The article examines the history of the preparation and first attempt to introduce the Ukrainian language into the educational process at the Kharkiv Imperial University, which was carried out by Mykola Fedorovych Sumtsov, professor of the Faculty of History and Philology at Kharkiv University, in 1907. The creative work and initiative of M. F. Sumtsov, D. I. Bahalii, M. G. Khalansky, M. S. Hrushevsky, and O. S. Hrushevsky at the beginning of the 20th century in the transition of university education in modern Ukraine to the Ukrainian language is analysed. New historical sources have been researched and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time – publications of the newspaper Rada for 1906-1908. For the first time, the history of M. F. Sumtsov's preparation for teaching a course in Ukrainian folk literature in Ukrainian and the first two lectures, their content and the audience's reaction have been reconstructed. Examples of positive responses to this significant event from broad circles of Ukrainian society and the sharply negative reaction of the Ministry of Education are given. The extraordinary significance of the transition to teaching in Ukrainian at the university and M. F. Sumtsov's enormous contribution to this cause, which contributed to the further formation of the national identity of the Ukrainian people and has not lost its significance to this day, are highlighted.