North Carolina Central University - Eagle Yearbook (Durham, NC)

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History Of North Carolina Central University James E. Shepard was born the el- dest of twelve children in Raleigh N.C. on November 3, 1875. He was the son of the Rev., Dr. and Mrs. Augus- tus Shepard, and he was educated in the public schools of Raleigh. In 1894, he received a Ph. G. (Graduate Phar- macy) from Shaw University Medical School, Raleigh, N.C. and opened the first black drugstore in Durham, N.C. Shepard ' s greatest contribution was the founding of what is today called North Carolina Central University (NCCU), Durham, N.C. Highly in- volved in religious activities in the Baptist church of North Carolina, Shepard chartered on July 5, 1910 a private institution know as the Nation- al Religious Training School and Chautaugua. Shepard decided that the school ' s site would be at the pre- sent property on which NCCU is lo- cated, at Fayetteville Street, Durham, North Carolina. This land was pur- chased for Dr. Shepard by B.N. Duke and the Durham Merchants Associa- tion. Dr. Shepard established the first Advi- sory Board for the school made up of the following persons: Dr. J.H. Dillard Pritchard of Asheville, former Gover- nor N.B. Broughton of Raleigh, Sena- tor L.S. Overman of Washington, D.C., Colonel James N. Young, Dr. Jogn E. Ford, Dr. W.Y. Chapman, Judge Julian S. Carr, Bishop George W. Clinton, Professor C.G. O ' Kelly, Rabbi Abram Simon, The Reverend Thomas B. Shannon, Dr. J.R. Dudley, Dr. John M. Merrick of Durham, and the local colored committee of Dur- ham. The Advisory Board represent- ed ten states, a total membership of seventeen and first convened Octo- ber 14, 1909. Judge Jeter C. Pritch- ard presided over the Board. In 1942, Dr. Shepard recalled that the North Carolina College for Negroes was the first state-supported, liberal arts col- lege for Negroes in the United States. By the end of the year 1910, Dr. Shepard had successfully canvassed $7000 in money from friends and sup- porters from New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts and began the construction of six buildings on the campus, including a home for the President. One of his able financial supporters, before and after the school was started, was Governor R.B. Glenn of North Carolina who traveled with Shepard into Massachu- setts, New Jersey, and Ohio, making several speeches and who introduced him to a second financial supporter. Presbyterian Minister W.Y. Chapman who became a member of the Institu- tion ' s first board. Among other sup- porters of James E. Shepard ' s drive to have the National Religious Train- ing School and Chataugua remain solvent were the names of Mrs. Rus- sell B. Sage of New York City and Mr. B.N. Duke of the Duke family and the tobacco industry in Durham, North Carolina In 1915, The National Religious Train- ing School and Chataugua was reor- ganized and the Institutuion ' s new name became The National Training School. This occured because by 1912, the old National Religious Training School and Chataugua was reportedly in dire financial straits. Consequently, the Institution became subject to public auction on Septem- ber 15, 1915, at the auction The Na- tional Training School was sold to Thomas M. Gorman, for it had been taken over by the city of Durham from Dr. James Shepard for owing of back taxes. Shepard, however, recaptured the school from Gorman because Mrs. Russell Sage gave him a gener- ous grant by October 31, 1915. Even before the school was renamed and sold, the National Religious Train- ing School and Chataugua was known to have offered many subjects in the liberal arts. Some of the early teachers of the Institution before 1917 were the following: F.A. Clarke — Music, T.P. Smith — Commerce, M.W. Gilber — Religion, N.C. Wilham, J.L. Murray, Miss Grace Hemming- way, and C.G. O ' Kelly in the area of Normal and Primary Methods. Be- fore 1915, tuition and fees were ten dollars for six weeks of study and room and board for the whole term of six weeks were three dollars, fifty cents. In 1915, Shepard had verbally indi- cated that the education students would receive at his National Religious Training School and Chataugua would include a great deal about the literary and speaking side of learning. However, Shepard ' s main motivation for establishing his school of religious orientation was for the training of min- isters. These ministers, Shepard wanted to be the leaders of the race. In the year 1925 two disastrous fires struck the institution during times when students were attending chapel which destroyed all official files and some equipment. Shepard believed that not only did the fire destroy the official files, but his hope for establish- ing a school which would train minis- ters and also blacks to be profession- al and liberal artists. Even before the fire, in 1923, the General Assembly of the state of North Carolina had begun to publicly and financially support the Institution and in 1923, the National Training School became known as the Durham State Normal School a total of $20,639 in 1923. This title stayed with the Institution for two years. The primary reason why the state of North Carolina began to pub- licly support the National Training School was because it had a $49,000 debt which Shepard could not liqui- date, therefore, he resorted to the state of North Carolina for help. After the two fires on January 28 and 29, 1925 which destroyed three build- ing — the school was reorganized. Its new name was the North Carolina College for Negroes (NCCN). The first Board of Trustees at the North Caroli- na College for Negroes was com- prised of the following individuals: R.L. Flowers, N.C. Newbold, W.J. Broughton and J.B. Mason. James E. Shepard was named the first principal of North Carolina College for Ne- groes. Officially, the North Carolina College for Negroes opened Septem- ber 16, 1925, with three broad de- partments of which the high school was one, the normal school another and the college area was the third. In 1931, the North Carolina College for Negroes received its first success- ful accreditation by the Southern As- sociation of Colleges and Secondary Schools. In 1937, North Carolina Col- lege for Negroes received the right to give class A certificate ratings to teachers. The enrollment of students in 1927 was approximately 166, but by 1940 the enrollment had increased to 916. In the academic year 1926-27, the School of Commerce was started, the first school and the first expansion out of the strict liberal arts. One of the major personalities of the early exis- tence of North Carolina College was Dr. C.G. O ' Kelly, and from 1924 until his death, was the Vice President serving to assist Dr. Shepard. In 1939, because of the famous Missouri ex. rel. Gaines case in the Supreme Court of the United States, North Carolina granted North Carolina College for Negroes the authority to give gradu- ate degrees in the Liberal Arts. By 1941, two professional schools were founded also based on Gaines — the

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Seniors 1984-85 18 Seniors 1985-86 40 Queens 66 Underclassmens 80 Underclassmens 1985-86 95 Law School 117 Homeconning 127 Queens 1985-86 142 Organizations 167 Greeks And Non-Greeks 194 Sports 207 Seniors Directory 225

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school of Library Science and School of Law. As interpreted from the meaning of the Gaines case, North Carolina Col- lege for Negroes was granted the right to offer graduate and professional de- grees for segregation purposes; keep- ing black students out of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Al- though the law school was estab- lished officially by an act to the Gen- eral Assembly in 1939, the first law student did not enter until the fall of 1940 and though there was one appli- cant for the law school in the year 1939. M.T. Van Hecke became the first ad- ministrator of the law school. The ear- liest faculty was compromises of Van Hecke, a few law professors from Duke, but primarily, law faculty from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other schools. By 1929, the college had embarked upon a major construction program. In that year the first girl ' s dormitory was built. Several buildings were erected in 1935 and 1937; a gymnasi- um, six cottages for faculty members in 1937, a dormitory for one hundred students in 1937, a library of a sixty- seven thousand volume capacity in 1937, and in 1937, an auditorium which would seat nine hundred. By his death in 1947 Shepard had devel- oped from a tra sh pile, a modern col- lege for blacks, with an estimated an- nual budget of $3,500,000.00 On October 6, 1947, Dr. James E. Shepard died. He was interred in Beechwood Cemetery, Durham, North Carolina. In addition to his above-mentioned achievements, he was Grand Patron of the Eastern Star of the State of North Carolina, Fi- nance Secretary of the Knights of Pythias of North Carolina, one of the members of the Board of Directors of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank (a financially solvent all-black bank) in Durham, and president of the North Carolina Teachers Association, the only organization for black teachers in the history of North Carolina to 1971. As a final tribute to Dr. Shepard, the term Negro was dropped from the name of the college in the same year of his death. Henceforth, the institu- tion was known as North Carolina College at Durham. On January 20, 1948, Dr. Alfonso E. Elder succeeded Dr. Shepard. Elder ' s title was Presi- dent of North Carolina College at Dur- ham. Alfonso E. Elder was born February 26, 1898. and he died on August 7, 1974. Elder was born in Sanderson- ville, Georgia. Dr. Elder received his early education from the Thomas J. Elder High Industrial School. When he was twenty-three years of age, Alfonso Elder was graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. from Atlanta University. Also in that year he began his teaching career at an all- black college in Greensboro, North Carolina, Bennett. During the aca- demic year 1922-23, he taught math- ematics at what is now Elizabeth City State University, an all-black four- year teacher education oriented insti- tution in Elizabeth City, North Caroli- na. In 1924, he earned an M.A. from the Teacher ' s college of Columbia University. By 1938, Elder had re- ceived his Doctorage of Education Degree (Ed. D) from the Columbia University, after having completed a post-Master ' s level of study at the University of Chicago during the sum- mers of 1 930 and 1 93 1 . From 1 924 to 1943, Dr. Elder served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at North Carolina College for Negroes. But even before this administrative appointment, in the year 1924, he was given the rank of Professor of Education at North Carolina College for Negroes, Dr. Elder completed some post-doctoral study at the Un- viersity of Cambridge, England. By 1947, he had become Dean of the Graduate School of Education at At- lanta University. On June 4, 1949, Alfonso Elder was inaugurated as the second President of the North Carolina College at Dur- ham. During Elder ' s administration he openly admitted that he wanted to carry out and extend the dreams of Dr. James Edward Shepard. In one publication he said his entire adminis- tration would be dedicated to THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE. Elder ' s most obvious contribution to North Carolina College at Durham was the increase in the number of buildings on the campus from twenty-one when he assumed the presidency to thirty- eight when he retired. Because of that, the institution was valued at five times as much as it had been during the period of Shepard ' s administra- tion. Before his retirement. Dr. Elder requested (some felt that he pre- vailed) that the state legislature ap- propriate four million dollars to con- struct six buildings, including a student union, the cafeteria and two dormitories, all of which were erected by 1970. Dr. Elder increased the num- ber of faculty positions on the campus and by the end of his fifteen-year ad- ministration more than 50% of the faculty members possessed terminal degrees. Very often Dr. Elder spoke proudly of the fact that in 1957, be- cause of excellent progress of the col- lege since the death of Dr. Shepard, the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools accredited North Carolina College at Durham. In the academic year 1962-63 the teacher education program at North Carolina College gained its approval from the National Council of Accredi- tation of Teacher Education. Dr. Elder adopted and many felt carried out the motto EXCELLENCE WITHOUT EX- CUSE. At the commencement exer- cises in June, 1963, Dr. Elder was giv- en the honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD.) degree and elected President Emeritus upon his retirement. Dr. Elder served as President of North Carolina College at Durham from 1948-1963, and before his death on August 7, 1974, he had taught math- ematics at North Carolina College at Durham. Dr., Elder was funeralized at the St. Titus Episcopal Church in Durham and Buried at the Beechwood Ceme- tary, Durham, North Carolina. To suc- ceed Dr. Elder on August 9, 1963, the Board of Trustees of North Carolina College at Durham elected as its third president Dr. Samuel Proctor Massey. Dr. Massey was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1919, where he received his elementary and secondary educa- tion. He finished high school at the age of thirteen. He then went to Dum- bar Junior College in Little Rock where he became president of the student council. Dr. Massey also at- tended the Agricultural Mechanical and Normal College of Pine Bluff, Ar- kansas, (Arkansas A.M. and N.), presently the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, where he graduated summa cum laude with a major in chemistry at the age of eighteen. He received his Master ' s Degree in chem- istry from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1940. After returning to Arkansas A.M. and N. College for a year, Massey then went to Iowa State University where he received the Ph.D degree in Organic Chemistry in 1946. After a brief period of two and half years of military.