Black Ivy League institutions as being "Howard University, Hampton University, Spelman College, Fisk University, Morehouse College, Tuskegee University and Dillard University." The "North Star" News described "Howard, Fisk, Hampton, Morehouse, Morgan, Tuskegee, and Cheyney ... as the equivalent of a Black Ivy League." Lincoln University in Pennsylvania has also been mentioned as being included in the group. In 1976, the "Chicago Tribune" included "Morehouse, Atlanta University, Morris Brown, Gannon, Clark and Spelman..." The actual Ivy League is an eight-member athletic conference. At one point in history, some of these institutions debated forming a Black Ivy League athletic conference without reaching an agreement. Although
Ivy League was formally designated as "Ivy Day" in 1874. Ivy planting ceremonies are reported for Yale, Simmons, Bryn Mawr and many others. Princeton's "Ivy Club" was founded in 1879. The first usage of "Ivy" in reference to a group of colleges is from sportswriter Stanley Woodward (1895–1965). The first known instance of the term "Ivy League" being used appeared in "The Christian Science Monitor" on February 7, 1935. Several sportswriters and other journalists used the term shortly later to refer to the older colleges, those along the northeastern seaboard of the United States, chiefly the nine institutions with origins dating from