
The origins of the school lay in the efforts of the American Missionary Association (AMA) and the Freedman's Bureau to educate blacks following emancipation. In 1867, representatives of the AMA selected Marion as the site and worked with local residents, including nine formerly enslaved men, to raise the necessary funds. One of the men, Alexander Curtis, took the lead in establishing the institution as a normal school, which would provide teacher training in addition to a regular curriculum, but this goal would not be realized for a number of years. The school followed the model of a typical educational institution of the time, filing a charter and incorporating, on July 18, 1867. There is a widely circulating legend that the school's origins lie with a Union soldier who taught local black children as he was recovering from wounds sustained in the Civil War, but there is no hard evidence to support this claim.

Under White's guidance, the school reorganized in 1874 as the State Normal School for Colored Students in Marion and expanded to include a teacher-training program while still carrying on its primary education mission. By 1887, the state legislature began appropriating funds for a more expanded higher education system for blacks in the state. As a result, the Marion school was split and the teacher-training component moved to Montgomery and became the Alabama Colored People's University; this school would evolve into present day Alabama State University. The legislature also passed a law forbidding anyone from establishing another normal school on the land vacated in Marion, though it did allow for a regular public school on that land.

By the time that Phillips died in 1927, the school had expanded to nearly 600 students, 26 teachers, 11 buildings serving various functions, and 40 acres of land that included a farm. Two dormitories housed students who did not live within easy daily travel distance from the school. In 1939, the school dedicated its newly finished auditorium to Phillips.

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of Education case, resulting in the eventual closing of Lincoln and other segregated schools. In 1960, the AMA severed its remaining ties with the school, and the state took over full operation. Lincoln celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1967 and graduated its final high school class in 1969 and its final sixth-grade class in 1970, when it ceased operations. The school's alumni association remains active and celebrates the school's importance to African Americans in Marion for more than 100 years. The association has preserved one of the school's original buildings and now owns the 22 acres of the original school campus. On July 19, 2019, 100 ASU freshmen made a pilgrimage to the Lincoln Normal School campus and participated in a ceremony to celebrate the school's heritage.
Additional Resources
Richardson, Joe M., and Maxine D. Jones. Education for Liberation: The American Missionary Association and African Americans, 1890 to the Civil Rights Movement. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2009.
Additional Resources
Richardson, Joe M., and Maxine D. Jones. Education for Liberation: The American Missionary Association and African Americans, 1890 to the Civil Rights Movement. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2009.
Sherer, Robert G. Black Education in Alabama, 1865-1901. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1997.