North Carolina Central University, chartered in 1909 and opened in 1910, is completing the last quarter of its first century and looks confidently toward a new millennium. For nearly half of its history, North Carolina Central University was led by one man. Dr. James E. Shepard was the grandson of a slave and the son of a distinguished Baptist minister. A trained pharmacist, Shepard was also a leader of the International Sunday School movement. During the first decade of the Twentieth Century, the young Shepard began to speak out publicly of his dream of an institution that would provide both practical training and intellectual stimulation, particularly for the lay leaders of the nation’s African-American churches.

    Shepard’s dream came to the attention of the Durham Merchant’s Association, which invited him and his associates to examine the advantages of their city as the site of what was then referred to as “a National Training School for the Colored Race.” Durham of the early 1900s had a population of some 18,000 persons and was served by four railroads. The association offered Shepard a 25-acre site one-half mile outside the existing city limits. With moral and financial support from prominent citizens of Durham, New York and Connecticut, Shepard established his school. The original physical plant, which was equipped with electric light and steam heat, had a value of $60,000 and consisted of eight buildings.

    The school opened its doors on July 5, 1910, as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua. The name Chautauqua had its origins in the Sunday School movement and described a series of lectures and cultural activities designed for a general audience. Chautauqua programs were often promoted as an opportunity for a vacation; nevertheless, Chautauqua registrants were required to attend all of the major lectures of the series. During the 1910-11 school year, the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua had 15 faculty members and enrolled 201 students. Three students graduated from the school’s commerce program in 1911. The institution offered three-and-four year programs — all requiring extensive study of Latin, Greek and the Bible — in normal education, teacher training, college preparatory, classical studies for the A.B. degree, general science studies for the B.S. degree and chemistry. Shorter vocational and trade courses ranged from weaving to mural decorating. The school also offered special training for ministers and religious workers.

    In 1915 financial difficulties forced the reorganization of the institution as the National Training School, but a large donation from Mrs. Russell Sage of New York City permitted Dr. Shepard to retain control. Over the next few years, Dr. Shepard weighed the alternative courses of seeking denominational support for the nonsectarian school or seeking support from the North Carolina General Assembly. In 1923, the National Training School became the state-supported Durham State Normal School, devoted to “the training of teachers for the Colored Public Schools of North Carolina.” Two years later, Dr. Shepard was able to persuade the General Assembly to take a revolutionary step by making the institution over into North Carolina College for Negroes, the first state-supported liberal arts college for black people in the United States. Building programs to support the institution’s new role began in 1927 under the administration of Governor Angus B. McLean.

    Between 1925 and 1939, North Carolina College for Negroes achieved the accreditation of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and met the educational standards of the American Medical Association for pre-medical training, and from most of the South’s state departments of education. In 1939, the General Assembly authorized the North Carolina College board of trustees to establish graduate courses in the liberal arts and to organize departments of law, pharmacy and library science. The graduate programs were opened that fall. The School of Law was established in 1940 and the School of Library Science in 1941. Ironically, the pharmacy school was never established, even though that was Dr. Shepard’s own profession. By the time of Dr. Shepard’s death on October 6, 1947, the institution had become North Carolina College at Durham, was fully-accredited and highly-respected and had become the alma mater of a growing list of distinguished alumni. The physical plant was estimated at $3,500,000. and the State Legislature had appropriated $2,000,000. for the expansion of the college facilities and future growth.

    Dr. Alfonso Elder took office as the college’s second president in 1948. Dr. Elder would lead North Carolina College at Durham for the next 15 years, overseeing an era of physical expansion, rapid growth in enrollment and significant development in academic programs. In 1955, the institution awarded its first Ph.D. degree and enjoyed a wide reputation for a distinguished faculty and superior student population. Dr. Elder retired in September, 1963, and was succeeded as president by Dr. Samuel P. Massie, who resigned on February 1, 1966. Dr. Albert N. Whiting became president in July, 1967. He directed the continued physical expansion of the institution, as well as the creation of several new academic programs in criminal justice, public administration, elementary education, jazz, and church music and, in 1972, the creation of the North Carolina Central University School of Business.

    In 1969, North Carolina College at Durham became North Carolina Central University. In 1972, all of North Carolina’s state-supported senior institutions of higher education became part of the University of North Carolina. Dr. Whiting’s title changed from president to chancellor. He remained at the helm of North Carolina Central University for 11 more years, until June 30, 1983. Chancellor Whiting was succeeded by Dr. LeRoy T. Walker, who served until the election in 1986 of Chancellor Tyronza R. Richmond by the UNC Board of Governors. Dr. Donna J. Benson became interim chancellor on January 1, 1992, when Dr. Richmond returned to faculty duties. Julius L. Chambers, an alumnus of the university, assumed the chancellorship on January 1, 1992, and remained in the post until May, 2002. Under Chambers’ leadership, the university received more than $121 million for construction and renovation through the $3.1 billion Bond Project. A $12.2 million state-of-the-art Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute was constructed under his watch. James H. Ammons was elected chancellor on June 1, 2001 and served until June 30, 2007. Dr. Charlie Nelms, the current head of the institution assumed office on August 1, 2007.
During the last decade, North Carolina Central University has added graduate programs in public administration, criminal justice, jazz studies, public history and information sciences. NCCU has also revised its Master of Business Administration program and added a baccalaureate program in computer science. Distinguished alumni of North Carolina Central University include the governor of the state of North Carolina, former presidents of Virginia Union University, Winston-Salem State University, a vice-president of the University of North Carolina and university and college faculty and throughout the United States. Other alumni include a number of members of the N.C. General Assembly, countless business personalities and former mayors of Raleigh, Durham and Atlanta and a host of distinguished lawyers, physicians and  public servants at all levels of government.