[Black History] A Brief History of North Carolina A&T State University


N.C. A&T was established as the A. and M. College for the “Colored Race” by an act of the General Assembly of North Carolina ratified March 9, 1891. It was in the fall of 1890, when the North Carolina General Assembly enacted a second Morrill Act that mandated a separate college for the colored race.

Members such as Dr. DeWitt, a black dentist, C. Benbow and Charles H. Moore donated 14 acres of land for the site and an additional $11,000 in cash that aided in construction of the buildings. This amount was supplemented by an appropriation of $2,500 from the General Assembly. The plan was approved on March 9, 1891, and the first building was completed in 1893: the Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race had found its new home.

In 1915 state legislators changed the college’s name to The Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina, and in 1967 elevated its status to university. N.C. A&T became a constituent university of The University of North Carolina in 1972.

The university offers 117 undergraduate degree programs, more than 58 master’s degree programs, and Ph.D. programs in mechanical, electrical and industrial engineering; energy and environmental systems; and leadership studies. The academic programs are offered through the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business and Economics, School of Education, School of Technology, College of Engineering, School of Nursing, Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering; and School of Graduate Studies.

A&T’s outstanding student body is the primary strength of the university. Students are carefully selected from thousands of applicants annually. Once enrolled, they are taught and mentored by excellent faculty, the majority of whom have earned doctoral and other degrees from some of the nation’s most prestigious graduate and professional schools.

A&T graduates the largest number of African-American engineers at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels and psychology undergraduates in the nation. Through its nationally accredited AACSB School of Business and Economics, the institution is among the largest producers of African American certified public accountants. True to its heritage, North Carolina A&T is home to the largest agricultural school among HBCUs and the second largest producer of minority agricultural graduates. The institution was recently awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center (ERC) grant for biomedical engineering and nano-bio applications research.


0 responses to “[Black History] A Brief History of North Carolina A&T State University”

  1. Isn’t this a picture of North carolina Central Unuiveristy in Durham with the statue of James E. Shepard out front?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.