Title: A resolution honoring the accomplishments of the 9 historically Black colleges and universities that celebrated their sesquicentennial anniversaries during the week of September 24 through September 30, 2017.
Policy area: Education

Summary:

Celebrates the 150th anniversaries of nine historically black colleges and universities and honors the accomplishments of historically Black colleges and universities in general.


[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 366 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 366

 Honoring the accomplishments of the 9 historically Black colleges and 
   universities that celebrated their sesquicentennial anniversaries 
      during the week of September 24 through September 30, 2017.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 21, 2017

   Ms. Harris (for herself, Mr. Perdue, Mr. Booker, Mr. Brown, Mrs. 
    Gillibrand, Mr. Schumer, and Mr. Burr) submitted the following 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
                          Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Honoring the accomplishments of the 9 historically Black colleges and 
   universities that celebrated their sesquicentennial anniversaries 
      during the week of September 24 through September 30, 2017.

Whereas, in 1867, 9 historically Black colleges and universities were 
        established in 4 Southern States, Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, and North 
        Carolina, as well as in the District of Columbia, which constituted the 
        largest number of historically Black colleges and universities founded 
        in any single year before or after that date;
Whereas the 9 historically Black colleges and universities that celebrated their 
        sesquicentennial anniversaries during the week of September 24 through 
        September 30, 2017, trace their foundings to rather modest beginnings 
        but, in the course of a century and a half, have established records of 
        significant achievement and legacies of devotion to academic excellence;
Whereas the 9 institutions celebrating their sesquicentennial anniversaries 
        include--

    (1) Alabama State University in Marion, Alabama;

    (2) Barber-Scotia College in Concord, North Carolina;

    (3) Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, North Carolina;

    (4) Howard University in Washington, District of Columbia;

    (5) Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina;

    (6) Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia;

    (7) Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland;

    (8) St. Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina; and

    (9) Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama;

Whereas Alabama State University was incorporated on July 17, 1867, as Lincoln 
        Normal School in Marion, Alabama, by 9 freed slaves to educate Black 
        children;
Whereas Lincoln Normal School--

    (1) was founded with $500, which was used to purchase the land and lay 
the foundation;

    (2) in 1928, was converted from a junior college to a 4-year college; 
and

    (3) in 1969, was formally granted a name change by the Alabama State 
Board of Education and became Alabama State University;

Whereas notable figures of the civil rights era attended and graduated from 
        Alabama State University, including the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, 
        attorney Fred Gray, and the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth;
Whereas Barber-Scotia College--

    (1) in 1867, was founded as Scotia Seminary in Concord, North Carolina, 
by the Reverend Luke Dorland; and

    (2) in 1870, was chartered to educate newly freed female slaves;

Whereas Scotia Seminary--

    (1) was the first historically Black institution of higher education 
for females established in the United States;

    (2) in 1916, was renamed as Scotia Women's College; and

    (3) in 1930, merged with Barber Memorial College to become Barber-
Scotia Junior College for women;

Whereas Barber-Scotia College became a 4-year college for women in 1946 and a 
        coeducational institution in 1954;
Whereas one of the distinguished graduates of Barber-Scotia College was Mary 
        McCleod Bethune, the founder of Bethune-Cookman College;
Whereas Fayetteville State University was formed as the Howard School on 
        November 29, 1867, by 7 African-American men who paid $136 for 2 lots on 
        Gillespie Street in Fayetteville, North Carolina;
Whereas the Howard School was formally renamed Fayetteville State University in 
        1969;
Whereas Fayetteville State University holds the distinction of being the second 
        oldest public school in North Carolina;
Whereas Howard University--

    (1) was chartered by Congress on March 2, 1867, in Washington, District 
of Columbia;

    (2) stands today as the most comprehensive historically Black college 
and university in the United States, in terms of undergraduate and graduate 
programs of study;

    (3) has produced numerous Rhodes scholars, Truman scholars, Fulbright 
scholars, and Picking fellows and a Marshall scholar during the history of 
the university; and

    (4) has graduated some of the most accomplished African Americans in 
history, including Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 
Thurgood Marshall, author Toni Morrison, and former United States 
Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young;

Whereas 5 current Members of Congress are graduates of Howard University;
Whereas Johnson C. Smith University was established on April 7, 1867, as the 
        Biddle Memorial Institute by Reverend S.C. Alexander and Reverend W.L. 
        Miller in Charlotte, North Carolina;
Whereas the first football game with African-American players was played at 
        Biddle University in 1892, a game that today is called the 
        ``Commemorative Classic'';
Whereas Johnson C. Smith University--

    (1) is the first historically Black college and university in the South 
to offer professional courses in education; and

    (2) has produced numerous politicians, including Eva Clayton, the first 
African American to represent North Carolina in the House of 
Representatives since the 19th century;

Whereas Morehouse College--

    (1) in 1867, was founded by the Reverend William Jefferson White in 
Augusta, Georgia;

    (2) in 1879, was moved from Augusta, Georgia, to its current location 
in Atlanta, Georgia;

    (3) is the largest college for men in the United States, enrolling more 
than 2,000 students;

    (4) is 1 of only 2 historically Black colleges and universities to 
produce a Rhodes scholar; and

    (5) has graduated a number of African-American luminaries, including 
the Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, Maynard Jackson, film director Spike Lee, 
and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.;

Whereas 2 current Members of Congress are graduates of Morehouse College;
Whereas Morgan State University was founded in Baltimore, Maryland, as the 
        Centenary Biblical Institute in 1867 to train former slaves and freedmen 
        for the Methodist ministry;
Whereas, the Centenary Biblical Institute--

    (1) in 1874, became coeducational;

    (2) in 1890, changed its name to Morgan College in honor of one of its 
board members; and

    (3) in 1939, was purchased by the State of Maryland to provide more 
academic opportunities for Black students and was renamed Morgan State 
College;

Whereas Morgan State College--

    (1) distinguished itself as a liberal arts college;

    (2) in 1975, was granted university status; and

    (3) has been designated as the preeminent public research university in 
Maryland, as well as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic 
Preservation;

Whereas, in 2004, the Morgan State Choir was named ``The Nation's Best College 
        Choir'' by Reader's Digest and has performed for audiences on 4 
        continents;
Whereas Morgan State University--

    (1) has graduated a great number of prominent African-American leaders 
in politics, law, entertainment, and science; and

    (2) has a list of alumni that includes Congressmen Parren J. Mitchell 
and Kweisi Mfume, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of Maryland Robert 
M. Bell, novelist Zora Neale Hurston, and Pulitzer-Prize winner James Alan 
McPherson;

Whereas St. Augustine's University was founded in 1867 as the St. Augustine's 
        Normal School by prominent Episcopal clergy for the education of freed 
        slaves in Raleigh, North Carolina;
Whereas St. Agnes Hospital and Training School for Nurses, the first school of 
        nursing for African-American students in the State of North Carolina--

    (1) was established by St. Augustine's Normal School in 1895; and

    (2) was the only hospital in North Carolina that served African 
Americans until 1960;

Whereas St. Augustine's University was the first historically Black college and 
        university to own an on-campus commercial radio and television station; 
        and
Whereas Talladega College--

    (1) was founded by 3 former slaves in Talladega, Alabama, in 1867;

    (2) is the oldest, private historically Black college and university in 
the State of Alabama;

    (3) was the first institution in the State of Alabama to admit 
qualified persons of any race or ethnicity; and

    (4) has produced several African-American ``firsts'', including--

    G    (A) Wynona Lipman, the first African-American woman elected to the 
Senate of the State of New Jersey; and

    G    (B) the Reverend Dr. Paul Smith, the first African-American 
minister at the First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, New York: Now, 
therefore, be it

    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) honors the accomplishments of--
                    (A) the 9 historically Black colleges and 
                universities that celebrated their sesquicentennial 
                anniversaries during the week of September 24 through 
                September 30, 2017; and
                    (B) historically Black colleges and universities in 
                general;
            (2) celebrates the 150th anniversary of those 9 
        institutions;
            (3) encourages Congress and the people of the United States 
        to recognize the beneficial impact historically Black colleges 
        and universities have had on the United States; and
            (4) respectfully requests that the Secretary of the Senate 
        make available 5 enrolled copies of this resolution to the 
        Office of the President or Chancellor of each of those 9 
        historically Black colleges and universities.
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