Shaw University

The school was founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society.[2] Henry Martin Tupper came south immediately after the end of the Civil War, establishing the Second Baptist Church of Raleigh (changed to Tabernacle Baptist Church in 1910, and now the Tupper Memorial Baptist Church.)[3] Later Tupper and his Bible study students constructed a two-story church, with one story for the church, and one for the Raleigh Institute, where he taught freedmen. By 1915, supported by the American Baptist Home Mission, the school had 291 students, evenly divided between men and women.

Henry Martin Tupper, founder and first president of Shaw University

In 1867 the school consisted of three buildings, two of which were Antebellum cabins. As of 1875 when Shaw Collegiate Institute became Shaw University only two major structures existed – The Shaw Building and Estey Seminary. The former, erected where once stood corn fields in which Tupper hid from lynch mobs, 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. The seminary, reputed to be the first building ever erected for the education of African-American females, 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 O.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 the school were used to build this structure. These were augmented by contributions of $650 (15,116.28 in current dollars) from O.H. Greenleaf, Captain Ebenezer Morgan, and Deacon O.B. Grant of Stonington.

It was renamed Shaw Collegiate Institute after Elijah Shaw, benefactor of Shaw Hall, the first building. In 1875, it became Shaw University. In 1873, Estey Hall was built, marked the second female dormitory on the campus of a co-ed school in the United States. In 1866 when the Raleigh Institute was first being developed, Tupper had hoped to open a medical school; in 1881 the medical building became a reality, $15,000 (220,588.24 in current dollars) was contributed to make it. The medical school complex consisted primarily of three structures – a four-story medical dormitory built to accommodate 75 men and erected around 1880 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; 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.

On December 11, 1888 the university opened their law school. The full curriculum offering at Shaw are unknown, but it was the only black law school that had a course in legal shorthand. The course was offered on the premise that such a skill would broaden the opportunities for a black lawyer to work in a legal firm in a clerical position or as an office assistant should discrimination impede their ability to practice law. Shaw University graduated fifty-seven law students before it closed in 1916. It graduated fifty-four law students between 1891 and 1914.[4] North Carolina politician John S. Leary was an important figure in the founding of the law school served as its dean[5] starting in March 1890.[6] He was followed as dean by Edward A. Johnson, who was the law school's first graduate[7] and later the first African-American member of the New York State Assembly.

Leonard Medical School and adjoining hospital, c.1910

Leonard Medical School was founded in 1881 as the first four-year medical school in the South to train black doctors and pharmacists. The first medical school in the state to offer a four-year curriculum, it operated until 1918. Given their importance in United States educational history, both Estey and Leonard halls have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By 1900, more than 30,000 black teachers had been trained.[8]

An ad for Shaw University from 1900, placed in a black-owned newspaper in Minnesota.

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.

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) /ˈsnɪk/ 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.

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 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.

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.[9][10] There were minor injuries but no one was seriously hurt.

Shaw University led a research study to investigate why no black veterans of World War II had been awarded the 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. In January 1995, the team's findings were sent to the U.S. Department of Defense. In April 1996, the department agreed that seven of the ten soldiers should be awarded the Medal of Honor. All ten had been awarded other medals during the war years. 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.[11]

Shaw University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the Council on Social Work Education, and the American Psychological Association. The Divinity School is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada as its Allied Health Professions programs are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs, the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

The Center for Alternative Programs in Education (CAPE) has centers in Greenville, Kannapolis, High Point, Rocky Mount, Ahoskie, Fayetteville, Durham, Wilmington, and Asheville.[14]

As of the 2020-2021 school year, Shaw consists of the following schools:

• School of Arts and Sciences
• School of Business and Professional Studies
• School of Divinity

Shaw offers 21 arts and sciences majors for degrees in Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.). Shaw also offers a non-degree teaching certificate for individuals who have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher in education or related major and wish the fulfill the requirements to obtain a teaching license. The majority of students enroll in the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Business and Professional Studies.

• The Delta Psi chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity
• The Delta Gamma chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc
• The Beta Rho Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
• The Alpha Rho chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority
• The Beta Rho chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity
• The Gamma Tau chapter of Iota Phi Theta fraternity
• Omicron chapter of Zeta Phi Beta sorority
• Iota chapter of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity

Shaw University's quiz bowl team competed in the national Honda Campus All-Star Challenge tournament in 2015.[17] The University has a range of student organizations:[18]

• Shaw University ACM Student Chapter
• Pure Elegance (Plus size fashion society)
• The Shaw Players and Company
• Student Government Association
• Shaw Computer Club
• Gospel and University Choirs
• Jazz, Pep, and Concert Bands
• COGs (Children of God)
• Honda Quiz Bowl Team
• Shawensis Literary Club
• Student North Carolina Association of Educators
• Pre-Alumni Council
• Shaw Man/Shaw Woman Society (Organizations that emphasize development of character)
• Psychology Club
• Swing Phi Swing
• Shaw University National Alumni Association
• Free Masons and the Order of the Eastern Star
• Religion and Philosophy Club
• Groove Phi Groove
• Iota Alpha Omega Christian Fraternity
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Shaw's marching band, better known as "Platinum Sound", was reestablished in the Fall of 2002 along with the reestablishment of the football team. The band has grown from 80 members in 2002 to over 130 members. Shaw's marching band has participated in the Honda Battle of the Bands at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.