Social Religion | Education

Shaw University

Credit: Library of Congress
Shaw University graduated its first pharmacy class in 1893.
Founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1865, Shaw University was the first college for African Americans in the American South.

Baptist minister and former Union soldier Henry Martin Tupper of Massachusetts came to Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1865 to found the first college for African Americans in the South following the American Civil War. Supported by the American Baptist Home Mission Society, Tupper and his wife taught Raleigh's freedmen in a two-story church containing a classroom on the top floor. Named the Raleigh Institute, the small school grew quickly; it was incorporated as Shaw University in 1875. The charter specified that enrollment was open to all students regardless of race, creed, or sex. Shaw was the first college in the U.S. to build a dormitory for female students; many women trained as teachers. Shaw established a medical school and law school by 1888, with 400 African American doctors and 57 lawyers earning degrees by 1916. Known as the mother of African American colleges in North Carolina, Shaw graduated the founders of three other historically black colleges in the state.

Credit: Archives.org/Public Domain
Shaw University had an enrollment of about 333 men and 187 women in 1910.

 

Credit: State Archives of North Carolina
Shaw Hall, completed in 1871, was named for university benefactor Elijah Shaw, who provided $8,000 to construct the building.

 

Credit: Library of Congress
As the first college in North Carolina to establish a medical school, Shaw University contained a medical building and dormitory that housed 75 students.

 

Credit: Library of Congress
A 25-bed hospital opened in 1885 on the Shaw campus.