BLACK FACTS: HBCUs

[CrimsonTide4]

Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas
http://www.philander.edu/



http://www.philander.edu/history.aspx

Officially founded in 1877, Philander Smith College is the result of one of the early attempts to make education available to freedmen (former African-American slaves) west of the Mississippi River. The forerunner of the College was Walden Seminary, named in honor of Dr. J. M. Walden, one of the originators and the first Corresponding Secretary of the Freedmen's Aid Society. Miss Helen Perkins served as Principal of the institution during the early years.

In 1876, the General Conference of The Methodist Episcopal Church authorized the creation of an annual conference for Negro preachers in the State of Arkansas with the power to promote schools. The new body was named the Little Rock Annual Conference (later the Southwest Annual Conference). In 1877, this annual conference designated Walden Seminary as its official educational institution.

The Seminary was located at Eighth Street and Broadway in the Wesley Chapel Methodist Church. The first Conference Trustees of the new school, elected in 1878, were: Ministers I. G. Pollard, W. O. Emory, G. W. Sams, W. H. Crawford, A. J. Phillips, L. W. Elkins and Laymen A. L. Richmond, William La Porte and Frank Carland.

Philander Smith College has a rich Christian heritage. It has maintained a close relationship with the Church across the years. It acknowledges a definite obligation to The United Methodist Church. The College receives funding from The General Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry of The United Methodist Church. It is also the only institution in Arkansas affiliated with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

Philander Smith College strives to instill the desire to serve in its faculty and students. This desire is at the core of its educational philosophy. Across the years, it has earned the designation as a "College of Service and Distinction."

from Wikipedia:
The school was renamed to Philander Smith College in 1882 in order to recognize the financial contributions of Adeline Smith, the widow of Philander Smith. The college was chartered as a four-year college in 1883 and conferred its first bachelor’s degree in 1888.

Notable Alumni:
Joycelyn Elders - former United States Surgeon General

Hubert Ausbie - former Harlem Globetrotters player and coach

Lottie Shackelford - former mayor of Little Rock

Current President of Philander Smith is Dr. Walter Kimbrough, member of Alpha Phi Alpha

DR. WALTER M. KIMBROUGH

At 38 years of age, Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, the 12th president of Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas is the first college president from the hip-hop generation. He is presently the youngest HBCU president, and one of the youngest college presidents in the nation. Prior to Philander Smith College, he served in administrative capacities at Albany State University, Old Dominion University, Georgia State University and Emory University.


Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina
http://www.jcsu.edu/


http://www.jcsu.edu/news/quickfacts.htm

Founded and chartered as Biddle Memorial Institute in 1867. Renamed Johnson C. Smith University in 1923. Women first admitted in 1932. Joined the United Negro College Fund in 1944. Completed the historic "Vision Shared" $63.8 million dollar capital campaign drive in 1998.

Special Opportunities
JCSU is the only historically black college to become an IBM Thinkpad University. Service learning component combines academics and community service. Study abroad opportunities are available in Japan, Australia, Spain, Russia, morocco, Mexico, Ireland, Israel, Brazil. Extensive career development opportunities abound through co-op programs and internships with over 90 companies.

[CrimsonTide4]

Spelman College

http://www.spelman.edu/

History Excerpt comes from http://www.spelman.edu/academics/cat...CollegeHistory

Spelman, one of the nation's most highly regarded colleges for women, was founded by Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles, two friends who were commissioned in 1879 by the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society to study the living conditions among the freedmen of the South. Appalled by the lack of educational opportunity for Black women, the missionaries returned to Boston determined to effect change. On April 11, 1881, they opened a school in the basement of Atlanta's Friendship Baptist Church with $100 provided by the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Medford, Massachusetts. The first eleven pupils, ten women and one girl, were mostly ex-slaves, determined to learn to read the Bible and write.

Totally dedicated, Misses Packard and Giles returned to the North in 1882 for more funds. At a church meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, they were introduced to Mr. John D. Rockefeller who emptied his wallet during the collection and questioned the two women's intentions:

"You know," he said, "there are so many who come here and get us to give money. Then they're gone, and we don't know where they are Ñ where their work is. Do you mean to stick? If you do, you'll hear from me again."

Determined to succeed, the women took an option on an Atlanta site that had been used as barracks and drill grounds for federal troops during the Civil War. Sustained by their faith, Misses Packard and Giles worked diligently to gain additional financial support. Subsequently, title of the property was transferred to the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, and in February 1883, the school relocated to its new nine-acre site, which included five frame buildings with both classroom and residence hall space. In an effort to liquidate the debt, more than $4,000 was raised by the Black community, $3,000 by the Negro Baptists of Georgia, and another $1,300 from individual contributions. Other important gifts and contributions kept operating costs at a minimum. Teachers volunteered their services, and gifts of furnishings, supplies, and clothing were sent from the North. As enrollment steadily increased, the normal school curriculum was expanded to include sewing, cooking, millinery, and other preeminently practical subjects.

In April 1884 on the third anniversary of the founding of the school, Mr. John D. Rockefeller was indeed heard from again. Visiting the school with Mrs. Rockefeller, her sister and her mother, and Mrs. Lucy Henry Spelman, Mr. Rockefeller was enormously impressed with the seminary and settled the debt on the property. Later, the name of the school was changed to Spelman Seminary in honor of the Spelman family, longtime activists in the Anti-Slavery Movement.

In addition to stabilizing a tenuous financial situation, the Rockefeller gift established an interest and recognition that otherwise might have taken years to achieve. Financial support from new sources helped to broaden the school's involvement in community, social, and church work. The Slater Fund, already underwriting the cost of teaching new trade subjects, provided the money to set up a printing department. The Spelman Messenger (1884), the first major publication, became an important instrument for disseminating practical information, especially for families in rural areas.

As the mushrooming enrollment taxed the school's modest facilities, Mr. Rockefeller responded by donating funds for a magnificent $40,000 brick building, the first major construction on the Spelman campus. In 1887, Rockefeller Hall, named for its donor, was succeeded by another major building, Packard Hall. Completed in 1888, the building was dedicated to the work, vision, and self-sacrifice of Sophia Packard, who worked assiduously to acquire a state charter for the school. In 1888 the charter was granted, and the Board of Trustees officially expressed its gratitude by appointing Miss Packard as Spelman's first president.

During the first 10 years, the school flourished with 800 pupils, 30 teachers, and property valued at $90,000. Harriet E. Giles succeeded Sophia Packard and served as president of Spelman for the next 18 years, a period marked by maturation and progress. The Seminary conferred its first college degrees in 1901. A year later, the Seminary celebrated its 25th anniversary as an institution that had filled a spectrum of needs for thousands of Black women Ñ from grade school through college. Miss Giles' death on November 12, 1909, marked the end of a remarkable era.

Lucy Hale Tapley was elected to the presidency in March 1910. Miss Tapley, who had worked with the founders for 20 years, proved a formidable leader for the times. The 17 years of her administration saw the school answer the challenges of a new century and gradually move away from the concept of an all-purpose academy. When the public sector began to provide educational opportunities for Black children, Spelman concentrated on higher level offerings as the Board of Trustees voted to discontinue the elementary school in 1927.

Spelman's brisk and positive president believed that training teachers constituted the most efficient use of the school's resources, and with the help of the Rockefellers, she acquired the facilities to strengthen the program offering elementary and secondary education, and home economics courses. On June 1, 1924, the name of the school was officially changed to Spelman College.

Within a 10-year period, four major buildings were erected. Sisters Chapel, named in honor of Laura Spelman Rockefeller and her sister Lucy Maria Spelman, was the crowning achievement of Miss Tapley's administration. The building, with a seating capacity of 1,050, still remains one of the largest in the Atlanta University Center. Miss Tapley resigned in June 1927 and was named President Emerita.

Florence Matilda Read, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, was elected president, effective September 1, 1927. As a condition of her acceptance, Miss Read requested that Spelman establish an endowment fund and use the interest to help defray the cost of operations. The trustees used her request to solicit funds that eventually totaled more than $3,000,000. By 1930 Spelman had become one of only six Black colleges to hold membership in the American Association of Colleges and by 1932 had received an "A" rating from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

One of the most significant events in the College's history was the signing of the Agreement of Affiliation between Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Atlanta University in April 1929. The agreement set up a university system in which Spelman and Morehouse served as undergraduate institutions and Atlanta University as the graduate school. Eventually, Morris Brown and Clark Colleges joined the affiliation in 1957, the Interdenominational Theological Center in 1959, and the Morehouse School of Medicine in 1983. The largest consortium of Black colleges was ultimately renamed the Atlanta University Center (AUC).

In 1929 the nearly unique system strengthened the schools by an interchange of facilities, faculties, students, and curricula. The addition of Atlanta University as the graduate school gave the undergraduate institutions immediate access to graduate facilities in an era when Blacks were still denied entrance to southern universities. Under the new system, Spelman's high school division was turned over to Atlanta University and thereafter operated as the Atlanta University Laboratory School.

A little more than a year after the Agreement of Affiliation had been signed, the General Education Board, a Rockefeller agency, donated the funds for a magnificent library for the collective use of members and prospective members of the new university system. Designed by James Gambrell Rogers (architect for Yale, Northwestern, Cornell, et al.) and strategically located on the Atlanta University campus between Spelman and Morehouse, the new structure was completed in 1932 and later was named for Trevor Arnett, chairman of Spelman's Board of Trustees and a distinguished administrator.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Spelman continued to strengthen its core curriculum, but there was a noticeable emphasis on the arts because exclusionary practices in the South denied Blacks cultural exposure. In most instances, Spelman gave its students their first real exposure to the fine arts, especially in music, art, drama, and dance.

World War II helped to alleviate some of the traditions of discrimination. As an integral part of the war effort, Spelman allowed the Army to use Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Building as Branch #7 of the Army Administration School. During its operation, nearly 1,500 soldiers were graduated from the school. Spelman graduates served in the WAC (Women's Army Corps) and the Army Nurses Corps as camp librarians and in the American Red Cross, government, and industry.

At the end of the war, after a thorough survey of the school, the prestigious American Association of Universities, an elite organization of graduate schools, placed Spelman on its approved list of colleges and universities, a recognition which was tantamount to giving qualified Spelman women access to the best graduate schools in America. By the end of 1947, only seven Black schools had met the association's requirements, and three of the schools were in Atlanta: Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Atlanta University.

On July 1, 1953, an enormously productive and distinguished career ended when Florence Read retired as president of Spelman. Named President Emerita, she was succeeded by Dr. Albert E. Manley, who had been dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina College in Durham since 1946.

A graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, Dr. Manley earned his Ed.D. at Stanford University. He was the first Black and the first male to serve as president of Spelman College. From the first day of his administration, Dr. Manley demonstrated his belief that women were as capable of leadership as men and that for such leadership to be effective, it must be backed by knowledge. He emphasized the achievement of excellence in all aspects of life.

As opportunities for Black women increased, Spelman women were encouraged to enter the fields of medicine, law, international affairs, engineering, business, and industry. They were prepared and encouraged to enter the best graduate and professional schools in the country. Although the decade of the 1960s severely tested all institutions of higher learning and threatened the continuity and purposes of the predominantly Black colleges, Spelman's strong emergence from those challenges attests to the quality of its leadership and the fiber of the whole college community.

The Albert Manley administration created opportunities for students to travel and study abroad, encouraged leadership training, developed an effective student government association, and strengthened the tradition of excellence in the fine arts. A new fine arts building, named for John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was built to house the departments of drama, music, and art. As the College continued to grow, three new dormitories were built and classroom buildings were renovated or updated to meet the demands of an expanding curriculum.

When Dr. Manley retired in 1976, Dr. Donald M. Stewart became the sixth president of the College. Dr. Stewart, with the A.B. degree from Grinnell, the A.M. degree from Yale, and the M.P.A. and D.P.A. from Harvard, brought new strengths and experiences to the Spelman presidency. He provided leadership as Spelman women were educated to face broader opportunities and more complex responsibilities.

During his tenure, Dr. Stewart continued Spelman's long tradition of academic excellence. By establishing a full-fledged chemistry department and by strengthening its General Education requirements, Spelman broadened its majors and added career oriented minors. A writing workshop was initiated to help students improve their thinking and writing skills. To further enhance the academic environment, the Comprehensive Writing Program, the Honors Program and the Women's Research and Resource Center were developed.

Notable alumnae
Marian Wright Edelman, the founder of the Children's Defense Fund

Keshia Knight Pulliam, Actress on The Cosby Show

Esther Rolle, Actress <member of Zeta Phi Beta>

Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist

Audrey F. Manley, president emerita of Spelman College and former Acting Surgeon General

Latanya Richardson, Actress on The Fighting Temptations

Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock

Pearl Cleage, novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and journalist

Tina McElroy Ansa, writer

Varnette Honeywood, creator of the Little Bill character

Kathleen McGee-Anderson, television producer and playwright
(Soul Food, Touched By An Angel, Any Day Now)

Rolonda Watts, journalist, actor, writer, talk show host

Danica Tisdale, Miss Georgia 2004 (first African-American to hold the title) <member of Alpha Kappa Alpha>

Marcelite J. Harris, first African-American woman general in the U.S. Air Force

GCer Alumnae:
Abaici
AKA_Monet
WenD08
Eclipse
Ms DJ80

More about Spelman here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelman_College



[color=royal blue]Bennett College[/color]
http://www.bennett.edu/

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

In 1873, Bennett College had its beginning in the unplastered basement of the Warnersville Methodist Episcopal Church (now known as St. Matthew’s Methodist Church). Seventy young men and women started elementary and secondary level studies. In 1874 the Freedmen’s Aid Society took over the school which remained under its auspices for 50 years.

Within five years of 1873, a group of emancipated slaves purchased the present site for the school. College level courses and permanent facilities were added. In 1926, The Women’s Home Missionary Society joined with the Board of Education of the church to make Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., formerly co-educational, a college for women. The challenges that were overcome to establish Bennett demand that today’s challenges be met and overcome to ensure her survival.

For more than 128 years women have found Bennett to be the ideal place to foster the constant rhythm of ideas. Each student’s individual need for self-expression and desire for achievement is constantly nurtured. The College fosters a strong respect for every student. Today, in the midst of a very active renaissance, Bennett is preparing contemporary women to be well educated, productive professionals, informed, participating citizens, and enlightened parents. The College offers twenty-four areas of study in Education, the Social Sciences, the Humanities, and in Natural and Behavioral Sciences and Mathematics. Numerous opportunities to study at other higher education institutions at home and abroad are available to continue the educational enrichment of Bennett’s students.

The goals of the College continue to focus on the intellectual, spiritual and cultural growth of young women who must be prepared for lifelong learning and leadership. Since 1930 more than 5,000 women have graduated from Bennett College. Known as Bennett Belles, they continue to be among contributing women of achievement in all walks of life.

From Wikipedia:
David Dallas Jones was appointed the first president of the women's college -- under his leadership, the high school campus at Bennett was closed to focus the attentions of the staff fully on expanding and enriching the college curriculum. After Jones's death, Willa B. Player assumed the presidency -- under her guidance, Bennett College became one of the first 15 four-year Negro colleges to be admitted to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

From Bennett's site:
Dr. Willa B. Player, Bennett's first woman president and the first African American woman president of a four year liberal arts college in the U.S.

Among Bennett's more distinguished alumnae are:

Dr. Glenora M. Putnam, the first African-American woman to serve as president of the national YWCA

Faye Robinson, an accomplished and internationally well-known opera singer

Dr. Hatie Carwell, a noted research scientist and expert in the study of radiation

Barbara Hamm, the first African-American woman to serve as a television news director in the United States

Patricia Brown, serving as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) as of 2004

GCer to become an alumna this spring: GRITS

[CrimsonTide4]

Regarding Spelman and Bennett, I was remiss in identifying Soror Johnetta B. Cole as President Emeritus for Spelman and current president for Bennett.

[MsDJ80]

I too am a proud Spelman Alumna Class of 2002

I was just waiting for you to post our review LOL

[ladygreek]

Re: Spelman
Audrey Manley and Varnette Honeywood are also sorors.

Re: Bennett
Soror Gloria Randle Scott, past national secretary of DST and first Black woman president of the Girl Scouts of America, was the 12th president of Bennett.

[Amaretto Sour]

I gotta hijack here for a minute... Aside from the fact that CT is doing a wonderful job with these info-bytes, I had to note:

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
IDEAL and I both had Mr. Johnson (a man of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.) and I also was taught by Ms. Campbell.


A longer lesson in black history

03/02/02

Lila J. Mills
Plain Dealer Reporter...

Warrensville Heights

- Lessons in black history last longer than 28 days in February at Warrensville Heights High School.

This world is WAY too small.. I went to Heights too!!! LMAOOOOO

[CrimsonTide4]

Originally posted by MsDJ80
I too am a proud Spelman Alumna Class of 2002

I was just waiting for you to post our review LOL

I don't think I ever saw you mention that otherwise I would have listed you as well.

Originally posted by ladygreek
Re: Spelman
Audrey Manley and Varnette Honeywood are also sorors.

Re: Bennett
Soror Gloria Randle Scott, past national secretary of DST and first Black woman president of the Girl Scouts of America, was the 12th president of Bennett.

Awesome!!! Now I know you people really are reading the posts, lol.

Originally posted by Amaretto Sour
I gotta hijack here for a minute... Aside from the fact that CT is doing a wonderful job with these info-bytes, I had to note:


This world is WAY too small.. I went to Heights too!!! LMAOOOOO

Word?
ETA: Artic-U-LATE is also a Warrensville grad.

[CrimsonTide4]

Warren Moon Enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the 1st Modern Era Black Quarterback

[CrimsonTide4]

Fisk University

http://www.fisk.edu


Barely six months after the end of the Civil War, and just two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, three men — John Ogden, the Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath, and the Reverend Edward P. Smith — established the Fisk School in Nashville, named in honor of General Clinton B. Fisk of the Tennessee Freedmen's Bureau, who provided the new institution with facilities in former Union Army barracks near the present site of Nashville's Union Station. In these facilities Fisk convened its first classes on January 9, 1866. The first students ranged in age from seven to seventy, but shared common experiences of slavery and poverty — and an extraordinary thirst for learning.


The work of Fisk's founders was sponsored by the American Missionary Association — later part of the United Church of Christ, with which Fisk retains an affiliation today. Ogden, Cravath, and Smith, along with others in their movement, shared a dream of an educational institution that would be open to all, regardless of race, and that would measure itself by "the highest standards, not of Negro education, but of American education at its best." Their dream was incorporated as Fisk University on August 22, 1867.



The tradition of excellence at Fisk has developed out of a history marked by struggle and uncertainty. Fisk's world-famous Jubilee Singers originated as a group of traveling students who set out from Nashville in 1871, taking the entire contents of the University treasury with them for travel expenses, praying that through their music they could somehow raise money enough to keep open the doors of their debt-ridden school. The singers struggled at first, but before long, their performances so electrified audiences that they traveled throughout the United States and Europe, moving to tears audiences that included William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Ulysses S. Grant, William Gladstone, Mark Twain, Johann Strauss, and Queen Victoria. The Jubilee Singers introduced much of the world to the spiritual as a musical genre — and in the process raised funds that preserved their University and permitted construction of Jubilee Hall, the South's first permanent structure built for the education of black students. As a designated National Historical Landmark, today, Jubilee Hall remains the dramatic focal point of Fisk's campus. To this day, each October 6, Fisk pauses to observe the anniversary of the singers' departure from campus in 1871. The contemporary Jubilee Singers perform in a University convocation — and conclude the day's ceremonies with a pilgrimage to the gravesites of the original singers, where once again, the old songs are sung at the burial places of their first performers.



From its earliest days, Fisk has played a leadership role in the education of African-Americans. Fisk faculty and alumni have been among America's intellectual, artistic, and civic leaders in every generation since the University's beginnings. Among them have been such figures as W.E.B. Du Bois (Fisk class of 1888), the great social critic and co-founder of the NAACP. Booker T. Washington — the great educator who was Du Bois' famous philosophical adversary as well as the founder of Tuskegee University — served on Fisk's Board of Trustees, married a Fisk alumna, and sent his own children to Fisk. Charles Spurgeon Johnson, Fisk's first black president, helped to conceive the modern science of sociology. The distinguished artist Aaron Douglas served on the Fisk faculty for many years, and his murals decorate the walls of the University's administration building. Arna Bontemps, Sterling A. Brown, Robert Hayden, and James Weldon Johnson were among several Fisk faculty members who became major figures in American literature. The acclaimed composer-musicologists John W. Work Sr., John W. Work, Jr., and John W. Work, III were Fisk alumni and members of the faculty. Professor St. Elmo Brady, one of the first African-Americans to achieve eminence in chemistry, was for many years on the Fisk faculty. Probably no single institution has played so central a role as Fisk in the shaping of black learning and culture in America.


The Fisk tradition of leadership and excellence is being carried on today. Thurgood Marshall, who later become the first African-American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was among the early participants in Charles S. Johnson's famous Race Relations Institute at Fisk. John Hope Franklin, the most eminent historian of the African-American experience, is a Fisk alumnus. Nikki Giovanni, the award-winning contemporary poet, is a Fisk graduate as well. Among currently practicing black physicians, lawyers, and dentists, one in six is a Fisk graduate. In proportion to its size, Fisk continues to contribute more alumni to the ranks of doctorally prepared African-American scholars than any institution, black or white, in the United States. Experiments developed in Fisk's physics laboratories have orbited the earth in the space shuttle. The University's Molecular Spectroscopy Research Laboratory is internationally recognized. Fisk faculty members — even while emphasizing teaching above all other priorities — carry out funded research projects to a degree excelled by no college or university of comparable size.


Even before regional accreditation was available to African-American institutions, Fisk had gained recognition by leading universities throughout the nation, and by such agencies as the Board of Regents of the State of New York — enabling Fisk graduates to enter graduate and professional schools to study for advanced degrees. Then, in 1930, Fisk became the first African-American institution to gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It was also the first such institution to be placed on the approved lists of the Association of American Universities (1933) and the American Association of University Women (1948). In 1952, Fisk received a charter for the first Phi Beta Kappa chapter on a predominantly black campus. In 1954, Fisk became the first, private, black college accredited for its music programs by the National Association of Schools of Music. Today, Fisk also holds memberships in the American Association of Schools of Music, the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Its department of chemistry is on the approved list of the American Chemical Society. Fisk is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools in the United States and a sponsoring institution of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc. It is approved for teacher certification purposes by the State of Tennessee Department of Education.

Notable alumni
Aaron Douglas, painter, illustrator, muralist

W. E. B. Du Bois, sociologist, scholar, first Black to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard

John Hope Franklin, historian, professor, scholar, author of landmark text, From Slavery to Freedom, graduate of the class of 1935

Nikki Giovanni, poet, author, professor, scholar

Kym Whitley, actress, comedienne

Hortense Canady, past national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated

Alma Powell, wife of Gen. Colin Powell

Alcee Hastings, U.S. Congressman

Roland Hayes, concert singer

James Weldon Johnson, author, poet and civil rights activist, author of the "Negro National Anthem", "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

Fisk Jubilee Singers, first African American performers to gain international acclaim for introducing the world to Negro Spirituals

Lewis Wade Jones, sociologist and educator

John Lewis, U.S. Congressman <member of Phi Beta Sigma>

Hazel O'Leary, current President of Fisk University and former U.S. Secretary of Energy <member of Alpha Kappa Alpha>

John Wesley Work III, professor, composer and musicologist

Matthew Knowles, music industry executive and father to former Destiny's Child frontwoman, Beyoncé



[color=sky blue]Jackson State University[/color]
http://www.jsums.edu/

Jackson State University was founded in 1877 as the Natchez Seminary by the American Baptist Home Mission Society in Natchez, Mississippi. The seminary hoped to promote the moral, religious, and intellectual improvement of Christian leaders of the colored people of Mississippi and the neighboring states. In 1882, the institution moved to Jackson because of its central location in the state, and shortly thereafter the name was changed to Jackson College.

For sixty-three years the school operated as a private church school. In 1940, the college became a state institution for training rural and elementary school teachers. The first bachelor’s degrees were awarded in 1944. In subsequent years, the name changed to Jackson State College. Expansion of the curriculum and facilities elevated the college to university status in 1974; thus, the name changed to Jackson State University.

1970 marked the year of the infamous Jackson State killings, in which two students were left dead after a riot.

In 1977, the school celebrated its centennial. In 1979, Jackson State University was officially designated the Urban University of Mississippi, and as such, seeks solutions for urban problems through its programs and activities. The University is pledged to the advancement of a free society and continued progress of democracy.

In 1983, the University completed an $11.2-million capital campaign that resulted in the renovation and improvement of several campus buildings and provided for expanded programs offered in continuing education. New buildings and extended renovations had began in the 2003-2004 academic year, including processes of beautification and extension.

Famous Alumni
Oil Can Boyd-former Major League Baseball pitcher

Corey Bradford-National Football League player

Walter Payton-NFL Hall of Fame running back

Jimmy Smith-NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars

Lindsey Hunter-NBA Basketball Player (Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, and Toronto Raptors.)

Jackie Slater-NFL Hall of Fame Offensive lineman

[abaici]

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
Spelman College

http://www.spelman.edu/

History Excerpt comes from http://www.spelman.edu/academics/cat...CollegeHistory

Spelman, one of the nation's most highly regarded colleges for women, was founded by Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles, two friends who were commissioned in 1879 by the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society to study the living conditions among the freedmen of the South. Appalled by the lack of educational opportunity for Black women, the missionaries returned to Boston determined to effect change. On April 11, 1881, they opened a school in the basement of Atlanta's Friendship Baptist Church with $100 provided by the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Medford, Massachusetts. The first eleven pupils, ten women and one girl, were mostly ex-slaves, determined to learn to read the Bible and write.

Totally dedicated, Misses Packard and Giles returned to the North in 1882 for more funds. At a church meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, they were introduced to Mr. John D. Rockefeller who emptied his wallet during the collection and questioned the two women's intentions:

"You know," he said, "there are so many who come here and get us to give money. Then they're gone, and we don't know where they are Ñ where their work is. Do you mean to stick? If you do, you'll hear from me again."

Determined to succeed, the women took an option on an Atlanta site that had been used as barracks and drill grounds for federal troops during the Civil War. Sustained by their faith, Misses Packard and Giles worked diligently to gain additional financial support. Subsequently, title of the property was transferred to the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, and in February 1883, the school relocated to its new nine-acre site, which included five frame buildings with both classroom and residence hall space. In an effort to liquidate the debt, more than $4,000 was raised by the Black community, $3,000 by the Negro Baptists of Georgia, and another $1,300 from individual contributions. Other important gifts and contributions kept operating costs at a minimum. Teachers volunteered their services, and gifts of furnishings, supplies, and clothing were sent from the North. As enrollment steadily increased, the normal school curriculum was expanded to include sewing, cooking, millinery, and other preeminently practical subjects.

In April 1884 on the third anniversary of the founding of the school, Mr. John D. Rockefeller was indeed heard from again. Visiting the school with Mrs. Rockefeller, her sister and her mother, and Mrs. Lucy Henry Spelman, Mr. Rockefeller was enormously impressed with the seminary and settled the debt on the property. Later, the name of the school was changed to Spelman Seminary in honor of the Spelman family, longtime activists in the Anti-Slavery Movement.

In addition to stabilizing a tenuous financial situation, the Rockefeller gift established an interest and recognition that otherwise might have taken years to achieve. Financial support from new sources helped to broaden the school's involvement in community, social, and church work. The Slater Fund, already underwriting the cost of teaching new trade subjects, provided the money to set up a printing department. The Spelman Messenger (1884), the first major publication, became an important instrument for disseminating practical information, especially for families in rural areas.

As the mushrooming enrollment taxed the school's modest facilities, Mr. Rockefeller responded by donating funds for a magnificent $40,000 brick building, the first major construction on the Spelman campus. In 1887, Rockefeller Hall, named for its donor, was succeeded by another major building, Packard Hall. Completed in 1888, the building was dedicated to the work, vision, and self-sacrifice of Sophia Packard, who worked assiduously to acquire a state charter for the school. In 1888 the charter was granted, and the Board of Trustees officially expressed its gratitude by appointing Miss Packard as Spelman's first president.

During the first 10 years, the school flourished with 800 pupils, 30 teachers, and property valued at $90,000. Harriet E. Giles succeeded Sophia Packard and served as president of Spelman for the next 18 years, a period marked by maturation and progress. The Seminary conferred its first college degrees in 1901. A year later, the Seminary celebrated its 25th anniversary as an institution that had filled a spectrum of needs for thousands of Black women Ñ from grade school through college. Miss Giles' death on November 12, 1909, marked the end of a remarkable era.

Lucy Hale Tapley was elected to the presidency in March 1910. Miss Tapley, who had worked with the founders for 20 years, proved a formidable leader for the times. The 17 years of her administration saw the school answer the challenges of a new century and gradually move away from the concept of an all-purpose academy. When the public sector began to provide educational opportunities for Black children, Spelman concentrated on higher level offerings as the Board of Trustees voted to discontinue the elementary school in 1927.

Spelman's brisk and positive president believed that training teachers constituted the most efficient use of the school's resources, and with the help of the Rockefellers, she acquired the facilities to strengthen the program offering elementary and secondary education, and home economics courses. On June 1, 1924, the name of the school was officially changed to Spelman College.

Within a 10-year period, four major buildings were erected. Sisters Chapel, named in honor of Laura Spelman Rockefeller and her sister Lucy Maria Spelman, was the crowning achievement of Miss Tapley's administration. The building, with a seating capacity of 1,050, still remains one of the largest in the Atlanta University Center. Miss Tapley resigned in June 1927 and was named President Emerita.

Florence Matilda Read, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, was elected president, effective September 1, 1927. As a condition of her acceptance, Miss Read requested that Spelman establish an endowment fund and use the interest to help defray the cost of operations. The trustees used her request to solicit funds that eventually totaled more than $3,000,000. By 1930 Spelman had become one of only six Black colleges to hold membership in the American Association of Colleges and by 1932 had received an "A" rating from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

One of the most significant events in the College's history was the signing of the Agreement of Affiliation between Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Atlanta University in April 1929. The agreement set up a university system in which Spelman and Morehouse served as undergraduate institutions and Atlanta University as the graduate school. Eventually, Morris Brown and Clark Colleges joined the affiliation in 1957, the Interdenominational Theological Center in 1959, and the Morehouse School of Medicine in 1983. The largest consortium of Black colleges was ultimately renamed the Atlanta University Center (AUC).

In 1929 the nearly unique system strengthened the schools by an interchange of facilities, faculties, students, and curricula. The addition of Atlanta University as the graduate school gave the undergraduate institutions immediate access to graduate facilities in an era when Blacks were still denied entrance to southern universities. Under the new system, Spelman's high school division was turned over to Atlanta University and thereafter operated as the Atlanta University Laboratory School.

A little more than a year after the Agreement of Affiliation had been signed, the General Education Board, a Rockefeller agency, donated the funds for a magnificent library for the collective use of members and prospective members of the new university system. Designed by James Gambrell Rogers (architect for Yale, Northwestern, Cornell, et al.) and strategically located on the Atlanta University campus between Spelman and Morehouse, the new structure was completed in 1932 and later was named for Trevor Arnett, chairman of Spelman's Board of Trustees and a distinguished administrator.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Spelman continued to strengthen its core curriculum, but there was a noticeable emphasis on the arts because exclusionary practices in the South denied Blacks cultural exposure. In most instances, Spelman gave its students their first real exposure to the fine arts, especially in music, art, drama, and dance.

World War II helped to alleviate some of the traditions of discrimination. As an integral part of the war effort, Spelman allowed the Army to use Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Building as Branch #7 of the Army Administration School. During its operation, nearly 1,500 soldiers were graduated from the school. Spelman graduates served in the WAC (Women's Army Corps) and the Army Nurses Corps as camp librarians and in the American Red Cross, government, and industry.

At the end of the war, after a thorough survey of the school, the prestigious American Association of Universities, an elite organization of graduate schools, placed Spelman on its approved list of colleges and universities, a recognition which was tantamount to giving qualified Spelman women access to the best graduate schools in America. By the end of 1947, only seven Black schools had met the association's requirements, and three of the schools were in Atlanta: Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Atlanta University.

On July 1, 1953, an enormously productive and distinguished career ended when Florence Read retired as president of Spelman. Named President Emerita, she was succeeded by Dr. Albert E. Manley, who had been dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina College in Durham since 1946.

A graduate of Johnson C. Smith University, Dr. Manley earned his Ed.D. at Stanford University. He was the first Black and the first male to serve as president of Spelman College. From the first day of his administration, Dr. Manley demonstrated his belief that women were as capable of leadership as men and that for such leadership to be effective, it must be backed by knowledge. He emphasized the achievement of excellence in all aspects of life.

As opportunities for Black women increased, Spelman women were encouraged to enter the fields of medicine, law, international affairs, engineering, business, and industry. They were prepared and encouraged to enter the best graduate and professional schools in the country. Although the decade of the 1960s severely tested all institutions of higher learning and threatened the continuity and purposes of the predominantly Black colleges, Spelman's strong emergence from those challenges attests to the quality of its leadership and the fiber of the whole college community.

The Albert Manley administration created opportunities for students to travel and study abroad, encouraged leadership training, developed an effective student government association, and strengthened the tradition of excellence in the fine arts. A new fine arts building, named for John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was built to house the departments of drama, music, and art. As the College continued to grow, three new dormitories were built and classroom buildings were renovated or updated to meet the demands of an expanding curriculum.

When Dr. Manley retired in 1976, Dr. Donald M. Stewart became the sixth president of the College. Dr. Stewart, with the A.B. degree from Grinnell, the A.M. degree from Yale, and the M.P.A. and D.P.A. from Harvard, brought new strengths and experiences to the Spelman presidency. He provided leadership as Spelman women were educated to face broader opportunities and more complex responsibilities.

During his tenure, Dr. Stewart continued Spelman's long tradition of academic excellence. By establishing a full-fledged chemistry department and by strengthening its General Education requirements, Spelman broadened its majors and added career oriented minors. A writing workshop was initiated to help students improve their thinking and writing skills. To further enhance the academic environment, the Comprehensive Writing Program, the Honors Program and the Women's Research and Resource Center were developed.

Notable alumnae
Marian Wright Edelman, the founder of the Children's Defense Fund

Keshia Knight Pulliam, Actress on The Cosby Show

Esther Rolle, Actress <member of Zeta Phi Beta>

Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist

Audrey F. Manley, president emerita of Spelman College and former Acting Surgeon General

Latanya Richardson, Actress on The Fighting Temptations

Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock

Pearl Cleage, novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and journalist

Tina McElroy Ansa, writer

Varnette Honeywood, creator of the Little Bill character

Kathleen McGee-Anderson, television producer and playwright
(Soul Food, Touched By An Angel, Any Day Now)

Rolonda Watts, journalist, actor, writer, talk show host

Danica Tisdale, Miss Georgia 2004 (first African-American to hold the title) <member of Alpha Kappa Alpha>

Marcelite J. Harris, first African-American woman general in the U.S. Air Force

GCer Alumnae:
Abaici
AKA_Monet
WenD08
Eclipse
Ms DJ80

More about Spelman here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelman_College[/i]

Awww! Good stuff CT4.

I love hearing the sassy c/o 30s Spelmanites speak of Ms. Read.

[CrimsonTide4]

Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina
http://www.shawuniversity.edu/main.htm

On December 1, 1865, when Henry Martin Tupper undertook the organization of a theology class as a means of teaching Freedmen to read and interpret the Bible, no one envisioned the end result of this being the establishment of a university. Rapid growth in the size of this class led to the purchase of land in 1866 for the purpose of erecting a building to serve as both church and school. The school was named the "Raleigh Institute," and it functioned as such until 1870, when it was supplanted by the "Shaw Collegiate Institute." In 1875, it was incorporated as the "Shaw University," which name it still bears, with the charter specifying that students were to be admitted without regard to race, creed, or sex. The school does not bear the name of its founder but of Elijah Shaw, the benefactor who provided funds for the first building, Shaw Hall, erected in 1871.

The co-educational emphasis of the institution was noted with the erection of the Estey Hall (1873), the first women's dormitory on a co-educational campus in the United States. Named for its primary benefactor, Jacob Estey, the building was used as a residence hall for women until 1968 and for men from 1968 to 1970. The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The University graduated its first college class in 1878, its first class of medical doctors in 1886, awarded its first law degree in 1890, and its first pharmacy degree in 1893. In 1909, the Normal Department was supplanted by an Education Department, and in 1910, the Preparatory Department became a four-year academy. The professional schools were closed in 1918, but the college, theological department, and academy were continued, the latter existing until 1926. The theological department became a theological seminary in 1933 and continued as part of the University until 1976, when it became an independent institution. Since 1921, Shaw has functioned primarily as a liberal arts college, although it has retained its name as a university.

In 1931, the University elected its first Black president, Dr. William Stuart Nelson, who was president from 1931 to 1936. In 1963, the University elected its first president who is an alumnus of the school, Dr. James E. Cheek. He remained president from December 1963 through June 1969. Dr. Clarence G. Newsome is the 13th President of Shaw University. Under his leadership, Shaw University has taken many bold and progressive strides towards the mark of excellence. Under his leadership the University has broken ground for the Shaw University Center for Early Childhood Education, Research and Development; the Social Work Program has been granted candidacy towards full accreditation; the Shaw University Divinity School (SUDS) was awarded Full Accredited Membership status for 10 years by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) for the first time in its nearly 100-year history, and Avaya Inc., a leading global provider of communications networks and services for businesses, was chosen to advance the capability of students, faculty and the campus community into a new age of technology with Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony communications.

Landmarks
Shaw University has two buildings listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. Estey Hall, erected in 1873, was the nation’s first dormitory to house women on a coeducational campus. The Leonard School of Medicine, founded in 1885, was the first four-year medical school to train Black doctors and pharmacists in the South.


World War II Study
Shaw University led a research study to investigate why Black WWII veterans were overlooked for the Medal of Honor. The study concluded that racism was the reason Black soldiers did not receive the top military award. After citing its conclusion, the 272-page Shaw study went on to recommend and name ten soldiers whose military records warranted receipt of the Medal of Honor.

In January 1995 the team’s findings were delivered to Washington, D.C. In April 1996 the University received word that the Pentagon had chosen seven of the ten soldiers recommended in the study to receive the prestigious medal. All of those nominated had received less distinguished awards for their military service. President William Jefferson Clinton awarded the Medals of Honor on January 13, 1997. The Pentagon’s reaction to the $320,585.00 federally funded study marked the third time in history the military has re-evaluated military records to award the Medal of Honor. Only one of the seven nominees, 1st Lt. Vernon Baker of St. Maries, Idaho, was alive to receive the medal. Those who received the Medal of Honor posthumously were: 1st Lt. Charles L. Thomas of Detroit; Pvt. George Watson of Birmingham, Ala.; Staff Sgt. Edward A. Carter Jr. of Los Angeles, CA; 1st Lt. John R. Fox of Boston; Pfc. Willy F. James Jr. of Kansas City, Kan.; and Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers of Tecumseh, Okla.

Interesting Facts
Shaw University has been called the mother of African-American colleges in North Carolina. North Carolina Central, Elizabeth City State, and Fayetteville State Universities were founded by Shaw graduates. The founder of Livingstone College spent his first two college years at Shaw before transferring to Lincoln University, and what is now A&T State University was located on Shaw’s campus during its first year of existence. In addition, the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was an outgrowth of a conference held on the campus of Shaw University in 1960.


Alabama State University

http://www.alasu.edu/HOME/default.aspx?id=2


History of Alabama State University
The impetus to establish a school for the black citizens of Alabama, which would eventually become Alabama State University, began shortly after an event that not only tore this country apart, but created a far different United States in which relationships, and attitudes, were altered irrevocably.

The Civil War effected numerous changes in the United States, especially in the South, for not only did that war result in the end of slavery, but it also brought about considerable change in the relationships between blacks and whites. Nowhere was this changed relationship more clearly seen than in education. Before the war, the right to an education, even of the most rudimentary sort, was the private reserve of whites. All that changed with the Northern victory as black Southerners, with assistance of Northern white missionaries and the leaders of African-American churches, set out to establish educational institutions for the freedmen.

Blacks in the Black Belt of Alabama, the heart of the Southern Confederacy, evinced a keen interest in providing educational opportunities for their children. In 1867, African-American leaders founded Lincoln Normal School at Marion in Perry County, Alabama. Alabama State University is a direct descendent of Lincoln Normal School, thus making it one of the oldest institutions of higher education founded by black Americans. In 1868, the American Missionary Association (AMA) leased the Lincoln Normal School building and operated and financed the school. In 1869 the AMA, with the support of $2,800 from the Freedman's Bureau of the federal government and further support from the "colored people of Alabama," raised $4,200 to construct a new building. In 1870, while the AMA still provided the teachers, the state of Alabama began its support of the institution when the Legislature appropriated $486 for the school's use. The state's support rose to $1,250 the next year.

Though many people worked to establish Lincoln Normal School, Peyton Finley's efforts contributed most in the early years to make the institution permanent. In 1871 Finley, the first black-elected member of the State Board of Education, petitioned the Legislature to establish a "university for colored people," but the Legislature rejected his request. Finley did not stop, and in 1873 his efforts gained success when the Alabama Legislature established "a State Normal School and University for the Education of the Colored Teachers and Students." The Act would take effect only if the president and trustees of Lincoln Normal School would place that facility at the disposal of the state in order for the new university to be established. The institution's first president, George N. Card, accepted that provision and in 1874 he led the effort in reorganizing Lincoln Normal School in Marion as America's first state-supported educational institution for blacks. The school continued at Marion for the next 13 years.

While Lincoln operated in Marion, blacks continued to press for a more prominently supported school for black youths. A major change on their behalf came in 1887 when the legislature authorized the establishment of the Alabama Colored People's University. The act allocated $10,000 for the purchase of land and the construction of buildings, and it set aside $7,500 annually for operating expenses.

The State Normal School and University at Marion would be discontinued, provided, of course, that officials of the black school could find a suitable new location for the school that was acceptable to whites. Under the leadership of President William Burns Paterson, who was white, black citizens who wanted the university in Montgomery pledged $5,000 in cash and land and donated the use of some temporary buildings. Less than eight months after the passage of the enabling legislation, the university opened in Montgomery at Beulah Baptist Church with a faculty of nine members. The university taught its first classes in Montgomery on October 3, 1887.

Though Paterson and others had overcome initial opposition to locating the school in Montgomery, opponents to state support of education for blacks remained hostile to the new university. Indeed, such opponents filed suit in state court and won a ruling in 1887 from the Alabama Supreme Court that declared unconstitutional certain sections of the legislation that established the university for African-Americans. Thus, the school operated for two years solely on meager tuition fees, voluntary service and donations until by act of the Legislature in 1889 the state resumed its support.

The new law changed the name of the school from university to Normal School for Colored Students, thus skirting the Supreme Court's finding, and re-established the $7,500 state appropriation. Indeed, 1889 was a pivotal year in the development of the university because the "colored people of Montgomery" also formally conveyed to state authorities the previously pledged sum of $3,000 and the land for the development of a permanent campus at the university's current location between Decatur and Hall streets. The university erected Tullibody Hall the next year as its first permanent building. That building burned in 1904 and was replaced in 1906 by the university's first brick structure, which also took the name of Tullibody Hall.

Paterson, who had guided the university through the early years, and who is generally considered its founder because of his 37 years of service to it, died in 1915. Ironically, Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute and considered one of the premier African-Americans in this country during this period, died the same year. And yet, both institutions have survived these two deaths to educate thousands of African-Americans to this day.

During the following decade presidents John William Beverly, who was the institution's first black teacher and president, and George Washington Trenholm organized the institution as a four-year teacher training high school and added a junior college department. In the early 1920s the university began operating on the four-quarter system and added the departments of home economics and commerce. This decade of growth and change also saw the purchase of additional land, including an 80-acre farm which constitutes the bulk of its current holdings. The state also appropriated $50,000 for the construction of dormitories and dining facilities.

In 1925 George Washington Trenholm died after five years in office and was succeeded by his 25-year-old son, Harper Councill Trenholm. The younger Trenholm would serve the university as president for 37 years. H. C. Trenholm's tenure was one of tremendous growth and development for the university. He oversaw the change from a junior college to a full four-year institution, a process that was completed in 1928 and which enabled the college to convey its first baccalaureate degree in teacher education in 1931. In 1940 Trenholm initiated a graduate degree program, and State Teachers College awarded its first master's degree in 1943. The school also established branch campuses in Mobile and Birmingham.

Trenholm was eager for the institution to develop and gain recognition. Thus he worked hard to improve the physical facilities in concert with advances in the quality of academic programs. During the economic expansion that followed the end of the Great Depression, the university constructed eight permanent brick buildings, a swimming pool and a stadium for sporting events. The state also allowed the institution to change its name to reflect changes in programs. In 1929 it became State Teachers College, Alabama State College for Negroes in 1948 and Alabama State College in 1954. Trenholm also gained for the university the recognition he desired. In 1935 the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), which accredited black and white colleges separately during those years, granted State Teachers College a Class B recognition; it raised the college's level to Class A in 1943.

Alabama State and its people have made major contributions to the development of the state and the nation. But none of those involvements were more important, or affected the institution more negatively, than involvement of students and employees in the Civil Rights Movement. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, the first of the direct action campaigns of the modern Civil Rights Movement, awakened a new consciousness among the students, faculty and staff at Alabama State as they responded to the call for participants. And state officials, in a state that was committed to segregation, exacted a heavy price on the college. The institution found itself even less well funded, a condition that in 1961 resulted in the loss of accreditation by SACS.

In 1962, after an interim president filled the post during Trenholm's illness, Levi Watkins assumed the presidency. Watkins set out to broaden the mission of the institution and to reclaim its SACS accreditation, the latter of which he achieved in 1966. In 1969, the State Board of Education, then the governing board of the institution, approved a name change; the institution became Alabama State University. It was during these years that the university began its continued path of steady growth and movement toward its current role as a comprehensive university. In 1975, in an act of tremendous importance for the university, the Legislature established an independent board of trustees for Alabama State University.

Watkins retired from the presidency in 1981 and was succeeded in turn by presidents Robert Randolph (1981-1983), Leon Howard (1983-1991), C. C. Baker (1991-1994) William H. Harris (2001), and Joe A. Lee (2001-Present). Their efforts have built upon the work of predecessors to position Alabama State University to take a leading role in preparing Alabamians for the 21st century.

[CrimsonTide4]

I almost forgot.

Winston Salem State University

http://www.wssu.edu/wssu

Winston-Salem State University is a four-year university located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1892 as the Slater Industrial Academy, Winston-Salem State in the 05-06 school year enrolls 4,805 students, employs over 200 staff members, and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina System. Winston-Salem State offers 40 academic majors and 7 different graduate programs. The school motto is "Enter to learn, Depart to serve." The school colors are red and white, and the team name is the rams. It is a historically black college. Winston-Salem State University is currently part of the CIAA, Central Intercolleigate Althetic Association, but is in the stages of moving to the MEAC, Mideastern Atlhetic Confernce

Diggs Gallery
http://www.wssu.edu/WSSU/About/Admin...iggs%20Gallery

[daffodils]

What is the HBCU that is the furthest north? Is it in Baltimore (with Coppin and MSU)?

What about the furthest west HBCU?

Just curious - the facts being posted are very interesting - I'm just wondering about those two questions. Thank you!

[CrimsonTide4]

@ Daffodils, stay tuned


Wilberforce University

http://www.wilberforce.edu/home/home.html

Founded in 1856, Wilberforce University can trace its origin to a period of history before the Civil War, when the Ohio Underground Railroad was established as a means of escape for all those blacks who sought their freedom in the North from the yoke of slavery, one of the destination points of this railroad became Wilberforce University. As the Underground Railroad provided a route from physical bondage, the University was formed to provide an intellectual Mecca and refuge from slavery's first rule: ignorance.

Wilberforce University, the nation's oldest private, historically black university, was named to honor the great 18th century abolitionist, William Wilberforce. Early in 1856, the Methodist Episcopal Church purchased property for the new institution at Tawawa Springs, near Xenia, Ohio. The school met with early success until the Civil War when enrollment and financial support dwindled. The original Wilberforce closed its doors in 1862. In March of the following year, Bishop Daniel A. Payne of the African Methodist Episcopal Church negotiated to purchase the University's facilities. Payne, a member of the original 1856 corporation, secured the cooperation of John G. Mitchell, principal of the Eastern District Public School of Cincinnati, Ohio and James A. Shorter, pastor of the A.M.E. Church of Zanesville, Ohio. The property was soon turned over to them as agents of the church.

The University was newly incorporated on July 10, 1863. In 1887 the State of Ohio began to fund the University by establishing a combined normal and industrial department. This department later became the University's sister institution, Central State University. Wilberforce also spawned another institution, Payne Theological Seminary. It was founded in 1891 as an outgrowth of the Theological Department at Wilberforce University.

Today, Wilberforce University continues to build on its sacred tradition. It is a four-year, fully accredited liberal arts institution. The 1990s were good years for the University, ushering in a period of growth and financial accountability. Wilberforce University offers some 20 fully accredited liberal arts concentrations to students in business, communications, computing and engineering sciences, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. It offers dual degree programs in architecture, aerospace, and nuclear engineering in conjunction with the University of Cincinnati. Other dual degree programs are available in electrical and mechanical engineering in cooperation with the University of Dayton, and in law with St. John's University School of Law. The University's Adult and Continuing Education Program, CLIMB (Credentials for Leadership in Management and Business), annually attracts some 200 nontraditional students interested in completing bachelor of science degrees in organizational management, health care administration and information technology.

During the last few years, five new facilities have been built and dedicated: a $2.1 million Wolfe Administration Building, which houses the administrative offices of the University; the $2.5 million Alumni Multiplex, which provides state-of-the-art academic, sports and recreational facilities for the campus and intercollegiate sports at the University; a $100,000 Student Health Center, which provides medical services from on-site physicians and health care providers; a $200,000 Communications Complex, which houses the Mass Media Communications Program, the campus television studio and campus newspaper production facilities; the new $4.5 million John L. Henderson Hall, capable of housing 110 students; and the new $2.5 million Louis Stokes Health and Wellness Center.

The University continues to attract an increasing number of student scholars who are active on the campus newspaper, the Forensic Team, Campus Ministry programs, the University Choir, the Jazz Band, the Men's and Women's Basketball Teams, WURS-Radio Station, Greek and honorary societies and student government.

Wilberforce University has made excellent progress in its programmatic and outreach thrust. It has a specialized Institute for African-American/Israel Exchange Program; Study Abroad programs in Egypt and Lancaster, England; a Caribbean student exchange program; articulation agreements with major two-year colleges across the country; and a 10-year student-faculty Collaboration Program with Antioch University.

The University has established a number of outreach programs, as well as national and international initiatives such as the expansion of its study abroad programs; the procurement in October 1998 of a $2.5 million Congressional appropriation grant to renovate the health care facility on campus and a $1 million grant to develop a new academic program focusing on computer science and engineering; a $1.3 million grant from NASA in 1992 to establish what is now a teaching collaboration and research center at Wilberforce University; the creation of The Minority Male Health Consortium through the University Family Life Center; and the development of the Wilberforce Intensive Summer Experience (WISE) Program that brings some 50 incoming freshmen students to campus each summer for an intensive five-week, major-focused program of study.

The brush stroke that completes the picture of Wilberforce University is its mandatory Cooperative Education Program. Wilberforce bears the distinction of being only one of two four-year institutions in the country to require internships as a requirement for graduation. Cooperative Education has been the heartbeat of academics at Wilberforce. The program has seen many others attempt to duplicate its success story, but to date no other has been able. Wilberforce University has been cited for its excellence in many publications such as Black Enterprise, Better Homes & Gardens, Career, and the Black Employment & Education Journal.



Delaware State University in Dover, DE

http://www.desu.edu

Delaware State University is a historically black university in Dover, Delaware. It was founded in 1891.

Currently, the university consists of six colleges: College of Mathematics, Science and Technology, School of Business, College of Arts and Humanities, College of Professional Studies, College of Education and Sports Sciences and College of Agriculture and Related Sciences.

As of Fall 2005, the University has about 3,700 students, of which about 340 are graduate students. The University offers PhD programs in Applied Mathematics/Mathematical Physics and Neuroscience, doctoral program in education and Master's programs in various fields of sciences, nursing, social work, education, MBA program, natural resources, etc.

The president of Delaware State University is Allan L. Sessoms. Delaware State University's athletic programs participate in NCAA's Division I (I-AA for football). The university's nickname is the Hornets.

The Delaware State men's basketball team won the 2005 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship. The Hornets played in the 2005 NCAA tournament as a 16-seed, losing 57-46 in the opening round to 1-seed Duke.

[CrimsonTide4]

Wiley College in Marshall, Tx

http://www.wileyc.edu/

from Wikipedia:
Wiley College is the first and oldest historically black college west of the Mississippi River and is located on the west side of Marshall, Texas. The college was founded in 1873 by the Methodist Episcopal Church's Bishop Isaac Wiley and was certified in 1882 by the Freedmen's Aid Society. Melvin B. Tolson, a contemporary of the Harlem Renaissance, was an English professor at the college. James L. Farmer, Sr. was the first black Texan to hold a doctorate and also was a professor at Wiley.

Farmer's son, James L. Farmer Jr. was a graduate of Wiley and went on to become one of the "Big Three" of the Civil Rights Movement; organizing the first sit-ins and Freedom Rides in the United States. Wiley, along with Bishop College, was instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement in Texas. Wiley and Bishop students launched the first sit ins in Texas in the rotunda of the Old Harrison County Courthouse.

Wiley was the first college in East Texas to issue laptop computers to its students.

Notable Alumni
James L. Farmer, Jr. - Civil rights leader

Emmett Jay Scott - Civic leader

Heman Marion Sweatt - Plaintiff in famous U.S. Supreme Court
Case, Sweatt v. Painter; helped found Texas Southern University



Kentucky State University

From Kentucky State's website:
On October 22, 1887, dedicatory exercises were held in Frankfort, Kentucky for the State Normal School for Colored Persons, which had been sanctioned by the 1886 Kentucky General Assembly. The opening of the school and its successive evolution into Kentucky State University in 1972 is another saga that is largely untold. Its progress amid criticism from unfriendly quarters is not unusual for historically black institutions. However, it is unusual for such an institution to serve in a state that persistently lost its black population from 1900 forward.

It is also unusual for what was founded as a black institution to thrive and prosper despite repeated efforts to close it, thus depriving students of all races, whom Kentucky State University now serves, of an opportunity to acquire a college education based on academic excellence.

Excerpt from Onward and Upward: A Centennial History of Kentucky State University 1886-1986 by John A. Hardin.

The University: A History of Public Service

From its modest beginnings as a small normal school for the training of black teachers for the black schools of Kentucky, Kentucky State University has grown and evolved to become the state’s unique, small, liberal studies institution, serving students without regard to their race, age, sex, national origin, or economic status.

The University was chartered in May 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, only the second state-supported institution of higher learning in Kentucky. During the euphoria of Frankfort’s 1886 centennial celebration, when vivid recollections of the Civil War remained, the city’s 4,000 residents were keenly interested in having the new institution located in Frankfort. Toward that end, the city donated $1,500-a considerable amount in 1886 dollars-and a site on a scenic bluff overlooking the town. This united display of community enthusiasm and commitment won the day. The new college was located in Frankfort in spite of competition from several other cities.

Recitation Hall (now Jackson Hall), the college’s first building, was erected in 1887. The new school opened on October 11, 1887 with three teachers, 55 students, and John H. Jackson as president.

In 1890 the institution became a land grant college, and the departments of home economics, agriculture, and mechanics were added to the school’s curriculum. The school produced its first graduating class of five students in the spring of that year. A high school was organized in 1893. This expansion continued into the twentieth century in both name and program. In 1902, the name was changed to Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons. The name was changed again in 1926 to Kentucky State Industrial College for Colored Persons. In the early 1930's the high school was discontinued, and in 1938 the school was named the Kentucky State College for Negroes. The term ''for Negroes'' was dropped in 1952. Kentucky State College became a university in 1972, and in 1973 the first graduate students enrolled in its School of Public Affairs.

Over the past 20 years more than 30 new structures or major building expansions have enhanced Kentucky State University’s 511-acre campus, which includes a 203-acre agricultural research farm.

Kentucky State University is the smallest of Kentucky’s public universities with an enrollment of approximately 2,300 students and 130 full-time instructional faculty members.

Kentucky State's Timeline

from Wikipedia:
The school was chartered in 1886 and opened in 1887 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons. In 1890, the state of Kentucky gave the school a land grant. In 1902, the name of the school was changed to the Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute for Colored Persons, which was changed again in 1926 to the Kentucky State Industrial College for Colored Persons. In 1938, the school became known as the Kentucky State College for Negroes (the "for Negroes" was dropped in 1952). The college became a full-fledged university in 1972. In 1973, Kentucky State offered its first graduate programs.

An adjoining high school was in operation from the late 1890s until the early 1930s.


Notable alumni
Ersa Hines Poston, first black person to head the United States Civil Service Commission

Moneta Sleet Jr., photographer for Ebony, won a Pulitzer Prize for his picture of Coretta Scott King at the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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