James E. Shepard

Who was James E. Shepard?

James E. Shepard was a pharmacist, civil servant and educator, the founder of what became the North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. He first established it as a private school for religious training in 1910 but adapted it as a school for teachers. He had a network of private supporters, including northern white philanthropists such as Olivia Slocum Sage of New York.

He served as the school's first president for nearly 40 years. By 1923, he secured state funding for it as a normal school, to continue the training of black teachers. After programs and classes were added to create a four-year curriculum, in 1925 it was renamed North Carolina College for Negroes, becoming the first liberal arts college in the nation for black students to be state-funded.