North Carolina Central University
North Carolina Central University, the state’s first liberal arts college for African Americans, was founded by Dr. James E. Shepard. First chartered as a private institution in 1909, and known as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua, its main purpose was to develop African American men and women into citizens with fine character and sound academic training. The institution partnered with the Durham Merchants Association, president of the black owned North Carolina Mutual Life, John Merrick, physician Aaron Moore, and educator William G. Pearson to raise twenty-five thousand dollars for the institution’s establishment. Also, philanthropist Brodie Leonidas Duke donated twenty of campus’s twenty-five acres.
After being sold and reorganized in 1915, the institution’s name was changed to the National Training School. During this period, Mrs. Russell Sage, a wealthy New York philanthropist donated $25,000 to the school. In 1923, the General Assembly appropriated funds for the purchase and maintenance of the institution. As a publicly supported institution, it operated under the name Durham State Normal School. In 1925, the legislature renamed the institution as North Carolina College for Negroes. Its mission included offering a liberal arts education to future teachers and principals of secondary schools.
In the 1927 session, the General Assembly enacted a program to expand the college’s academic programs. The school’s name changed again in 1947 to North Carolina College at Durham. As noted by historian Sylvia Jacobs, Shepard was founder and president (1910 - 1947) during five name changes. In 1969 North Carolina Central University was given its current name, and in 1972, it became part of the University of North Carolina system.
Former chancellor and alumnus Julius Chambers argued the case Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, which allowed busing to be used to desegregate public schools. Noted faculty included historian Helen G. Edmonds (1941-1977), historian, John Hope Franklin (1943-1947); and playwright and novelist, Zora Neale Hurston (1939-1940).
North Carolina Central University is celebrating its centennial anniversary of its founding in the 2009-2010 academic year.
Sources:
"Our Heritage" http://www.nccufoundation.org/centennial/heritage.html (accessed January 4, 2010). "History" http://www.nccu.edu/aboutnccu/history.cfm (accessed January 4, 2010). Silvia M. Jacobs. "Standing on the Shoulders of A Giant": Personal Reflections on a Great American" Journal of African American History 94 (Summer, 2009): 377-390. William S. Powell, ed., Encyclopedia of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, 2006).
By Adrienne Dunn, North Carolina History Project
See Also:
Related Categories: Education, African AmericanTimeline: 1916-1945 , 1946-1990 , 1990-present
Region: Statewide