Established in 1904, the preparatory school was founded by Emmanuel Monty and Tinny McDuffie, possibly at the request of Booker T. Washington.
It still prepares African American youth for success in college and in life.

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The Laurinburg Normal and Industrial Institute was established in 1904 by Emanuel Montee McDuffie and his wife, Tiny, educators who had traveled from Alabama in response to a request by the African American citizens of Scotland County to build a school in their community.

In 1904, Emmanuel and Tinny McDuffie, a teenage, newly married couple who had just graduated high school, walked 468 miles from southern Alabama to Scotland County, NC.

While walking, day and night, they had to hide from nightriders and the KKK, who would harm or kill them just because they could.

Those were terribly troubled times for Black people.

The McDuffies arrived to educate Black students in the tiny hamlet of Laurinburg. They built a school in one place, were forced to move the entire school brick-by-brick to another place, and the Laurinburg Institute has been successfully educating students for over 116 years ever since.

Initially, the school had only one teacher, seven students, and assets of 15 cents.
By 1915 Laurinburg Institute was providing valuable leadership and opportunity for Blacks throughout Scotland County and beyond.

Although a private institution, the school cooperated with state and county educational agents in establishing curriculum and standards. Academics were divided into primary, intermediate, and high school departments.

Ever mindful of the need to develop the economic independence of its students, the school also offered courses in housekeeping, dressmaking, laundering, wheelwrighting, blacksmithing, and printing.

In this regard, the school embraced the philosophy and political position of Black educator and leader Booker T. Washington. His belief in the "green ballot"-learning skills and trades that would provide Blacks with economic self-sufficiency-was sometimes sharply criticized by other Black leaders, but the policy helped pave the way for community acceptance of and support for the institute.

In 1909 Washington visited Laurinburg as a guest of the McDuffies, and his public speeches there were well attended by the community's citizens, both Black and White.

By 1932 Laurinburg Institute had been transformed from a single building to a thriving school complex. On former swampland stood 14 buildings that, together with the school's livestock, were estimated to represent up to $250,000 in assets.

Twenty-seven teachers instructed 684 enrolled students; graduates operated the Hallowell-Wellington Kindergarten for Black children.

In 1915 former students also organized the Colored Civic League, an organization that promoted temperance, thrift, and industry and worked to improve sanitary conditions in the community.

Laurinburg Institute influenced life in Scotland County in several other ways. The school published a newspaper and circulars for the Black community, and citizens used its printing facilities to produce opera house tickets, bulletins, and announcements.

Laurinburg Institute's orchestra also enjoyed considerable success, as its members spent many hours on the road fulfilling requests for performances and bringing needed income to the school.

A spin-off band formed by members of the orchestra featured famous trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie for two years, during which time he reputedly developed his well-known "bebop" style.

Charlie Scott, the first African American to play varsity basketball at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, attended Laurinburg for one year.

Laurinburg Institute in the early 2000s remained a thriving private high school and two-year college under the direction of Emanuel McDuffie's grandson, Frank H. "Bishop" McDuffie.

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Laurinburg Institute The school is noted for its output of highly accomplished alumni.
Several well known musicians and singers as well as a rich basketball tradition, having produced and several All-Americans, collegiate players, international players, and NBA players.

SOME OF THE NOTABLE ALUMNI
Antonio Anderson, NBA player
Renaldo Balkman, NBA player
Spider Bennett, ABA player
Joe Budden, broadcaster, songwriter, and former rapper
Wes Covington, MLB player
Charlie Davis, NBA player
Joey Dorsey, NBA player
Robert Dozier, PBA player
Arvydas Eitutavičius, Lithuanian professional basketball player
Mike Evans, NBA player and coach.

Dizzy Gillespie, musician
Chris Johnson, NBA player
Sam Jones, member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, 10x NBA champion and 5x NBA All-Star.

Earl "The Goat" Manigault, street basketball player
Grachan Moncur III, jazz trombonist.

Billy Reid, NBA Player
Quantez Robertson, BBL player
Magnum Rolle, Bahamian professional basketball player
Charlie Scott, member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, 3x NBA All-Star and NBA champion in 1976.

Jimmy Walker, NBA player
Chris Washburn, NBA player
Dexter Westbrook, ABA player
Shawne Williams, NBA player
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In the 2021 school year, at least 300 North Carolina-based ninth- through 12th-grade students will be able to attend the elite Laurinburg Institute — long known for college prep curriculum, small, exclusive classes and excellent teachers — virtually

As an accredited school and a North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship participating school, state scholarship funds are available to financially qualified students. No high school still operating in America or the state of North Carolina has educated minority students as long as Laurinburg Institute.

Frank “Bishop” McDuffie, Laurinburg’s president and the third-generation leader of the school his grandparents founded, said, “We already know the devastating impact the pandemic has had on all high school students, most particularly African Americans. Excellent teaching in tough times is what we’ve always done very well at Laurinburg. We have master teachers who are tremendous at taking students from where they are and elevating them to where they need to be.”

Education experts across America agree that for students to recover as well as to get back on their academic preparation levels and tracks, extra investments of time and instruction are necessary.

“My appeal is to parents who know their children better than anyone else and know their students are struggling,” explained Bishop McDuffie. “Parents, you also know that finding better academic options and opportunities for a better life for your children is not the child’s responsibility or the school’s responsibility … it’s yours. I hope you will allow the Laurinburg Institute to help. It’s private school education at a public school cost.”
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