North Carolina Central University Parent Guide
NCCU History
North Carolina Central University, a state-supported liberal arts institution, was chartered in 1909 as a private institution and opened to students on July 10, 1910. It was founded by Dr. James E. Shepard. From the beginning, when it was known as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua, its purpose has been the development in young men and women of the character and sound academic training requisite for real service to the nation. To this end, the training of all students has been entrusted to the most capable teachers available.
In 1915 the school was sold and reorganized, then becoming the National Training School.
In 1923 the General Assembly of North Carolina appropriated funds for the purchase and maintenance of the school; thus in that year it became a publicly-supported institution, and was renamed Durham State Normal School.
Two years later, the General Assembly converted the institution into the North Carolina College for Negroes, dedicating it to the offering of liberal arts education and the preparation of teachers and principals of secondary schools. North Carolina College for Negroes became the nation’s first state-supported liberal arts college for African-American students.
The General Assembly of 1939 authorized the establishment of graduate work in liberal arts and the professions. Graduate courses in the Arts and Sciences were first offered in that same year; the School of Law began operation in 1940, and the School of Library Science was established in 1941.
In 1947 the General Assembly changed the name of the institution to North Carolina College at Durham.
North Carolina College at Durham became North Carolina Central University in 1969.
A momentous development in the history of higher education in North Carolina came on July 1, 1972, when the state’s four-year colleges and universities were joined to become The Consolidated University of North Carolina. The reconstituted University of North Carolina, with 16 individual campuses, was headed by a single president and governed by the UNC Board of Governors.
