Foundation to the 1920s The school was founded by the
American Baptist Home Mission Society and the pastor
Henry Martin Tupper in 1865 , founder and first president of Shaw University In 1867 the school consisted of two buildings, a large two-story structure and one
Antebellum cabins.) and erect Shaw Hall, the first building on campus. Shaw Hall was built with a 165-foot frontage, four stories high and possessing a tower, was the most commodious school building in all of North Carolina at that time. It provided instruction services, a library, and lodging. In 1873,
Estey Hall was built in honor of Deacon
Jacob Estey and sons of
Brattleboro, Vermont, who gave $8,000 ($187,365 in 2021) toward its construction. Estey Hall was devoted to training women in cooking, sewing, music, and the like. Henry Martin Tupper bought the material from which the women made garments and he himself sold the garments in an effort to pay for the cost of the material and other expenses. In 1879, a third major building was erected – a chapel and dining hall called the Greenleaf Building. It was named for Orick H. Greenleaf of
Springfield, MA, a yearly liberal contributor. The upper part of the building was accessible by stairs. Doors on either side of the tower provided entrance to the dining room. At the right of the chapel was a small room and at the left a library. A storeroom existed under the stairway. Funds saved from tuition and board were used to build this structure at a total cost of $6,000. These were augmented by contributions from O.H. Greenleaf, Captain Ebenezer Morgan of
Groton, CT, and Deacon O.B. Grant of
Stonington, CT. In 1866 when the Raleigh Institute was first being developed, Tupper had hoped to open a medical school; in 1882, $5,000 was donated from the Leonard family to establish the Leonard Medical School and the Leonard School of Pharmacy with significant contributions made by Dr. Nathan Bishop, William A. Caldwell, Joseph B. Hoyt, O. H. Greenleaf, Timothy Merrick, and
Colonel Levi K. Fuller. built to accommodate 60 men and erected in 1881 when the trustees approved the establishment of a medical department; the
Leonard Medical Building, erected in the summer and fall of 1881 and containing lecture rooms, dissecting rooms, an amphitheater, and opened for its first session on November 1, 1881; the Leonard Medical School Hospital, a 25-bed hospital which opened for the reception of patients on January 10, 1885. It was the first four-year medical school to train African-American doctors in the South. and the first medical school in the state to offer a four-year curriculum. The school closed in 1918 after being given a scathing evaluation by the
Flexner Report that the Negro school "was in no position to make any contribution of value" but recommended
Howard and
Meharry medical schools remain open.On December 11, 1888 the university opened the Shaw University
Law School, the first of its kind for African-Americans in the country. North Carolina politician
John S. Leary was an important figure in the founding of the law school and served as its dean starting in March 1890. He was followed as dean by
Edward A. Johnson, who was the law school's first graduate and later the first African-American member of the New York State Assembly. By 1900, Shaw University had trained more than 30,000 Black teachers.
1920s to 1980s In 1968, Shaw University became the first Black college to own a
radio station. At first, the station used an antenna on top of a building on the downtown campus, but in the late 1990s a new tower was built in southeast Raleigh near Interstate 40. WFSS in Fayetteville, North Carolina, moved from 89.1 FM to 91.9 FM to allow
WSHA to increase power. The university sold the station to
Educational Media Foundation effective July 26, 2018, who subsequently renamed it
WRKV.
U.S. Civil Rights Movement The
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a student meeting organized by
Ella Baker that was held at Shaw University in April 1960. SNCC grew into a large organization, gaining many supporters in the North as well as in the South. It led grassroots organizing for voter education and registration in Mississippi, among other initiatives. They are best known for their support of sit-ins, including in
Greensboro, North Carolina, and
Nashville, Tennessee. They were also involved in the Freedom Rides.
1980s to present By the mid-1980s, enrollment declined and the university was deeply in debt. President Talbert O. Shaw (1988–2003) (not related to the namesake) increased the student body from 1,600 to 2,700, restructured debt and created the Raleigh Business and Technology Center. in
Minnesota.In the 1990s, Shaw ran a successful capital campaign to renovate historic buildings and construct new campus facilities, including the Talbert O. Shaw Center for Teachers' Education. In 2005, Shaw University Divinity School (SUDS) received a 10-year accreditation from the Association for Theological Schools. The university also began construction on the Center for Early Childhood Education, Research and Development. In 2009, the university's Institute for Health, Social, and Community Research was awarded a $4.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health – National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) to implement The Shaw NCMHD Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Project. The RIMI Program is designed to establish a research capacity-building infrastructure program, with benchmarks for training students, and developing a cadre of clinical, biomedical and behavioral research scientists who possess the skills, knowledge and abilities to engage in leading, cutting-edge and innovative research and training that will ultimately contribute to reducing and eliminating health disparities in the United States. During the
tornado outbreak of April 14–16, 2011, the university was struck by a damaging tornado, resulting in the school cancelling classes for a semester. As a result of the storm, two dormitories, the student union, and the roof of Estey hall were severely damaged. There were minor injuries but no one was seriously hurt.
Study of World War II service of Black veterans Shaw University led a research study to investigate why not a single African-American soldier who served in World War II had been awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor. The study concluded that racial discrimination had contributed to the military's overlooking the contributions of Black soldiers. The 272-page study recommended ten soldiers whose military records suggested they deserved the Medal of Honor. All ten had been awarded lesser medals during the war for actions the study's authors concluded merited the Medal of Honor. In January 1995, the team's findings were sent to the
United States Department of Defense. In April 1996, officials at the Defense Department agreed that seven of the ten soldiers recommended in the report, should be awarded the Medal of Honor. President
Bill Clinton awarded the Medals of Honor on January 13, 1997. The department's decision in response to Shaw's study marked only the third time that the military re-evaluated military records to award the Medal of Honor. Only one of the seven nominees, 1st Lt.
Vernon Baker of
St. Maries, Idaho, was alive to receive his medal. Those who were awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously were:
1st Lt. Charles L. Thomas of
Detroit, Michigan;
Pvt. George Watson of
Birmingham, Alabama; Staff Sgt.
Edward A. Carter Jr. of
Los Angeles, California; 1st Lt.
John R. Fox of
Boston, Massachusetts; Pfc.
Willy F. James Jr. of
Kansas City, Kansas; and
Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers of
Tecumseh, Oklahoma. Their families received the medals. == Campus ==