NC is proud to have the oldest HBCU in the south

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Concord, N.C.
Image source: Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA.

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Source: Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA.

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Photograph: Scotia Seminary in Concord, ca. 1891. Image courtesy of the Historic Cabarrus Association

Source: Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA

Barber-Scotia Seminary, A Source Of 19th Century Learning.

Source: Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA.

Bennett College , in Greensboro, was founded August 1, 1873 as a normal school for teacher training. It opened with seventy African-American men and women (freedmen, or former slaves). The school's founder, Albion W. Tourgee, was an activist from Ohio who worked in North Carolina during Reconstruction and championed the cause of racial justice.

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Greensboro, North Carolina

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Photograph: The Bennett College choir poses together in front of Steele Hall in the 1930s.

Source: Photograph part of the Art Shop Collection house at the Greensboro History Museum.

1926, Dr. Jones is left center.
Source: Bennett College. Thomas F. Holgate Library. Archives Department.

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The Bennett College May Queen and her court stand outdoors and pose for a photograph on the campus,
circa 1941.

A group of college students posing on the steps of Jones Hall at Bennett College hold up banners and pennants from Shaw University, Bennett College for Women, Palmer, Livingstone and A&T College in 1941.

From Brian McRae - “My mom Marjorie Cox (born & raised in Dunn, NC), and my dad Ivan McRae Jr (from NYC) standing outside a Bennett College building, likely her dorm, dated March 1944.

1914, Postcard with Six young women members of the baseball team posing with mitts and baseball bats outdoors.
Bennett College for women. Greensboro, NC.
President James E. Wallace (1913–1915)

Bennett College For Women, 1945 Women's Athletic Association.

Shared with us by Brian McRae whose mom Marjorie Cox is in this photograph, rear, far right.

The Night the Sports World Revolved Around Two Black Women’s Basketball Teams in Greensboro

“We were ladies, too,” Bennett forward Ruth Glover Mullen said many years later. “We just played basketball like boys.”

Photo: Bennett Belles from Bennett College For Women-1937-Students protesting Jim/Jane Crow laws enforced by the Carolina Movie Theater in Greensboro, NC-photographer unknown.
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The Power of Black Women’s Political Labor Remembered Bennett College and the Civil Rights Movement

March 22, 1945, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt accepts flowers from two girl scouts during her visit to Bennett College for Women.
She was on a tour of Black education institutions.

Photograph © Carol W. Martin/Greensboro History Museum Collection.

Cropped- Male and female students at Bennett Seminary , (which changed it’s name to Bennett College for Women, and is now Bennett College) pose outside their school building in the 1880s.

Male and female students at Bennett Seminary , (which changed it’s name to Bennett College for Women, and is now Bennett College) pose outside their school building in the 1880s.

The Student body of Elizabeth City Colored Normal School

Students pose with Principal Moore

circa 1900

Photos: left - Girls playing in front Lane Hall in 1916, courtesy of the Jackson Davis Collection, University of Virginia.
Right: ECSU’s Rosenwald School building, courtesy of the Elizabeth City State University Archives.

Photograph: Amy Littlejohn Roberts (1878-1935)-was able to attend, complete her course of study and graduate from Elizabeth City Colored Normal School in 1895.
Source: Generations of Somerset Place-From Slavery to Freedom
By Dorothy Spruill Redford - North Carolina

The college is now Elizabeth City State University. One of North Carolina's Public HBCU's, Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Image: undated, Mr. Hugh Cale, who was born in Perquimans County, NC in 1835 and died July 22, 1910.

Elizabeth City State University- HISTORICAL TIMELINE
1891 January 26: Legislation to establish institution introduced by the Honorable Hugh Cale (1835 - 1910), a black Pasquotank County Representative in the North Carolina General Assembly.
March 3: Cale's Bill enacted into law; State Board of Education directed to establish school

Photo courtesy of North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

Cheerleaders, Elizabeth City State Teachers College, 1949.
From the 1949 edition of the Viking, Elizabeth City State University's yearbook, (p. 87).

Image courtesy of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

ECSU State Colored Normal Class, 1912.

Photo courtesy of North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

Title with photograph: Gathering of Female Students on State Colored Normal School Campus, circa 1924 - Elizabeth City State Colored Normal School. Elizabeth City, Pasquotank County. N.C.

Photograph: Elizabeth City State Colored Normal School women’s basketball team with coach Dr. Donald G. Brandon, 1937.
Sourced from: ncdhc

1892 January 4 “Elizabeth City Colored Normal School” began operations on Roanoke Avenue with 2 teachers and 23 students, $900. appropriation, and Peter Weddick Moore as Principal.. Hattie A. Newby is the first person to graduate, completing her post graduate program.

Elizabeth City Teachers College Baseball Team-1909 *contributing researcher Stan Best*

Fayetteville State University (FSU) is a Historically Black public regional university in Fayetteville, North Carolina. FSU is part of the University of North Carolina System and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

Fayetteville State University Broncoettes-1947.
*Researcher Stan Best*

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Front row seated: Pride, Prof. Hunt, Dr. Sanders (president), Dr. Russell, President H. L. McCrorey. Standing: James Daniel, Dr. Martin, Dr. Floyd Anderson, Dr. York Jones, Dr. Drayton, Dr. Partee, Dr. G.E. Davis, Mr. W.E. Hall"
Source: Johnson C. Smith Archives/DigitalNC.

Caption beneath photo reads "First Colored President, Biddle, now Johnson C. Smith University."
Rev. Sanders was president from 1847-1907.
Source: James B. Duke Memorial Library/Digitalnc.

31 years ago on On December 27, 1892 these two North Carolina Black colleges, (HBCU’s) played the first Black College Intercollegiate football game. The game was the Cricket Celebration Bowl and the trophy commemorates the inaugural game the players.

Left Image: Biddle College football team. The college is now named Johnson C. Smith University. Year unknown.
Right image: Livingstone College football team. Year unknown.

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Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) is a private, Historically Black university in Charlotte, North Carolina

Photograph description:
Left: One of the Kittrell College literary societies, ca. 1900-1920. Image from The Educator
Right: Kittrell College baseball team. Image from the 1917-18 Prospectus.

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Collection of: Sketch book of Livingstone College and East Tennessee Industrial School, Salisbury, N.C.

Salisbury, North Carolina

William Day - Black abolitionist, educator, minister and editor of a weekly newspaper

Panoramic shot of the Easter Monday baseball game

Main Building- Livingstone College, Salisbury, NC. 1888.

Source: Image courtesy of DocSouth, UNC Libraries. Charles Lee Smith, 1865-1951 The History of Education in North Carolina. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1888.

Photographer either Thomas E. Askew, or Frances Benjamin Johnston

Photographer either Thomas E. Askew, or Frances Benjamin Johnston

Photograph ca, 1975-1976

1947
This photograph is part of the Totten Family Collection / uncgdigitalcollections

Left photograph shows Dr. F.D. Bluford, president of NC A&T in Greensboro, North Carolina pinning the Purple Heart on Lieutenant Sam Bruce's wife, Grace. Bruce, was a graduate of A & T University, and was one of the first volunteers for the Tuskegee Airmen flight school, was killed in action January 27,1944.
Source: A & T Library Archives
Insert photograph: Lt. Bruce, military photograph.
Right image: Photograph and headline from newspaper article.
Source: Find A Grave

Photograph: In this 2018 portrait, former NC A & T photographer, Charles Watkins, poses with some of his paintings. He continued to work on his art through a series of life threatening illnesses during his life.-Credit: H. Scott Hoffman-News/Record Greensboro, NC

Photograph description : 9 Black students in the schools library, reading books and studying at desks and tables.

An early image of N.C. A&T students working in the Biological laboratory ca 1800.
This was one of the photographs that W. B. DuBois used in his exhibition at the 1900 Paris Exposition.
Source: African American photographs assembled for 1900 Paris Exposition, Library of Congress.
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001705867/

On Monday, 03.09.1891,North Carolina A&T University was founded.

*On this date in 1891, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University was founded. They are one of over 100 historically Black colleges and unversities in America.

Image: Cover page of The Colored American working man of the new time an address delivered by Rev. A. D. (Amory Dwight) Mayo, 1823-1907 before the State Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race, at Greensboro, N. C., May 26, 1898.
There are 37 pages in this report.

A team of A&T University cheerleaders practice out on the lawn on campus in 1938.

Source: Photograph part of the Art Shop Collection housed at the Greensboro History Museum.

The A&T University marching band leads the way for the members of the graduation class as they march through campus in the 1930s.

A&T-Greensboro, North Carolina: This mid to late 1890's historical photograph shows a young man -possibly a student- riding a horse on the early campus while a worker kneels along the roadside in front of him tending to a patch of ground. This is the early campus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Olympian champion, Lee Calhoun (second from left) and head track and field coach LeRoy Walker admire track and field trophy winnings.

Students Hold Voting Pamphlets Aloft01 January, 1970 - DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA: Students including Christine Gaither, Jaye Mizelle, Gerelyn Jierguson, Sonja Jierguson, Edith Auery, Diana Boney, Lavern Williams and Mavine Foyner hold up voting pamphlets on the campus of North Carolina Central University at the Alfonso Elder Student Union in Durham, North Carolina.

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She was Dr. James E. Shepard's mother. He founded North Carolina Central University

North Carolina Central University was chartered in 1909 and opened its doors to students a year later as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua.

On the left is NCCU Founder Dr. James E. Shepard standing with civil rights leader, the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. outside B.N. Duke Auditorium in 1938.

Powell was also co-founder of the National Negro Congress and the first African American to represent Harlem, N.Y., in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Maggie Bryant, N.C. Central University's Oldest Living Graduate, Turns 106 Next Month

By Thomasi McDonald /The Indy June 23, 2021 6:00 A.M.

There was a touch of revelry in the air Friday on the campus of N.C. Central University.

North Carolina College 1941 CIAA Basketball Champions

"A photograph of the North Carolina College 1941 CIAA Champion Basketball Team. The team was coached by John B. McLendon.

1941 photograph of Norbert Slim Downing (middle) and members of the Basketball Team.
Source: Photo by North Carolina College for Negroes, now named North Carolina Central University - via Getty Images

01 January, 1960 - Durham, NC -
NCC MAJORETTE Grace Pegues, a North Carolina College Junior from Norwood, North Carolina, shows some of the gracefulness which led to her selection as one of eight majorettes fronting the college’s 120-piece marching band this year.

19 October, 1965 - Three band corps majorettes at North Carolina College-Durham, NC, photographed during a football game.
Left to right: Fern Matthewson, Tarboro, N.C.; Patricia Tanner, Greensboro, N.C.; and Hellena Huntley, Greensboro, N.C.

Rev. Grover Cleveland Hawley’s (G.C. Hawley) Master of Arts degree from North Carolina College for Negroes, May 29, 1944.
Durham, NC.

Rev. Hawley was from Granville county, NC., and by the time he obtained his master's degree, he had been principal at Hawley High School, in Creedmoor, NC. for a number of years.

Image: Zora Neale Hurston (standing), African American novelist, playwright, folklorist and anthropologist at a North Carolina College for Negroes football game. (Durham, NC.)

Zora Hurston was a professor in the Drama Department at North Carolina College for Negroes From 1939 to 1940.

Ca. 1955 NCC band portrait. Later renamed, NCCU, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC.

Source: NCCU Archives.

01 January, 1960 - Four North Carolina College (Durham, NC) cheerleaders strike an elaborate pose to urge the university’s basketball team, the Eagles on to victory.

22 September, 1964 - North Carolina College’s HIGH-STEPPERS-- Durham, NC.

James D. Wilson, center, North Carolina College’s drum major, is surrounded by majorettes who will join him in front of the college’s 120-piece marching band.

19 October, 1965 - Three of North Carolina College’s high-stepping majorettes photographed during a practice session on the college’s campus in Durham, North Carolina.

Roger Arliner Young, born in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania in 1889, was the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. in zoology and to conduct research at the prestigious Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Young conducted research on the anatomy of paramecium and the effects of radiation on sea urchin eggs.

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Shaw University in Raleigh, NC has the first building ever established for the higher education of African American women in the United States.

On December 1, 1865, SHAW was Founded by Dr. Henry Martin Tupper.

Raleigh, NC

(1906 ?)

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alftone photograph mounted on thin cardboard depicting W. C. Strudwick (1884-1932) in Shaw University football uniform.
Bottom of photograph is inscribed, W. C. Strudwick R. G. (presumably, Right Guard).

Shaw University Cheerleaders-1961
*Researcher Stan Best*

On February 10, 1960 students from Shaw University and St. Augustine’s College walked Fayetteville Street and sat down at lunch counters in Raleigh with the sole request to be served.

The sit-in protests began in Greensboro ten days earlier and other college towns soon followed. The simple act of sitting at a lunch counter and reading proved to be an effective and non-violent tactic to challenge de facto segregation.

"Dr. King is seen pictured here, on the campus of Shaw University on April 15, 1960 where he was part of a SCLC conference with local sit-in leaders. He encouraged more than 200 students to continue with the use of nonviolent methods.

Louise Celia "Lulu" Fleming MD
Public Domain Image

Louise Cecelia Fleming was a graduate of Shaw University in
Raleigh, NC, and she was the first Black woman to graduate from the Women’s Medical College at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Raleigh, NC to meet with Shaw U. students and faculty, specifically Ella Baker to meet and talk about ways of resisting Jim and Jane Crow laws of segregation.
Ella Baker and students were the foundation of the founding of the Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at Shaw University.

Shaw University’s Leonard Medical School graduating class of 1909.

*Contributing researcher-Stan Best*

On Mon, 10.14.1867 St Augustine’s College was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The founding of St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, N.C., in 1867 is celebrated on this date. It is one of over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in America.

1923

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Science lab at St. Augustine’s College c. 1949.

Photo: Lyman Bldg. at St Augustines 1890
Lyman Building, St. Augustine’s University (Built 1886).

St. Augustine’s University erected this large, four-story brick building in the center of its campus in 1886.

The team was led by Earl "The Pearl" Monroe and coached by the legendary Clarence "Big House" Gaines.
The Rams finished the season with 31-1 overall record with their sole loss of the season coming against High Point. The team went on to score over 100 points 17 times during the season, including a span of nine 100-point games over a 10-game span. In the playoffs, the Rams took wins over #6 Akron (71-56), #2 Kentucky Wesleyan (82-73), and defeated #5 Southwest Missouri (77-74) to take the 1967 NCAA Division II National Championship.

In 1925, Slater Academy became Winston-Salem Teachers College, the first Black institution in the nation authorized to offer a bachelor’s degree in education.

Delores “Dee” Todd , WSSU Class of ‘72 - Winston Salem State University, Winston Salem, NC.

Todd broke barriers throughout her career. In 1980, she became the first African American to appear on a box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. In 1983, she was named Big 10 Coach of the Year for Cross Country.

Photograph source: Winston Salem State University archives

Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) was founded in 1892 as Slater Industrial School.
It is a historically Black public university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina.

Photograph source: WSSU archives

Photograph c. 1932 - Front row (left to right): James Diggs, Walter Gray, Robert Schooler, Roscoe Anderson, Belvedere Cook. Back Row (left to right): Carlos Hunter Johnson (Coach), James Boyd, Theodore Hayes, Robert Scales, Jesse Eggleton, Theodore Staplefoot, Rupert Bell, A.W. Simon (Manager).

Photograph sourced from: Forsyth County (N.C.) Digital Forsyth, Winston-Salem State University, Boyd, James, Winston-Salem Teachers College