1890s Timeline
1890
August 30
Getting its start as A and M College for the Colored Race, our university is first conceived on paper, emerging from a federal law known as the Second Morrill Act. Written by U.S. Sen. Justin Morrill of Vermont, the second Morrill Act corrects the discriminatory practices of southern states and the states that border them, which would not allow African Americans entry into the land-grant universities that Congress created in 1862. Both the First and Second Morrill Acts are intended to create affordable higher education “accessible to all, but especially to the sons of toil.” The Board of Trustees of the A. and M. College in Raleigh is empowered to make temporary arrangements for “Negro” students so that the college could qualify for funds under the second Morrill Act. Instruction begins at Shaw University in Raleigh in agriculture, English, horticulture and mathematics with four teachers and 37 students.
1891
March 9
The N.C. General Assembly ratifies the Act establishing the A. and M. College for the Colored Race. Its purpose is "to teach practical agriculture and mechanic arts” and other disciplines, not excluding academic and classical instruction.
1892
March 3
The A&M Board of Trustees votes to locate the college in Greensboro. Durham, Mebane, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston also apply to house the school. Greensboro residents contribute 14 acres and $11,000.
1892
May 25
John Oliver Crosby is elected the first president of the college by vote of the Board of Trustees.
1893
The main building, simply dubbed “the college building,” is completed. With multi-purpose uses, the building is used for classrooms, food service, dormitories for both women and men, and for office space; it burned in 1930.
1894
The Register, a student newspaper, publishes its first edition.
1895
Governor Ellis Cobb became the first governor of North Carolina to visit the campus.
1896
Dr. James B. Dudley, principal of the Peabody School in Wilmington, North Carolina, is selected as the second president. He served until 1925.
1899
Seven students are the recipients of the college’s first degrees, graduating under the class motto: "no steps backwards."