BLACK FACTS: HBCUs

[feu_declipse]

I don't know if this is a dumb question, but why is African spelt with a 'k'?? Were they of African descent?

[Steeltrap]

I'm a native Californian, educated in California public schools (including being bused from 7th through 12th grades) . But of course, I don't remember my teachers passing on this interesting history bit.

[CrimsonTide4]

http://www.aaregistry.com/detail.php3?id=2623


January 31


Carol Channing
*Carol Channing was born on this date in 1921. She is an African American actress.

She was born in Seattle, Washington. When she left home to attend Bennington College, her mother informed her that her father, a journalist whom she had believed was born in Rhode Island, was actually a light-complected African-American born in Augusta, Georgia who had passed for white, saying that the only reason she was telling her was so she wouldn't be surprised "if she had a black baby".

She kept her heritage secret so she would not be typecast on Broadway and in Hollywood, ultimately revealing it only in her autobiography, Just Lucky I Guess, which was published in 2002, when she was more than 80 years old. As an actress, Channing’s career was built largely on two roles, Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello Dolly!. She is easily recognized by her distinctive voice and wide eyes. Her first Broadway play was Let's Face It, where she was an understudy for Eve Arden. She had a featured role in a review, Lend an Ear, where she was spotted by Anita Loos and cast in the role of Lorelei Lee, which was to bring her to prominence.

(Her signature song from the production was "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.") Carol's persona and that of the character were strikingly alike: simultaneously smart yet scattered, naïve but worldly. She truly came to national prominence as the star of Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! She never missed a performance during her run, attributing her good health to her Christian Science faith. Her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, in a year. She reprised the role of Lorelei Lee in the musical Lorelei, and appeared in two New York revivals of Hello, Dolly!, in addition to touring with it extensively throughout the United States.

She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie, opposite Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore. Channing married four times. Her first husband, Theodore Naidish, was a writer; her second, Alexander Carson, was center for the Ottawa Rough Riders Canadian football team (they had one son, Channing Lowe, an editorial cartoonist for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. In 1956 she married her manager and publicist Charles Lowe. They remained married for 42 years, but she filed for divorce in 1998, alleging they had had marital relations only twice in that timespan.

He died before the divorce was finalized. On May 10, 2003, she married Harry Kullijian, her high school sweetheart, who reunited with her after she mentioned him fondly in her memoir.

Reference:
Just Lucky I Guess
by Carol Channing
Simon & Schuster, Oct 2002
ISBN: 0743216067

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've never seen her perform but I think I will have to rent these 2 movies and read her autobiography.

[AKA2D '91]

Yep. It was in either Jet or Ebony.

[TonyB06]

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
http://www.aaregistry.com/detail.php3?id=2623


January 31


Carol Channing
*Carol Channing was born on this date in 1921. She is an African American actress.

She was born in Seattle, Washington. When she left home her mother informed her that her father, a journalist whom she had believed was born in Rhode Island, was actually a light-complected African-American ....

(portion deleted)

In 1956 she married her manager and publicist Charles Lowe. They remained married for 42 years, but she filed for divorce in 1998, alleging they had had marital relations only twice in that timespan.

let's just hope somebody is exaggerating in a court filing. Twice in 42 years? black, white or otherwise, that would be felony stinginess in the first degree....

"lem me see, that's ...carry the one....once every 21 years."

GTHOOHWTBS....

[33girl]

Originally posted by TonyB06
let's just hope somebody is exaggerating in a court filing. Twice in 42 years? black, white or otherwise, that would be felony stinginess in the first degree....

"lem me see, that's ...carry the one....once every 21 years."

GTHOOHWTBS....

I've heard that twice in 42 years re Carol Channing thing several times before...so I would guess she's not exaggerating.

[Honeykiss1974]

@ Carol Channing!!!!!!!!!!

Get out!!! I would have NEVER guessed! I may have to read her autobiography too.

[btb87]

Originally posted by Honeykiss1974
@ Carol Channing!!!!!!!!!!

Get out!!! I would have NEVER guessed! I may have to read her autobiography too.

I understand that she revealed this surprising bit of information (about her race) on Larry King as well sometime ago.

[CrimsonTide4]

This was Tom Joyner's Little KNown Black Fact today. I did some digging and found out more to give us a better context.

Taken from here: http://www.indystar.com/articles/1/225541-2271-009.html

Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, Indiana


Crispus Attucks through the years
February 27, 2005


Dec. 12, 1922: Despite opposition from black leaders, the Indianapolis Public School Board approves a plan to build a segregated high school for black students. There are about 800 black high school students in Indianapolis at the time, most of whom attend Tech, Manual or Shortridge.

1924: The Ku Klux Klan reaches the height of its political influence in the state and city. Klan-backed Ed Jackson is elected governor, and there are Klan-backed majorities in the state House and Senate. The Klan’s local power declines sharply beginning the next year, after Indiana Grand Dragon D.C. Stephenson is convicted of second-degree murder.

1926: A year before the school opens, city leaders decide to name it for Thomas Jefferson. They drop the idea after objections by the black community, which says the school shouldn’t be named for a slaveholder. Instead, it’s named Crispus Attucks for a runaway slave who is believed to be the first American killed by British soldiers in the 1770 Boston Massacre, which helped precipitate the Revolutionary War.

Sept. 12, 1927: Crispus Attucks High School opens for 1,350 black students, many of whom are bused in from other districts. On the same day, the KKK holds a march Downtown. “Row after row of masked Klansmen marching slowly to the beat of muffled drums took an hour to pass,” The Star reported. (The events were not necessarily related; the march was likely in conjunction with a trial in which the Klan accused Mayor John L. Duvall of reneging on a campaign promise to give Klan members 85 percent of his appointments.)

1927: Indiana High School Athletic Association Commissioner Arthur Trester denies Attucks membership, ruling that, because it does not include white students, it is not a public school.

1933: Attucks Principal Russell Lane persuades Trester to allow IHSAA member teams to play regular-season basketball games against the school. Most city schools aren’t interested, however, forcing Attucks to travel to Ellettsville, Connersville and other small Indiana towns.

1938: Lockefield Gardens, a federally funded housing project, opens with 748 apartments on 24 acres near Attucks. The basketball court there, nicknamed the Dustbowl, soon becomes the site of the most competitive basketball games in the city.

1942: Oscar Robertson moves to Indianapolis with his mother and two brothers from a small farm near Bellsburg, Tenn., joining his father, Bailey, who had come earlier in search of work.

1942: The IHSAA agrees to admit “colored” and parochial schools after Robert L. Brokenburr, Indiana’s first black state senator, proposes a bill banning segregation in IHSAA tournaments. The bill is approved by the Senate but defeated in the House. The IHSAA bows to the resulting pressure, and a year later Attucks plays in the tournament for the first time.

May 22, 1947: Indianapolis Police Chief Howard Sanders does not allow a “mixed” dance to be held in the city, citing his “personal policy” and “better judgment.” Eight days later, White Castle is one of the first Indianapolis restaurants to lift its “Jim Crow” policy, announcing that blacks will be allowed inside.

1949: The Indiana General Assembly passes a desegregation law allowing black students to enroll in their neighborhood schools. Within a few days, the IPS Board passes a resolution to end segregation, but the school system later is found to have perpetuated the practice.

1950: Ray Crowe, who grew up on a small farm in Johnson County, becomes head basketball coach at Attucks after Fitzhugh Lyons retires. Crowe brings in the players he developed while coaching at School 17, along with a more aggressive style of play.

1951: In what Star sportswriter Bob Collins called “the most dramatic and exciting” game in the history of the state tournament, Attucks defeats Anderson, 81-80, in a regional final on a last-second shot by Bailey “Flap” Robertson, Oscar’s older brother. The victory sets off a huge celebration along Indiana Avenue, the social heart of the black section of the city. The Tigers advance to the Final Four for the first time before losing a semifinal game to Evansville Reitz.

1952: Attucks loses to Tech, led by Joe Sexson, The Star’s Indiana Mr. Basketball, in the sectional round.

1953: Hurt by a controversial late-game foul call on Hallie Bryant, Attucks loses to Shelbyville in the semistate round of the tournament. Bryant is named The Star’s Indiana Mr. Basketball and goes on to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

1954: The Tigers advance to the semistate round again but lose to Milan, despite 22 points by sophomore Oscar Robertson. Milan goes on to win the state title, which will be celebrated in the movie “Hoosiers.”

1955: Attucks wins the state basketball title, beating Gary Roosevelt, 97-74, to become the first all-black school in the country to win a state title in an integrated sport, and the first Indianapolis school to win the state basketball title. Eight Tigers score; Oscar Robertson leads with 30.

1956: Attucks defends its state title, beating Lafayette Jefferson, 79-57, to become the state’s first undefeated champion. Oscar Robertson scores 39 points in his final game for Attucks and is named The Star’s Indiana Mr. Basketball. Crowe is not voted Coach of the Year by the state’s sportswriters.

1957: Bob Jewell, a star of the 1951 Attucks team, begins work for Eli Lilly and Co. as an associate bacteriologist, the first black scientist on the staff. Two other black scientists are hired soon after.

1957: Crowe retires as coach after losing to undefeated South Bend Central in the state championship game. He becomes Attucks’ athletic director and hires Bill Garrett, the first black basketball player at Indiana University, as his replacement.

1959: Attucks wins its third state basketball title in five years. The school never returns to the Final Four.

1960: Oscar Robertson wins an Olympic gold medal as a co-captain of the U.S. basketball team in Rome. He goes on to win an NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971 and to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980.

1966: Crowe is elected to the state legislature. He later becomes chairman of the House Education Committee.

1969: Several Attucks teachers are reassigned to other city high schools, stemming from an agreement between the U.S. Justice Department and Indianapolis Public Schools to integrate the district.

1971: The first white students attend Attucks.

Mid-1970s: Construction of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus eliminates much of the neighborhood that formerly housed Attucks students.

1986: The School Board changes Attucks to a junior high school, despite an outcry from the black community. More than 1,000 people, including former world boxing champion Marvin Johnson, pack the school auditorium to protest the plan. “Crispus Attucks has become a legend,” Johnson says. “Don’t let the legend die.” In 1993, it becomes a middle school, which it remains.

1989: Attucks is added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Dec. 20, 2003: Crowe dies at age 88. His memorial service, a week later at Attucks Middle School, is attended by a large, racially mixed crowd that includes many of his former players. The service includes a drive around Monument Circle in his honor.

SOURCES: The Indianapolis Star; Star library staff; The Indianapolis Times; The Indianapolis Recorder; “But They Can’t Beat Us,” by Randy Roberts; “The Ray Crowe Story,” by Kerry D. Marshall; “The Big O,” by Oscar Robertson; “Hail to the Green, Hail to the Gold,” by Stanley Warren; “Hoosier Hysteria,” by Herb Schwomeyer; Encyclopedia of Indianapolis; Black History News and Notes, Number 36, May 1989.

Ray Crowe

“The Ray Crowe Story,” 1992

“In creating Crispus Attucks High School, Indianapolis had hoped to remove black people — to segregate them — from the mainstream of city life. Yet this castoff school gave the city one of its most coveted awards — a state basketball championship.

“I was as unhappy as anyone when they closed the high school. Many of my fondest memories are associated with that school. But if you look at it another way, maybe the closing of Crispus Attucks marked the end of a sick social experiment.

“When we were fighting to keep it open, I couldn’t help but think of another citizen of the community, Archie Greathouse, who, believing that segregation was wrong, filed a lawsuit in 1923 to keep Attucks from being built. He failed in his efforts to stop the school from being opened just as we were failing to stop it from being closed. There’s a bitter irony, but I’ve always tried to stay positive. I try to look at that ending as a beginning. Maybe a lesson was learned. Maybe something good can come of it.”

Reading that timeline exposed me to a lot of other Black facts within the Crispus Attucks Story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indianapolis Hall of Fame to Induct 1955 Crispus Attucks High School Championship Team

[CrimsonTide4]

Hampton University, formerly known as Hampton Institute
http://www.hamptonu.edu/

Taken from: http://www.hamptonu.edu/about/heritage.htm

Hampton University has embraced the principles of "Education for life" and "learning by doing," since its founding in 1868 during the days of Reconstruction. Originally opening its doors as Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute to prepare promising young African-American men and women to lead and teach their newly-freed people, the University has continually sought to instill in its students the precepts of efficiency, character and service to society-standards that continue to remain both timeless and relevant.


Founded on the banks of the Virginia Peninsula by Brigadier General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, the 29 year-old son of missionary parents, Hampton became an oasis of opportunity for the thousands of newly-freed people gathered behind Union lines. With the aid of the American Missionary Association, the school was established to train selected young men and women to "go out to teach and lead their people," and to build a viable industrial system on the strength of self-sufficiency, intelligent labor and solid moral character.

In 1878, Hampton established a formal education program for Native Americans, beginning the Institute's lasting commitment to serving a multicultural population. Hampton's historic Native American education program spanned more than forty years, with the last student graduating in 1923. Recent initiatives have attracted Native American students to renew their ties with Hampton.

In the early days, support for the Institute came from the Freedman's Bureau, Northern philanthropists and religious groups, with the first classroom building erected in 1870. The first baccalaureate degrees were awarded in 1922. Two years later, the school's name was changed to Hampton Institute, reflecting college-level accreditation. In 1984, Hampton's Board of Trustees formally adopted a university structure and changed the name to Hampton University, which today represents the unparalleled standard of excellence in American higher education.


Emancipation Oak

Hampton's proud past meets your promising future…
One day in 1863, the members of the Virginia Peninsula's black community gathered to hear a prayer answered. Ninety-eight feet in diameter, Emancipation Oak was the site of the first Southern reading of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, an act which accelerated the demand for African-American education. The peaceful shade of the oak served as the first classroom for newly freed men and women - eager for an education. Mrs. Mary Peake, daughter of a freed colored woman and a Frenchman, conducted the first lessons taught under the oak located on the University's campus.

The Emancipation oak is designated as one of the 10 Great Trees of the World by the National Geographic Society.


North Carolina A&T University
http://www.ncat.edu/

taken from Wikipedia.org:
The North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) was established as a “mechanic College” for the “Colored Race” by an act of the General Assembly of North Carolina ratified March 9, 1891. The act read in part: That the leading objective of the college shall be to teach practical agriculture and the mechanic arts and such learning as related thereto, not excluding academic and classical instruction.


The College operated in Raleigh (Shaw) until 1893 when it moved to the city of Greensboro, which donated $11,000 in cash and 14 acres (57,000 m²) of land for its campus. The original course of study of A&T included languages and literature, mathematics, business, agriculture and military science. Female students were a part of the college from 1893 until 1901, but were not enrolled again until 1928. In 1915, the name of the College became the Negro Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina by act of the NC General Assembly. In 1967, the name of the College was changed to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.


The presidents and chancellors of A&T have been Dr. John O. Crosby (1892-1896), Dr. James B. Dudley (1896-1925), Dr. Ferdinand D. Bluford (1925-1955), Dr. Warmoth T. Gibbs (1956-1960), Dr. Samuel D. Proctor (1960-1964), Dr. Lewis C. Dowdy (1964-1980), Dr. Cleon F. Thompson, Jr. (1980-1981), Dr. Edward B. Fort (1981-1999), Dr. James C. Renick, (1999-present).

NC A&T is a historically black college and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina System. The school colors are blue and gold. The school athletic teams are called the "Aggies". On the A&T seal are the words "mens et manus" (minds and hands), reflecting on A&T's early focus on agriculture and technical skills.



Well Known Alumni
Reverend Jesse Jackson

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.

National Football League runningback Maurice Hicks

Astronaut Ronald McNair (who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986)

The Greensboro Four (sparked the Civil Rights movement throughout the south) The Greensboro Four were a group of four black college students, Jibreel Khazan, Franklin Eugene McCain, Joseph Alfred McNeil, and David Leinail Richmond, from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, North Carolina that, in 1960, sat down at an all-white Woolworth's lunch counter, and refused to leave when they were denied service. Hundreds of others soon joined in this first sit-in, which lasted for several months. In company throughout the entire protest was their white best-friend Hal Sieber, who easily recalls the events. Such protests quickly spread across the South, ultimately leading to the desegregation of Woolworth's and other chains. The original Woolworth's counter and stools now sit in the Smithsonian Museum, but a Sit-In Museum is being planned for the old Woolworth's building where the event actually occurred.

US Congressman Edolphus Towns (NY)

Al Attles (NBA Legend - Golden State Warriors)

Major General Charles D. Bussey (retired)

Lou Donaldson (internationally known jazz musician)

Brig. Gen. Clara L. Adams-Ender (retired) (first black Army Nurse Corps officer to graduate from the U.S. Army War College)

Elvin Bethea (NFL Hall of Fame - Houston Oilers)

BTB87

My cousin, KS



Greensboro four statue in front of Dudley Hall


Disclaimer: If any of this is incorrect, please just provide the correct information without being harsh. Just trying to enlighten and be enlightened. Also each day, 2 more HBCUs will be profiled.

[btb87]

Ms. C,

Girl, you done me proud!

Another graduate is Joe Dudley (yes, THAT Dudley) of Dudley hair products. Don't remember what year he graduated, but for some reason, '62 sticks out (besides the fact that it was just a wonderful year! ).

I can't tell you how moved I was the first time I saw the statue of the Greensboro Four. I saw it about 2 years ago after our homecoming game, and I just stood there and stared at it. I can't imagine what guts it took for these men to do what they did.

Thanks for posting this, and thanks for putting me in the "well-known alumni" list! .

AGGIE PRIDE !!!

"Dear A & T, dear A & T, a monument indeed. . . "

[CrimsonTide4]

BTB87, my pleasure! The idea came to me out of the Pikes @ Howard thread. I realized how little I know about each HBCU. I have never been on A & T's campus but I saw the status today on Wikipedia and it moved me, so I can imagine how it moved you and others as well.


Also having spoken with my Soror who is a Hampton alum, she informed me that Wanda Sykes is also a Hampton alum. Of course, I knew about Booker T. Washington.

[CrimsonTide4]

Texas Southern University

http://www.tsu.edu/

Texas Southern University is a historically black university in Houston, Texas, USA. The university was established on March 3, 1947 by the Texas Legislature and it was initially named Texas State University for Negroes. Prior becoming a state university, Texas Southern University was owned by the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and had been known as Houston College for Negroes.

Texas Southern University's school colors are maroon and gray and the school nickname is the Tigers. Texas Southern sports teams participate in NCAA Division I-A (I-AA for football) in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

History
In February 1946, Heman Marion Sweatt, an African American man, applied to the University of Texas Law School. He was denied admission because of his race, and subsequently filed suit. (See Sweatt v. Painter.) At the time, there was no “separate but equal” law school for African Americans, and the Texas trial court, instead of granting Sweatt a writ of mandamus, continued the case for six months allowing the state time to create a law school only for blacks. As a result, Texas Southern University was established under Senate Bill 140 by the Fiftieth Texas Legislature on March 3, 1947 as a state university to be located in Houston. Originally named Texas State University for Negroes, the school was established to serve African Americans in Texas and offer them fields of study comparable to that available to white Texans. The state took over the HISD-run Houston College for Negroes as a basis for the new university. At the time, Houston College had one permanent building, but, more importantly, an existing faculty, and students. The school was charged with teaching "pharmacy, dentistry, arts and sciences, journalism education, literature, law, medicine, and other professional courses," and further stipulated that "these courses shall be equivalent to those offered at other institutions of this type supported by the State of Texas." Despite the lofty language of Senate Bill 140, the the intent of the legislation, clearly, was to perpetuate the racial segregation of higher education in Texas.

Notable Alumni
Yolanda Adams, Grammy Award-winning gospel singer

Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, the first black woman from a Southern state to serve in the U.S. House

Congressman Mickey Leland, U.S. House

Congressman Craig Washington, U.S. House

Michael Strahan, Defensive End for the New York Giants

Don Narcisse, Former Saskatchewan Roughriders Wide Receiver (1987-1999) / CFL Legend

Harris County Commissioner Sylvia R. Garcia

Lloyd Wells, first black full-time professional football scout (Kansas City Chiefs, American Football League)

President is Dr. Priscilla Slade, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha
http://www.tsu.edu/about/administrat...ce/welcome.asp



Alcorn State University

http://www.alcorn.edu/index.htm



History taken from http://www.alcorn.edu/about/history.htm


Alcorn State University was founded on the site originally occupied by Oakland College, a school for whites established by the Presbyterian Church.
Oakland College closed its doors at the beginning of the Civil War so that its students could answer the call to arms. Upon failing to reopen at the end of the war, the property was sold to the state of Mississippi and renamed Alcorn University in honor of James L. Alcorn in 1871, then governor of the state of Mississippi.

Hiram R. Revels resigned his seat in the United States Senate to become Alcorn's first president. The state legislature provided $50,000 in cash for ten successive years for the establishment and overall operations of the college. The state also granted Alcorn three-fifths of the proceeds earned from the sale of thirty thousand acres of land scrip for agricultural colleges. The land was sold for $188,928 with Alcorn receiving a share of $113,400. This money was to be used solely for the agricultural and mechanical components of the college. From its beginning, Alcorn State University was a land-grant college.

In 1878, the name Alcorn University was changed to Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College. The university's original 225 acres of land have grown to become a 1,700 acre campus. The goals for the college set by the Mississippi legislature clearly emphasized training rather than education. The school, like other black schools during these years, was less a college than a trade school.

At first the school was exclusively for black males but in 1895 women were admitted. Today, women outnumber men at the university eighteen hundred to twelve hundred.

In 1974 Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College became Alcorn State University. Governor William L. Waller signed House Bill 298 granting university status to Alcorn and the other state supported colleges. In truth, this law created a change of name rather than of purpose. Alcorn had already become a more diversified university. It provides an undergraduate education that enables students to continue their work in graduate and professional schools, engage in teaching, and enter other professions. It also provides graduate education to equip students for further training in specialized fields while they contribute to the advancement of knowledge through scholarly research and inquiry.

Alcorn began with eight faculty members in 1871. Today there are more than five hundred members of the faculty and staff. The student body has grown from 179 mostly local male students to more than 3,000 students from all over the world.

While early graduates of Alcorn had limited horizons, more recent alumni are successful doctors, lawyers, dentists, teachers, principals, administrators, managers, and entrepreneurs. Alcorn has had fifteen presidents with Dr. Clinton Bristow,Jr. becoming the sixteenth president in 1995. Of these, Dr. Walter Washington, who assumed the presidency in 1969, was the longest-tenured president in Alcorn's history.

Over the decades the college that once was a struggling institution has become one of the leading black universities in the nation. Alcorn State is now fully accredited with seven schools and degree programs in more than fifty areas including a nursing program. The facilities have increased from three historic buildings to approximately 80 modern structures with an approximate value of $71 million.


Notable Alumni
Donald Driver - American professional football wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League

Steve McNair - American professional football quarterback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League

Medgar Evers - NAACP's first field secretary

Michael Clarke Duncan - actor, The Green Mile

[Reds6]

Back on top

[CrimsonTide4]

Florida A & M University
http://www.famu.edu

History taken from http://www.famu.edu/a&m.php?page=history (quite extensive but very informative)

History


Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, founded on October 3, 1887, as the State Normal College for ColoredStudents, began classes with fifteen students and two instructors. Its destiny - to become an institution of higher learning, striving toward even greater heights of academic excellence. Today, Florida A&M University is one of nine institutions in Florida 's State University System, and excellence - "excellence with caring" - remains its goal.

Leading the State Normal College through its infancy were two distinguished citizens and educators. They were Thomas DeSaille Tucker, an outstanding attorney from Pensacola who was selected as the college's first president, and Thomas Van Rennasaler Gibbs, a state representative from Duval County who was Tucker's top assistant. In 1891, the college received $7,500 under the Second Morrill Act for agricultural and mechanical arts education; thus, it became Florida's land grant institution for African-Americans. The college was moved from Copeland Street (now the site of Florida State University) to its present location, and its name was changed to the State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students. It was at this new site that President Tucker initiated his plans for institutional growth and development.

In the 1900s, this young institution flourished under the leadership of Nathan B. Young. In 1905, management of the college was transferred from the Board of Education to the Board of Control. This event was significant because it officially designated the college as an institution of higher education. The name was changed in 1909 to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes (FAMC). The following year, with an enrollment of 317 students, the college awarded its first degrees. In spite of a setback caused by a tragic fire which destroyed Duval Hall (the main building which housed the library, administrative offices, cafeteria and other college agencies), progress was made when a gift of $10,000 was presented to the college by Andrew Carnegie for the erection of a new library facility-which held the distinction of being the only Carnegie Library located on a African-American land-grant college. President Young directed the growth of the college with limited resources and expectations, to a four-year degree-granting institution, offering the B.S. degree in education, science, home economics, agriculture, and mechanical arts.

Under the administration of John Robert Edward Lee, Sr., Florida A&M University acquired much of the physical and academic image it has today. Buildings were constructed; more land was purchased; more faculty was hired; courses were upgraded, and accreditation was received from several state agencies. In 1944, Florida A&M University had constructed 48 buildings, accumulated 396 acres of land, and had 812 students and 122 staff members. In 1949, under the guidance of William H. Gray, Jr., expansion, along with reorganization, continued; the college had obtained an Army ROTC unit, and student enrollment had grown to more 2,000.

Perhaps the greatest achievement under the presidency of Dr. George W. Gore, Jr., was the elevation of the school to university status. In 1953 the college's name was changed by legislative action from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Obtaining university status meant restructuring existing programs and designing new academic offerings to meet the demands of producing quality students at the professional and graduate levels. Between 1953 and 1968 the Schools of Pharmacy, Law, Graduate Studies, and Nursing were created.

During the years 1950-1968, the university experienced its most rapid growth. Twenty-three buildings were erected with construction and renovation costs totaling more that 14 million. These facilities included the Dairy Barn, Faculty Duplexes, Law Wing of Coleman Library; Gibbs, Tucker, and Truth Halls; Agriculture and Home Economics Building(Perry Page), Student Union Building, Demonstration School Building and cafeteria; Health and Physical Education Building, Music and Fine Arts Complex, High School Gymnasium, Stadium, and Health and Physical Education Building. The hospital was completed and operative. The university staff increased by more that 500. At this time, the four-quarter plan was implemented, and the school became the first Negro institution to become a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Enrollment increased to more than 3,500.

Notable alumni
Willie Galimore, former NFL player

Bob Hayes, Football Player, Olympic Gold Medalist

Earl Holmes, former National Football League player

Althea Gibson, Tennis Player

Kwame Kilpatrick, Mayor of Detroit

Soror T'Keyah Crystal Keymah, Actress

Common, Entertainer

Ken Riley, former National Football League player

John W. Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of Symantec Corp

SkeephistAKAte

2Discrete4U

Morgan State University
http://www.morgan.edu/

History
Founded in 1867 as the Centenary Biblical Institute by the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the institution's original mission was to train young men in ministry. It subsequently broadened its mission to educate both men and women as teachers. The school was renamed Morgan College in 1890 in honor of the Reverend Lyttleton Morgan, the first chairman of its Board of Trustees, who donated land to the college.

Morgan awarded its first baccalaureate degree to George F. McMechen in 1895. McMechen later obtained a law degree from Yale and eventually returned to Baltimore, where he became a civic leader and one of Morgan's strongest financial supporters. In 1915 the late Andrew Carnegie gave the school a conditional grant of $50,000 for the central academic building. The terms of the grant included the purchase of a new site for the College, payment of all outstanding obligations, and the construction of a building to be named after him. The College met the conditions and moved to its present site in northeast Baltimore in 1917. Carnegie Hall, the oldest original building on the present MSU campus, was erected two years later.

Morgan remained a private institution until 1939. That year, the state of Maryland purchased the school in response to a state study that determined that Maryland needed to provide more opportunities for its black citizens.

From its beginnings as a public campus, Morgan was open to students of all races. By the time it became a public campus, the College had become a relatively comprehensive institution. Until the mid-1960s, when the state's teachers colleges began their transition to liberal arts campuses, Morgan and the University of Maryland College Park were the only two public campuses in the state with comprehensive missions.

As Maryland's teachers colleges began to broaden their objective, Morgan and other like institutions, were placed into a state college system governed by a Board of Trustees. However, in 1975 the State Legislature designated Morgan as a university, gave it the authority to offer doctorates, and provided for it to once again have its own governing board.

In 1988 Maryland reorganized its higher education structure and strengthened its coordinating board, the Higher Education Commission. The campuses in the state college system became part of the University of Maryland System. Morgan and St. Mary's College of Maryland were the only public baccalaureate-granting institutions authorized to have their own governing boards. The legislation also strengthened Morgan's authority to offer advanced programs and designated the campus as Maryland's Public Urban University.

Notable Alumni
My friend, WL, an engineer and member of Omega Psi Phi
The founders of Iota Phi Theta