H. Res. 660 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

October 21, 2009. 

Whereas the Laurinburg Normal Industrial Institute (referred to as the ‘‘Laurinburg Institute’’) was founded on 

September 15, 1904, in Laurinburg, North Carolina, by 

Emmanuel McDuffie and his wife Tinny Etheridge 

McDuffie at the request of Booker T. Washington of the 

Tuskegee Institute and William Edwards of the Snow 

Hill Institute; 

Whereas the Laurinburg Institute is the oldest of only four 

historically African-American boarding schools still remaining in the United States; 

Whereas the Laurinburg Institute was founded to help provide suitable education and training in the common pursuits of life for African-Americans in the area of 

Laurinburg, North Carolina; 

Whereas, on September 15, 1906, Emmanuel McDuffie, J.H. 

Davis, and Robert Leach incorporated the Laurinburg 

Institute at Laurinburg, North Carolina, for the instruction of African-American teachers and youth in various 

academic branches of study and in the best methods of 

theoretical and practical industry applicable to agriculture and the mechanical arts; 
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•HRES 660 EH 

Whereas in 1956, the Laurinburg Institute began to build a 

new campus, integrated its faculty and student body, expanded its foreign student program, which consisted of 

students from Russia, Africa, South America, Brazil, 

Portugal, the Caribbean, and other countries, and further 

solidified its nationally and internationally recognized 

athletic and music programs; 

Whereas since 1904, the Laurinburg Institute has graduated 

students of color, and since 1954 many graduates have 

finished college or other post-secondary training; 

Whereas the Laurinburg Institute’s distinguished alumni include Sir John Swann, the former Premiere of Bermuda 

and one of the first blacks to be a head of state in the 

Western Hemisphere, Joy Johnson, one of the first African-Americans elected to the North Carolina General Assembly after the Reconstruction era, John Birks ‘‘Dizzy’’ 

Gillespie, an internationally renowned jazz trumpeter, 

and Charles ‘‘Charlie’’ Scott, the first African-American 

scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina at 

Chapel Hill, who later became a National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star where he played for such teams 

as the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles 

Lakers, and Phoenix Suns, winning an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics and a gold medal in the 

1968 Summer Olympics; 

Whereas in 2005, the North Carolina General Assembly 

passed Senate Joint Resolution 1178 which honored the 

lives of Frank and Sammie McDuffie, who were the second generation of McDuffie’s to serve as administrators 

of the Institute, and the work of the Laurinburg Institute 

in producing educators, humanitarians, athletes, and civil 

rights and leaders; 
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•HRES 660 EH 

Whereas in 2009, the Laurinburg Institute’s President and 

Chief Executive Officer is Frank ‘‘Bishop’’ McDuffie, Jr., 

and his daughter, Frances McDuffie, serves as the Institute’s Vice President and President; and 

Whereas Frank ‘‘Bishop’’ McDuffie and Fraces McDuffie are 

the third generation of McDuffie administrators of the 

Laurinburg Institute: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) recognizes the distinguished history of the 

Laurinburg Normal Industrial Institute; 

(2) acknowledges the Laurinburg Institute’s remarkable contribution to the education of African-Americans and other people in the State of North Carolina 

and the Nation; and 

(3) commends the enterprise and dedication of the 

McDuffie family in creating and sustaining the 

Laurinburg Institute. 

Attest: 

Clerk.