Johnson C. Smith University

Shortly after slavery ended many white missionaries and ministers in the south started planning churches and schools to educate former black slaves and teach them about God and religon. Reverend Samuel C. Alexander, Reverend Willis L. Miller and Reverend Sidney S. Murkland opened Colored Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, North Carolina which was both a school and a church in one building. They needed money to build a seperate building for the school. Mrs. Mary D. Biddle gave them $1,400.00. To thank her they named the school Henry J. Biddle Memorial Institute after he late husband who died fighting in the Civil War. In 1883 the name was shortened to Biddle University.

Between 1921 and 1929 Mrs. Jane Berry Smith gave the school $702,500.00 so they could make the school bigger and better. In 1923 they changed the name again to thank Mrs. Smith. They named the college Johnson C. Smith University after her late husband.

Until 1932 the college was only for men. After that, both men and women could be educated there.

There are many interesting facts about Johnson C. Smith University. In 1886 the college hired the first black professor in the south. In 1891 the college elected the first black college president in the south. The in 1892 our country's first black football game was played at Biddle University.

In 2000 Johnson C. Smith University became well known for being the first historically black college to give each of their students an IBM laptp computer. They are known as "ThinkPad U".

Today, Johnson C. Smith University is a private, four year college in Charlotte, North Carolina. The university has around 1,500 students and is nicknamed the Golden Bulls.

By: Amelia C.