Lane College was founded in 1882 by the Colored Methodist Episcopal (C.M.E.) Church in America as the “C.M.E. High School” and named after Methodist Bishop Isaac Lane who co-founded the school. Planning for the school had begun in 1878, but the school's establishment was delayed by a yellow fever epidemic in the region in 1878. Its primary purpose was the education of newly freed slaves, and the original curriculum focused on the preparation of "teachers and preachers."