From Marion to Montgomery

Caver Joseph D.

Description

Alabama State University is well known as a historically black university and for the involvement of its faculty and students in the civil rights movement. Less attention has been paid to the schools remarkable origins, having begun as the Lincoln Normal School in Marion, Alabama, founded by nine former slaves. These men are rightly considered the progenitors of Alabama State University, as they had the drive and perseverance to face the challenges posed by a racial and political culture bent on preventing the establishment of black schools and universities. It is thanks to the actions of the Marion Nine that Alabamas rural Black Belt produces a disproportionate number of African American Ph.D. recipients, a testament to the vision of the Lincoln Normal Schools founders. From Marion to Montgomery is the story of the Lincoln Normal Schools transformation into the legendary Alabama State University, including the schools move to Montgomery in 1887 and evolution from Normal School to junior college to full-fledged four-year university. Its a story of visionary leadership, endless tenacity, and a true belief in the value of education.

Sujets

• USA
• History of education
• Higher education
• History of the Americas
• Education
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: University of Georgia Press
• Date de parution: 30 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781588383617
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

F ROM M ARION TO M ONTGOMERY
A LSO BY J OSEPH D. C AVER
Touched by History (with J. Mills Thornton)
The Tuskegee Airmen, An Illustrated History: 1939-1949 (with Jerome Ennels and Daniel Haulman)
FROM MARION TO MONTGOMERY
The Early Years of Alabama State University, 1867-1925
Includes an Epilogue to Summarize the School s History to 2020
J OSEPH D. C AVER
F OREWORD BY Q UINTON T. R OSS
N EW S OUTH B OOKS
Montgomery
NewSouth Books
105 S. Court Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
2020 by Joseph D. Caver
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by NewSouth Books, Montgomery, Alabama.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Caver, Joseph D., author.
Title: From Marion to Montgomery: the early years of Alabama State University, 1867-1925 / by Joseph D. Caver.
Description: Montgomery: NewSouth Books, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020018319 | ISBN 9781588383600 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Alabama State University-History. | African American universities and colleges-Alabama-Montgomery-History.
Classification: LCC LD59 .C38 2020 | DDC 378.761/47--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020018319
ISBN: 978-1-58838-360-0 (trade cloth)
ISBN: 978-1-58838-361-7 (ebook)
Design by Randall Williams
Printed in the United States of America
by Sheridan Books

The Black Belt, defined by its dark, rich soil, stretches across central Alabama. It was the heart of the cotton belt. It was and is a place of great beauty, of extreme wealth and grinding poverty, of pain and joy. Here we take our stand, listening to the past, looking to the future .
To my wife, Mary, my son Chris and daughter Ashley, and to all the current and former students, faculty, administrators, and staff of Alabama State University
I am so thrilled that some old family stuff played such a role in serious research about his time.
- W ILLIAM C B OWIE , great-grandson of Thomas Corwin Steward
Contents
Foreword
Preface
1 The Lincoln School of Marion
2 State Normal School and University, 1874-1886
3 The Removal of the Colored University
4 The Relocation of the Colored University
5 The Arrival of the Colored University in Montgomery
6 A New Beginning
7 More Challenges for the Growing State Normal School
8 The Final Years of William Burns Paterson
9 A New Era: The John W. Beverly Years
10 The George Washington Trenholm Years
Epilogue
Appendices
1: Articles of Incorporation
2: Agreement with American Missionary Association
3: Paterson Statement, 1888
4: Paterson Statement, 1890
5: Alabama State University Name Changes
6: Alumni, Catalog, Classes
Bibliography
Notes
Index
Foreword
Q UINTON T. R OSS J R .
ASU President, 2017-
I am proud to say that I am a true son of Alabama State University (ASU). My mother, Shirley A. Ross, graduated from Alabama State College in 1968, the same year that I was born at St. Martin De Porres Hospital, now known as Mobile Infirmary, in Mobile, Alabama. My father graduated from ASU the next year.
Eight months after my birth, my parents were recruited to teach in Pontiac, Michigan, where I spent my formative years. In Pontiac, my parents reconnected with other ASU alumni that they had known while attending the university, graduates like their close friend Charles Mitchell, one of the first ASU football players drafted to the NFL and a member of Omega Psi Phi. I grew up intrigued by the many stories they shared about an institution that provided my parents and their friends with the degrees and the network of alumni that allowed them to ascend more seamlessly to the nation s black middle class and to provide for their families.
Alabama State University was a household name that would be ingrained in my DNA. Some might say I was born to be a Hornet. I wanted to attend ASU to carry on our family s Hornet legacy. After graduating from Pontiac Northern High School, I began my college career at ASU in the fall of 1987. As a student, I was submerged in the rich history of a university that had served, to so many before me, as a beacon of light and hope. I joined hundreds of other freshmen in taking the required Orientation 101, learning the history of the institution, the school hymn, and the significance of the names on the buildings in which we lived and attended classes. The name George N. Card , who became the institution s president in 1873, held great significance for me since I lived in Room 125 of the residence hall that carries his name.
From the first day and throughout my tenure as a student, O Mother Dear wrapped her arms around me. In turn, I embraced her vibrant culture and esteemed legacy as a leading institution of higher learning. I cut my teeth on school politics by serving as a freshman class senator in the Student Government Association (SGA). I went on to become the SGA president and graduated in 1992 with a BS degree in political science with a minor in English. I subsequently earned both my master s and doctoral degrees from the university. The degrees and experiences that I received at Alabama State University allowed me to have a rewarding career as an educator and to go on to serve as one of seven African American senators in the Alabama Legislature.
As it did with my parents, Alabama State University has had a profound effect on my life. Learned professors and former presidents such as Dr. Leon Howard and Mr. C. C. Baker nurtured, encouraged, and inspired me. My testimony is like the testimonies of thousands of ASU graduates.
Legendary names, historic buildings, and accomplished alumni are the hallmarks of this great institution that is now more than 150 years old. Its history must be preserved and celebrated. As an esteemed historian and ASU alumnus, Joseph Caver has taken on the worthy task of doing both. This book represents decades of research and documentation, highlighting Alabama State University s evolution from its humble beginnings in Marion, Alabama, to its established location in Montgomery, within walking distance of the Alabama Capitol.
Mr. Caver s book captures the struggles and triumphs and the vision and visionaries that have been an integral part of the Alabama State University story. It is a story that continues to unfold. As the Fifteenth President of this great institution, I am grateful to Mr. Caver for his dedication to this project and to the preservation of the university s history.
I know that you will be enlightened by the rich history documented in the pages that follow. Welcome to the Alabama State University.
Preface
M y interest in researching the early history of Alabama State University began during my years of employment as an archivist at the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) in Montgomery, Alabama. I graduated from ASU in 1974 and started working at ADAH the following year. There I soon met Auburn University graduate student Helen Kitchens, who aroused my curiosity about ASU s origins when she introduced me to the American Missionary Association (AMA) papers available on microfilm and directed me to the incorporation papers establishing the Lincoln School in Marion, Alabama. I was astonished by the information I gleaned from these documents about the beginnings of my alma mater, especially since the grand Centennial Year Commemoration had just occurred during my graduation year.
A Centennial Commission appointed by the university president had planned an array of programs and activities for the year s celebration, including the selection of a student to reign as Miss Centennial. The 100th Year Celebration Convocation was held in May. In August, a Time Capsule containing items related to the university s heritage was ceremoniously buried on the campus mall, to be opened in fifty years. These celebratory events had followed the 74th Annual Founder s Day Observance in February-a tradition started in 1901 to honor William Burns Paterson s birthday.
During all of these years, Paterson, a white man from Tullibody, Scotland, was revered as the founder of the school for ex-slaves in Marion, Alabama that eventually developed into ASU.
As I examined the documents in the ADAH collection, I was stunned to learn that the school in Marion was started several years before Paterson even arrived in Alabama. The former slaves in Marion, assisted by the Freedmen s Bureau and the AMA, were the driving force in establishing the school in Marion for educating the members of their community as early as 1866-1867. I was especially amazed to discover that nine black men from this community filed incorporation papers on July 18, 1867 for the purpose of establishing and owning a Corporation for educating colored children. They named it The Lincoln School of Marion.
In the Archives Reading Room, I met noted Alabama historian J. Mills Thornton, who was doing research for one of his books. * I shared my newly discovered information with him, and he confirmed that the Lincoln School was the predecessor of Alabama State University. Through continued discussions and reading, I found that ownership of Lincoln was transferred to the State of Alabama, and the school opened in 1874 as the public institution that is now Alabama State University. I then realized that 1874 was the date of the school s becoming state-supported, not the date of its actual founding, and that our centennial commemoration should have occurred in 1967.
Thus began my years of research and writing that culminated in this publication, From Marion to Montgomery: The Early Years of Alabama State University, 1867-1925 . As the chief archivist of the ADAH Civil Archives Division, I provided reference services to patrons doing research in the facility s vast holdings of primary documents. My interaction with the researchers gave me an opportunity to learn intimately and to understand the organization of the vast arch