Hood Theological Seminary

The Hood Theological Seminary was founded in 1879 and is named for Bishop James Walker Hood. [4]

Hood's organizing and political activities began in 1864 at New Bern and Beaufort, North Carolina where he brought two churches into the A.M.E. Zion denomination. These were two of the more than 360 churches throughout coastal North Carolina, southern Virginia, and northern South Carolina he helped to establish, along with the North Carolina Conference of the A.M.E. Zion Church. He was a founder of Zion Wesley Institute in 1879 later re-chartered as Zion Wesley College in 1885, and renamed Livingstone College in 1887. He discovered Joseph Charles Price, Livingstone's first president. He also founded the church's newspaper the Star of Zion. Moreover, Hood helped to establish Prince Hall lodges, served as Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina, Grand Patron of the Order of Eastern Star, and Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of World of Good Templars. Bishop Hood presided over the first statewide political convention of African Americans in Raleigh, North Carolina to secure civil and political rights in September 1865. In 1868 he participated in creating the North Carolina Constitution that established homesteads, women's rights, and public school provisions for all citizens. The passage of the new Constitution established county and township governments and legislated elections by popular vote of all state executive officers, judges, county officials, and legislators. Property qualifications for voting and office holding were abolished also. Hood was assistant superintendent of public instruction for North Carolina with special duties for African American children. While in that position, he advocated for separate schools for blacks and whites after observing that most white teachers regarded black children as inferior. Another of his concerns regarding the miseducation of black children was his experience with teachers from northern missionary societies during Reconstruction. William Gravely hailed the first wave of teachers leaving Boston for the South as the new "'Pilgrim Fathers' who promised "a New South after the Puritan and perfect pattern." The bishop disfavored the patronizing tone of their puritanical rhetoric and praxis. One can safely conclude that white southerners were also not enthusiastic about the missionary zeal from the north. Accordingly, he disassociated himself from white missionary schools for blacks .and integrated southern public schools. Contrary to these sentiments he objected to codifying the word 'segregation' into the 1868 state Constitution.

Make this distinction in your organic law and in many places the white children will have good schools ... while the colored people will have none.

Hood insisted that self-help requires African Americans to have total control over black institutions of higher learning. Fayetteville State University (1867), Livingstone College (1879) and Hood Theological Seminary (1904) are products of Hood's efforts and convictions.

When the conservatives regained control of the state legislature, his superintendent's position was eliminated. He subsequently served briefly as an unpaid magistrate and deputy collector of customs from 1868 to 1871. Later he assumed the position of assistant superintendent of the Freedmen's Bureau in North Carolina until President Ulysses S. Grant terminated the program.

The irony of Hood’s position on self-help was the Jim Crow segregation laws that followed. His philosophy of self-help merely advocated for the advancement of African American economic, educational, and social interests within an environment of southern white hostility, without prescribing to black separatism. He rejected the repercussions of the Supreme Court ruling in "Plessey versus Ferguson" in   1896   that   disenfranchised   African Americans.[4]

The first building was erected one last purchased by Hood from a fundraiser campaigner that he executed in London, England, acquiring $3,000 from London and another $1000 from the City of Salisbury. The institute opened in 1882, with Joseph Charles Price named the institution’s first president—who served as president until his death in 1893. During his tenure the seminary, the school’s collegiate school became the arts and science faculty, with Hood Theological Seminary became the theological department at Livingston.  The first dean was George Lincoln Blackwell, and the institution was originally affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.   

A PhD program existed at the school for both 1895 until its dissolution in 1902. The school of divinity inaugurated its bachelor’s in divinity in 1903, and fundraising to build an independent to house the seminary began in 1904. The cornerstone for the $20,000 building was daily in 1906, and the name was named for Hood. By the 1927 the graduate divinity program ceased operations, as did its teaching programs.  After reorganization, the Hood reopened in 1934  as a graduate school and gained full accreditation. The school again changed to a new building in 1965.[4]

The school began operating separately from Livingstone College in 2001 and began a fully independent accredited institution in 2002.  Dr. Albert J. D. Aymer was the first president of Hood after it became fully independent.[5]  Dr. Vergel L. Lattimore is presently the President and Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Counseling. [6]

The seminary is accredited by Association of Theological Schools. The institution awards Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Master of Theological Studies (MTS), and Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degrees.

The IECCD seeks to provide early-career clergy with the tools for sustainable and bold ministry in the 21st century. Through consultation, education, mentoring, and partnership, early-career clergy learn the best practices for challenging their congregations to be bolder in their faith and outreach. They also learn the best practices for managing the daily challenges that pastors face in their congregational settings.[7][5]

The IECCD is part of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Thriving in Ministry, an initiative that supports a variety of religious organizations across the nation as they create or strengthen programs that help pastors build relationships with experienced clergy who can serve as mentors and guide them through key leadership challenges in congregational ministry.[7]

• Official website