Winthrop University - Tatler Yearbook (Rock Hill, SC)

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PRESIDENT JOHNSON

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Iflinthrop Normal uno Bnoustrial Ciollcge. On the opposite page you will see our home-for Winthrop is a home indeed to every girl who has the good fortune to be here. We are still young, and our history is so well known that it may seem unnecessary to tell it here 3 but we can never lose an opportunity of putting on record our gratitude to the State for the excellent manner in which she has provided for the education of her daughters. We have already mentioned-in the sketch of the life of our president-the establishment, in 1886, of the 'Win- throp School for Teachers. In the same year, at a meeting of the State Agricultural Society, Senator B. R. Tillman offered a resolution advocating the normal and industrial education of women, and four years later, on his election to the oflice of governor, he recommended, in his inaugural address, the appointment of a commission to report on the practicability of the establishment by the State of a college devoted to such instruction. On the report of this com- mittee, composed of Mr. D. B. Johnson, Miss Mary L. Yeargin, and Miss Hannah Hemphill, an act creating The YVin- throp Normal and Industrial College was passed December, 1891, by the General Assembly of South Carolina. As is indicated by the name, the Winthrop Training School was accepted as the zzzzffens of the State institution. It is simply impossible, in the space allowed us, to give you any just conception of what the State has done for us--you must come to see us to find out that. The picture on the opposite page shows the main building, which is devoted entirely to academic work, the dormitory, and the inhrmaryg all connected by covered passage-ways. Each building is heated by steam and lighted by electricity. Three principal courses of study are offered: Normal Course with Industrial Studies, Scientific Course with Industrial Studies, and Literary Course with Industrial Studies. Any student who is graduated from either of these courses receives the degree of A. B. and a diploma, which, for those completing the Normal Course, is n Zzfe Izkwzxa in leach Zill fha' pzzblzr scfmofs of ifzf Sfnif. A number of scholarships are offered, each county being allowed as many as it has members in the House of Representatives. ' The cost of attending is small-as small as it is possible to make it while securing the best service in all the departments. It seems to be the object of the authorities to make Winthrop good enough for the richest and cheap enough for the poorest.

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DAVID BANCROFT JQHNSON. In making our first bow to the public, we wish to tell the story of our honored Presidents life-a life conse- crated to the higher education of the women of the South. He was born at La Grange, West Tennessee, january IO, 1856, and was, while very young, bereft of the care of his father-himself president of a college for women. ' Depending chiefly on his own efforts for support, Mr. johnson accomplished successfully the classical course in the University of Tennessee, being graduated with the highest honors of his class and the rank of senior captain of the corps of cadets. On quitting the University he began his life-work as educator, bringing to it a devotion that has known no shadow of turning. From the Knoxville High School, of which he was Assistant Principal, he was called to his aima main' to become the Assistant Professor of Mathematics. It was fortunate for South Carolina when, in 1880, he took charge of the Abbeville Graded School. After a short absence from the State, spent in the successful establishment of a graded school at Newberne, N. C., he was asked, in recognition of his distinguished work as an organizer and manager, to take control of the schools of Columbia, S. C., this city having just determined to adopt the graded school system. Here his success was signal, t-hat, too, in the face of opposition from some of the most intelligent and influential citizens of the capital. In 1886 he began a work which in its completion stands as a Htting tribute to his energy and ability. Feeling the need for trained helpers, he organized, through the aid of the Peabody fund and the State legislature, the Winthrop Training School for Teachers. The great success of this institution led him to consider plans for the extension of its usefulness--an object the more easily accomplished through the generous help of many friends of the movement. As a result, the Winthrop Training School grew into the VVinthrop Normal and Industrial Collegeg and the creator of the smaller became the President of the larger institution. All honor to our President-the first man in South Carolina to secure an appropriation from the legislature for the higher education of women.