The American Negro Academy (ANA) was an organization that supported African-American scholarship. It was organized in Washington DC, in 1897. The organization was the first organization in the United States dedicated to African-American scholars, and it existed from 1897 to 1928.

Founders of the organization included Alexander Crummell

Alexander Crummell

Alexander Crummell was a pioneering African pastor, professor and African nationalist....

, John Wesley Cromwell, Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal African American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 "Ode to Ethiopia", one poem in the collection Lyrics of Lowly Life....

, Walter B. Hayson, and Kelly Miller (scientist)

Kelly Miller (scientist)

Kelly Miller was an African American mathematician, sociologist, essayist, newspaper columnist, author, and an important figure in the intellectual life of black America for close to half a century.-Career:...

. Presidents of the academy included W. E. B. Du Bois and Archibald H. Grimke.

The organization was formed to provide an alternative to Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...

's approach to education and scholarship. Washington's Tuskegee Machine, based on the Atlanta compromise

Atlanta compromise

The Atlanta compromise was an agreement struck in 1895 between African-American leaders and Southern white leaders. The agreement was that Southern blacks would work meekly and submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic education and due...

, emphasized vocational and industrial training, and discouraged liberal arts. The ANA was supported by African-Americans were opposed to the segregation and discrimination inherent in the Atlanta compromise

Atlanta compromise

The Atlanta compromise was an agreement struck in 1895 between African-American leaders and Southern white leaders. The agreement was that Southern blacks would work meekly and submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic education and due...

, and which were struggling for civil rights.