North Carolina Central University is a comprehensive university offering programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, and selected professional levels. It is the nation’s first public liberal arts institution founded for African-Americans.
In 1909, a black pharmacist named James Edward Shepard chose to charter the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race, which welcomed its first students on July 5, 1910.
In 1910, Dr. Shepard founded the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua on this site. Originally, this institution was conceived as a center for religious training.
