a provision that no money would be paid to colleges in which “a distinction of race or color is made in the admission of students.” It additionally required state support of the institution in which Negro students were enrolled. States with segregated educational systems were required to establish a separate institution for the education of African Americans. The new contract with Knoxville College created the Industrial Department of the University of Tennessee, with Knoxville College providing the buildings and grounds and the university providing teachers, apparatus, tools, machinery, and all other equipment necessary for an industrial college. The UT trustees agreed to provide to Knoxville College an equitable share of the 1862 and 1890 federal land-grant funds.
Students in the Industrial Department received free tuition for subjects they took in the Knoxville College program, and regular Knoxville College students took classes for free in the Industrial Department. The arrangement was submitted to the secretary of the interior, who approved it. This contract continued until Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial Normal School (now Tennessee State University) opened in 1912. In 1913, Chapter 18 of the Public Acts of Tennessee transferred the land-grant obligations and fund for education of Negroes to Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial Normal School, and Tennessee A and I (now Tennessee State University) received the pro rata share for Negroes of the federal subsidies.
Knoxville College was coeducational during the period it served as the university’s Industrial Department, while UT did not admit women. The June 11, 1885, Minutes of the Board of Trustees indicate that one of the Negro cadets registered in the Industrial Department of the university at Knoxville College was a female. The board ordered that her tuition be paid but “her cadetship be discontinued.”