Compiled by Sym Posey
The Birmingham Times
Alabama has the largest number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the nation. Here’s a closer look at each:
Alabama A&M University
The picturesque campus is situated on what many alumni and friends fondly refer to as “The Hill,” only a few miles from downtown Huntsville. Serving over 6,000 students, the institution is a diverse and vibrant microcosm of the larger world around it, attracting visits of seven Nobel Laureates. Alabama A&M University offers numerous degree programs, including the Ph.D. degrees in college history
A&M is a land-grant university. Its support comes from the State of Alabama and federal funds appropriated to assist in carrying on work stipulated by the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. The University is under the control of a board of trustees appointed by the Governor, who serves as ex officio Chairman.
Alabama State University
Founded in 1867, Alabama State University, is a comprehensive regional university offering students from throughout the region, state and nation a world class education by providing learning experiences designed to develop intellectual abilities, as well as social, moral, cultural and ethical values.
The impetus to establish a school for the Black citizens of Alabama began shortly after the Civil War. The war’s aftermath resulted in the end of slavery and brought about considerable change in the relationships between blacks and whites in the South. Nowhere was this changed relationship more clearly seen than in education. In 1867, African American leaders founded Lincoln Normal School at Marion in Perry County, Alabama. Alabama State University is a direct descendent of Lincoln Normal School, thus making it one of the oldest institutions of higher education founded by Black Americans.
Bishop State Community College
BSCC is a state-supported, open admissions urban community college in Mobile, Alabama. Beginning in the summer of 1927 as the Mobile Branch of Alabama State Teachers’ College of Montgomery, the institution offered extension course for in-service teachers only during the summer months; this pattern of operation continued for nine years until September 1936, when it was established as an all-year two-year college.
In August 1965, a legislative act declared the Alabama State College Branch Mobile Center a state junior college, which gave the institution its first independent legal status. The college was named officially Mobile State Junior College in November 1965. Several years later, in September 1971, the state Legislature again changed the name of the College to S.D. Bishop State Junior College in honor of its then president, Dr. S. D. Bishop. In 1989, the name of the College was changed to Bishop State Community College to reflect its growth in vocational/career offerings, transfer offerings, and community service activities.
Concordia College Alabama
Formerly known as Alabama Lutheran Academy and Junior College, Concordia College was a historically Black, four-year, coeducational college, that was the direct result of the pioneer Lutheran missionaries in Alabama. The college ceased operations at the completion of the spring 2018 semester, citing years of financial distress and declining enrollment. It was the only historically Black college among the ten colleges and universities in the Concordia University System.
Gadsden State Community College
GSCC is a public community college with campuses in Gadsden, Centre and Anniston, Alabama. The college was founded as a merger between Alabama Technical College, Gadsden State Technical Institute and Gadsden State Junior College. As home to more than 8,000 students from across Northeast Alabama and the world, as well as approximately 800 faculty and staff, Gadsden State is the ultimate college experience.
Construction began on Wallace Hall Fine Arts Center in January 1967. The $1.5 million (1968) building was designed by Architects Hofferbert & Ellis. By 1997, the near constant use of the center had taken its toll. Without major renovations, the center would face closure. In 1998, however, Gadsden State and the City of Gadsden raised over $400,000 to complete the needed repairs. In 2009, the College again upgraded the facility with an updated paint scheme and lobby enhancements.
J.F. Drake State Technical College
Located in Huntsville, Alabama Drake State is a two-year public institution of higher education that offers career-oriented diplomas, certificates, and associate degree programs and courses, as well as comprehensive, specialized training for business and industry. The college seeks to satisfy the needs and academic pursuits of the community by offering developmental studies, non-credit short-term courses, and continuing education courses on scheduled days, evenings, and weekends.
The institution was established in 1961 as the Huntsville State Vocational Technical College. The college is built on 32 acres of land which was deeded by Alabama A&M University to the Alabama State Board of Education. Initial enrollment at the school was 27, with students enrolled in four programs in September 1962. In 1966 the school’s name was changed to J. F. Drake State Technical Trade School by the State Board of Education in honor of the late Joseph Fanning Drake, president of Alabama A&M University for more than 35 years. In 1967, the institution became the first desegregated postsecondary technical school.
Lawson State Community College
Lawson State Community College is a historically Black, comprehensive, public, two-year, multi-campus college, which seeks to provide accessible quality educational opportunities, promote economic growth and enhance the quality of life. LSCC is dedicated to providing affordable and accessible lifelong learning opportunities in order to prepare students for employment or career advancement, enable students to transfer to senior colleges and universities, and provide customized training needs for business and industry.
Dr. Theodore Alfred Lawson served as the first director of the school, which was renamed Wenonah Technical College in 1963. LSCC’s academic division, Wenonah State Junior College, was established in 1965 under Alabama state legislature. Dr. Lawson served as the first president of the junior college, which was also designed to serve Black students, and was renamed Theodore Alfred Lawson State Junior College in his honor.
Miles College
Located within the city limits of Fairfield, Alabama, Miles College is metropolitan Birmingham’s only senior Historically Black College. A senior, liberal arts, church-related college with roots in the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and in the tradition of the Historically Black College, Miles helps motivates and directs its students to seek holistic development that leads to intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and service oriented lives.
Founded in 1898 by the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, now the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (C.M.E.) and chartered by the State of Alabama in 1905 as Miles Memorial College to educate African American young people. The college is still supported by and affiliated with the CME Church, although the faculty and student body represent many religions and cultures, national and international Miles has held steadfast in its goal of providing a quality college education and molding the minds of future leaders.
Oakwood University
Oakwood University is a private, historically Black, Seventh-Day Adventist university located in Huntsville. It is the only HBCU owned and operated by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Oakwood University has a beautiful natural setting on 1,185 acres of prime land. It is considered one of the historical landmarks of the city of Huntsville. Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Department of Education of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (through the Adventist Accrediting Association) to award associate, baccalaureate, and master’s degrees. In 2018, the U.S. Senate recognized Oakwood University for being the fifth leading producer of African American applicants to U.S. medical schools. That same year, the university became the first academic institution to receive the 2018 Crystal Apple Award from the Partnership for a Healthier America for its campus wellness initiatives.
In 1943, Oakwood received its first accreditation as a junior college, having already begun the process of achieving senior college status. Fifteen years later, in 1958, it was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate and baccalaureate degrees. The most recent reaffirmation of accreditation was voted in June 2001.
Selma University
Selma University is a private historically Black college located in Selma, Alabama. Founded almost 145 years ago in 1878 as a Christian Bible college, noted men as the Reverends William H. McAlpine, James A. Foster and R. Murrell lead efforts to create an institution dedicated to train African Americans as ministers and teachers.
Selma University seeks to stimulate its students spiritually, intellectually and socially and to produce graduates who are servant leaders in their churches, communities and chosen areas of vocation. In February 2001, Selma University received applicant status and in February 2005 the school received candidate status with the Commission on Accreditation of the Association for Biblical Higher Education in Orlando, Florida.
Shelton State Community College
Shelton State Community College is a public open-admission comprehensive community college whose primary purpose is to provide accessible postsecondary education, training and community educational opportunities.
Shelton State Community College offers service at two approved campuses, the Martin Campus and the C.A. Fredd Campus, and is designated as a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). The college is home to the West Alabama Center for Workforce Development as well as the Shelton State Adult Education/Career Readiness Program and enjoys the distinction of being the Alabama Community College of the Fine Arts.
Shelton State Community College was established by resolution of the Alabama State Borad of Education on Jan. 1, 1979. That resolution combined two existing institutions: Shelton State Technical College, established in 1952, and the Tuscaloosa branch campus of Brewer State Junior College, an institution whose main campus was located in Fayette, Alabama. The Tuscaloosa branch campus of Brewer State had been in operation since 1972.
Stillman College
Stillman College, a private historically Black Presbyterian college located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was authorized by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1875. Its first classes were held in 1876 and chartered as a legal corporation by the State of Alabama in 1895. At that time, the name was changed from Tuscaloosa Institute to Stillman Institute. The Institute was a concept initiated by the Reverend Dr. Charles Allen Stillman, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Tuscaloosa, “for training of colored men for the ministry”. The mandate for the institution expanded over the years and it acquired its present campus tract of over 100 acres. A junior and senior high school was organized, and the institute established a junior college program, which was accredited in 1937. In addition, between 1930 and 1946, it operated a hospital and nurse training school. The school’s Tuscaloosa campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
Talladega College
Talladega College is a private historically Black college in Talladega. It is Alabama’s oldest private historically Black college and offers 17-degree programs. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The history of Talladega College began on November 20, 1866, when two formerly enslaved men William Savery and Thomas Tarrant of Talladega, met in a Freedmen’s Bureau convention with a group of newly freed men in Mobile, Alabama. From this meeting came the commitment, “We regard the education of our children and youth as vital to the preservation of our liberties, and true religion as the foundation of all real virtue and shall use our utmost endeavors to promote these blessings in our common country.” With this as their pledge, Savery, Tarrant, and a third freed man from the Talladega community, Ambrose Headen began in earnest to provide a school for the children of former enslaved members of the community.
A building constructed with slave labor for white students became the home of the state’s first college dedicated to servicing the educational needs of Blacks. In 1869 Swayne School was issued a charter as Talladega College by the Judge of Probate of Talladega County. Talladega is one of only two institutions in Alabama that has a human cadaver for anatomy instruction. According to the National Science Foundation, Talladega ranks second among U.S. colleges in graduating students who earn Ph.Ds.
Trenholm State Community College
TSCC is a public, historically Black community college in Montgomery, Alabama. The college was founded as a merger between John M. Patterson Technical College (1961) and H. Councill Trenholm State Technical College (1963) in Montgomery. Trenholm State is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and offers associate degrees, certificates and non-credit courses thorough more than 20 programs. The college operates 12 months a year on a semester system, with 206 instructional days per year. It is approved for the training of veterans, and the programs are approved for federal financial aid.
The college maintains two campuses: the Patterson Campus and the Trenholm Campus. The two campuses are only 8.9 miles apart.
Tuskegee University
Founded on July 4th, 1881, authorized by House Bill 165, Tuskegee University is a national, independent and state-related institution of higher learning that is located in Tuskegee.
The university has been home to a number of important African American figures, including one of its founders, Booker T. Washington; scientist George Washington Carver and World War II’s Tuskegee Airmen as well many leaders in in the sciences, architecture, business, engineering, health and other professions, all structured on solid foundations in the liberal arts. In addition, the University’s programs focus on nurturing the development of high-order intellectual and moral qualities among students and stress the connection between education and the highly trained leadership Americans need in general, especially for the work force of the 21st century and beyond.
Tuskegee’s campus was designed by architect Robert Robinson Taylor, the first African-American to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in conjunction with David Williston, the first professionally trained African-American landscape architect.
