February Fourteen...

Johnson C. Smith - The Division of Government Sponsored Programs and Research inducted seven students into its Ronald E. McNair Scholars program. This year’s theme is “Defying Gravity: Launching Scholars Academic Success.”

Topics: African Americans, Civil Rights, Education, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Jarvis Christian College

Jarvis Christian College is a historically Black liberal arts, associate and baccalaureate, degree-granting institution affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The mission of the college is to prepare students intellectually, through academic programs that promote excellence in teaching and learning; socially, through student-centered support programs that encourage positive and constructive communication among peers, faculty, and staff; spiritually, through programs that stimulate spiritual growth and worship; and personally, through interaction that fosters self-development and maturity using different modalities of instructional delivery. The mission further seeks to prepare students for professional and graduate studies, productive careers, and to function effectively in a global and technological society.

Johnson C. Smith University

1867

In 1867, the Rev. S.C. Alexander and the Rev. W. L. Miller saw the need to establish an institution in this section of the South. On April 7, 1867, at a meeting of the Catawba Presbytery in the old Charlotte Presbyterian Church, the movement for the school was formally inaugurated, which by charter was named The Freedmen's College of North Carolina, and these two ministers were elected as teachers.

1867-1876

Mary D. Biddle of Philadelphia, Pa. who, through appeals in one of the church papers, pledged $1,400 to the school. In appreciation of this first and generous contribution, friends requested Mrs. Biddle name the newly established school after her late husband, Major Henry Biddle. From 1867 to 1876, the school was named Biddle Memorial Institute and chartered by the state legislature.

Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary

The seminary’s vision is to be an agile institution providing an array of ministerial formation opportunities for ordained and non-ordained persons actively serving the Church.

JCSTS VALUES HERITAGE

Is grounded in the scholarship and history of the African-American religious experience

JCSTS VALUES TRADITION

Embraces the Reformed tradition of the Christian Church embodied in Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

JCSTS VALUES COMMUNITY

Invites and welcomes individuals with no preference to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, or nationality

Kentucky State University

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 into a land-grant and liberal arts institution that prepares a diverse student population to compete in a multifaceted, ever-changing global society. 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.

KSU became a land-grant college in 1890, 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 20th 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.