It was the first historically black female institution of higher education established after the American Civil War. The Charlotte Observer, in an interview with Janet Magaldi, president of Piedmont Preservation Foundation, stated, "Scotia Seminary was one of the first black institutions built after the Civil War. For the first time, it gave black women an alternative to becoming domestic servants or field hands."[6]
Scotia Seminary was modeled after Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College) and was referred to as "The Mount Holyoke of the South".[7][8][9][10] The seminary offered grammar, science, and domestic arts. In 1908 it had 19 teachers and 291 students. From its founding in 1867 to 1908 it had enrolled 2,900 students, with 604 having graduated from the grammar department and 109 from the normal department.[9] Faith Hall, built in 1891, was the first dormitory at Scotia Seminary. It is listed in National Register of Historic Places and "is one of only four 19th-century institutional buildings left in Cabarrus County." It was closed by the college during the 1970s due to lack of funds for its maintenance.[6]
It was renamed to Scotia Women's College in 1916.[12] In 1930, the seminary was merged with another female institution, Barber Memorial College, which was founded in 1896 in Anniston, Alabama by Margaret M. Barber as a memorial to her husband.[13][14] This merger created Barber–Scotia Junior College for women.[15]
On June 24, 2004, one week after appointing its new president, Gloria Bromell Tinubu, the college learned that it had lost its accreditation which meant that students became ineligible for federal aid and that many employees would be laid off.[16][17] It lost its accreditation due to what the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools said was a failure to comply with SACS Principles and Philosophy of Accreditation (Integrity), as the school "awarded degrees to nearly 30 students in the adult program who SACS determined hadn't fulfilled the proper requirements".[17]
Sammie Potts resigned her presidency in February when it became public. As over 90% of the students at Barber–Scotia received some sort of federal financial aid, when the campus lost accreditation and was therefore no longer eligible to receive federal financial aid for its students, under the Department of Education enrollment then dropped from 600 students in 2004 to 91 students in 2005 and on-campus housing was closed down.[18]
During her tenure President Gloria Bromell Tinubu led a strategic planning effort to change the college from a four-year liberal arts program to a college of entrepreneurship and business, and established partnerships with accredited colleges and top-tiered universities.[18] She would later leave the college when the new Board leadership decided to pursue religious studies instead. Former President and alumna Mable Parker McLean was hired as president on an interim basis.[18][19] In February 2006 a committee of the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to continue the denomination's financial support for Barber–Scotia, noting that its physical facilities were "substantial and well-secured" and that the school was undertaking serious planning for the future.[20] In May 2006, it was reported that Barber–Scotia would rent space on its campus to St. Augustine's College to use for an adult-education program: "Under the terms of the deal, St. Augustine's will pay Barber–Scotia for the space for its Gateway degree program starting this fall."[21]
McLean was replaced by President David Olah who accepted the position without payment and the college re-opened with a limited number of students.[22] During this time, the "previous attempts to revive the college [which] have centered on an entrepreneurial or business curriculum" were formally abandoned "in favor of focusing more on religious studies". Flamer also worked to eliminate debt and worked with alumni and the community to save the college.[23] Olah left in 2015, to be replaced by Yvonne Tracey,[24] who departed at the end of 2015.
2009–present
Barber–Scotia had an enrollment of 120 full-time students. The college offered the following four degree programs: Bachelor of Arts in business, Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies, Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management and a Bachelor of Science in Bio-Energy. Each academic discipline has several fields of concentration. The school closed for the Spring Semester of the 2015–2016 academic year to restructure and implement its new strategic plan.[25]
In September 2016, the newly elected Board of Trustees hired David Olah as president to once again lead the college. Twelve students enrolled, as Barber-Scotia reopened its doors for the fall semester. The college anticipated receiving more than 150 students in the coming semesters.[26]
Rice Access Financial published a request for qualifications, with a deadline for submissions of December 20, 2017 for "developers that had interest in working with the college for possible development opportunities". In February 2018 the Independent Tribune said the college was being sold and a school might be built there. In a response, trustees said that while the college still couldn't offer federal financial aid yet, several programs were still offered which trained students for jobs.[27] President Olah said that while the college owed millions, it was not for sale. He said degrees were offered through the North Carolina Department of Education in religious studies, renewable energy, business entrepreneurship and sports management, and projected enrollment was 100 to 115.[28]
On March 16, 2019, the college's alumni association held a meeting about the college's future. At that time, the Independent Tribune claimed the college was holding no classes.[29] Melvin Isadore Douglass became the college's president in April 2019, and an official inauguration was planned in January 2020.[30] According to the Independent Tribune, most of the college's 45 students were taking classes online.[31]
In January 2020 the Barber-Scotia Property Task Force started working on plans for what to do with the campus. After meetings with community leaders, it was determined possible uses for campus buildings as of September 2020 included a school, a museum, and a business center. Because the gym was in good shape with a pool that could be used, an aquatics center was another possibility. Faith Hall, Graves Hall and Leland S. Cozart House were on the National Register of Historic Places and would likely be preserved, but some of those buildings were in such bad shape no one could go inside.[32]
In February 2021, the city and the college made a formal agreement to work together.[33]
Douglass and Chairwoman Karen M. Soares, with the aid of Congresswoman Alma Adams, were able to get a 21-year, estimated, $12 million loan forgiven. This program was administered by the Department of Education's HBCU Capital Finance Program. The program provided low-cost capital to finance improvements to the infrastructure of the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities.[34]
The Association for Biblical Higher Education said the college had inquired about accreditation but as of July 2021 had not started the process, which would take eight to ten years.[35]
A community survey received a strong response, and studies were planned for renovating and reusing the buildings. A partnership with Cabarrus County Schools was considered. After lack of cooperation from college leaders, the agreement with the city ended in November 2021.[36]
According to a February 1, 2022 press release, Douglass and Soares resigned. Tracey Flemmings was named interim president, and Roberta Pinckney became chair.[37]
An August 2022 article in the Independent Tribune said, "seven of the 15 buildings are deemed unoccupiable", that six others needed violations to be corrected, and that the college had awarded no degrees in 18 years. The article said that none of the college's leaders lived in the county, and that the college claimed to have 24 students who would be studying entrepreneurship, religion, and renewable energy in September 2022. The article also said college leaders announced a partnership with the unaccredited, for-profit Medcerts for health services training online. The Cabarrus County tax assessor was determining whether the college still qualified as a nonprofit; if not, land and buildings worth almost $12 million could be sold.[36]
As of December 2022 The Charlotte Observer reported four students were taking classes, all online,[38] and in 2023, the college held a graduation ceremony for four online students.[39] An investigation by WSOC-TV revealed that Cabarrus County was considering ending the college's tax exemption.[38]
In a March 16, 2023 news release, the city announced that a task force formed in 2017 to help the college was disbanding. The task force accused the college of not cooperating.[40]
A July 6, 2023 news release stated that trustees appointed Chris V. Rey, former mayor of Spring Lake, North Carolina, to succeed Flemmings as president.[41]
On April 30, 2024, Partners for Rural Impact and Elizabeth City State University awarded Barber–Scotia College with a $32,500 grant to spearhead a workforce development program aimed at revitalizing the Sage Library situated on the college campus.[42]
Athletics
Barber–Scotia College's athletic programs are known as the Mighty Sabers.
Lucy Hughes Brown, 1885, first African-American woman physician licensed to practice in both North Carolina and South Carolina and the cofounder of a nursing school and hospital[47][48][49]
Julia Pearl Hughes, 1893, first African-American woman pharmacist to own and operate her own drug store and first African-American woman to run for elective office in the state of New York[51]
Paulette Dillard Scientist, business leader, expert in clinical diagnostic medicine and 18th president of Shaw University.[59]
Further reading
Cozart, Leland Stanford. A Venture of Faith: Barber–Scotia College, 1867–1967. Charlotte, NC: Heritage Printers, 1976.
Gross, Leslie. "Faith Hall: A Landmark in Need of Friends." The Charlotte Observer. May 9, 1999: 3K.
Barber–Scotia College. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1985.
Kannapolis is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. The population was 53,114 at the 2020 census, which makes Kannapolis the 19th-most populous city in North Carolina. It is the home of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, the Low-A baseball affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and it is the hometown of the Earnhardt racing family. It is also the headquarters for the Haas F1 racing team. The center of the city is home to the North Carolina Research Campus, a public-private venture that focuses on food, nutrition, and biotech research.
Cabarrus County is a county located in the south-central part of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 225,804, making it the 9th-most populous county in North Carolina. The county seat is Concord, which was incorporated in 1803. Cabarrus County is included in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Concord is the county seat and most populous city in Cabarrus County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 105,240. In terms of population, the city of Concord is the second-most populous city in the Charlotte metropolitan area and is the 10th-most populous city in North Carolina and 287th-most populous city in the U.S.
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving African Americans. Most of these institutions were founded during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War and are concentrated in the Southern United States. They were primarily founded by Protestant religious groups, until the Second Morill Act of 1890 required educationally segregated states to provide African American, public higher-education schools in order to receive the Act's benefits.
Fletcher L. Hartsell Jr. was a Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly until he admitted to misappropriating over $200,000 in campaign donations. On May 16, 2017, he was sentenced in Federal Court in Winston-Salem. NC to eight months in Federal prison. He represented the state's thirty-sixth North Carolina Senate district, including constituents in Cabarrus and Union counties. An attorney from Concord, North Carolina, Hartsell has served in the state Senate since 1991.
South Carolina State University is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
Union Presbyterian Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, offering graduate theological education in multiple modalities: in-person, hybrid, and online.
Bennett College is a private historically black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was founded in 1873 as a normal school to educate freedmen and train both men and women as teachers. Originally coed, in 1926 it became a four-year women's college. It is one of two historically black colleges that enroll only women, the other being Spelman College.
Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) is a theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition with campuses in multiple locations in the United States. Founded by conservatives in the Southern Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in the United States, in 1966, it serves primarily students from more conservative branches of the Presbyterian and Reformed traditions.
Presbyterian College (PC) is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina, United States. It was founded in 1880 and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Central Cabarrus High School, commonly referred to locally as Central or CCHS, is a comprehensive public high school located in Concord, North Carolina. It opened in 1966.
Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) is a private historically black university in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The university awards Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Social Work, and Master of Social Work degrees.
The Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) is a consortium of five predominantly African-American denominational Christian seminaries in Atlanta, Georgia, operating together as a professional graduate school of theology. It is the largest free-standing African-American theological school in the United States.
Cannon School is an independent, nonsectarian, college preparatory institution serving students in junior kindergarten through grade 12. The school enrolled approximately 1045 students for the 2024–2025 school year. Cannon School is located in Concord, North Carolina in Cabarrus County, on a 65-acre (26 ha) campus on Poplar Tent Road near the Cabarrus–Mecklenburg county line. The school is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Southern Association of Independent Schools.
WEGO was an AM radio station licensed to serve Concord, North Carolina.
Women's colleges in the Southern United States refers to undergraduate, bachelor's degree–granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations consist exclusively or almost exclusively of women, located in the Southern United States. Many started first as girls' seminaries or academies. Salem College is the oldest female educational institution in the South and Wesleyan College is the first that was established specifically as a college for women, closely followed by Judson College in 1838. Some schools, such as Salem College, offer coeducational courses at the graduate level.
Atrium Health Cabarrus is a 457-bed, acute-care, teaching hospital located in Concord, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1937 by Charles A. Cannon and George Batte, Jr. during the Great Depression as Cabarrus County Hospital, the hospital has continued to expand. Today it serves most of Cabarrus County as a regional hospital. On December 16, 2006, Carolinas HealthCare System NorthEast opened the new Jeff Gordon Children's Hospital in the Clinical Services building.
Cabarrus College of Health Sciences is a private college for healthcare professions on the campus of Atrium Health Cabarrus in Concord, North Carolina. It is affiliated with Atrium Health, a hospital network with more than 70,000 employees and 1,400 care locations, and since its merger with Advocate Aurora Health in 2022, part of Advocate Health. The college offers 18 degrees in 11 health science disciplines, with a mix of on-campus, online, and hybrid programs.
Lucy Hughes Brown was the first African-American woman physician licensed to practice in both North Carolina and South Carolina and the cofounder of a nursing school and hospital. Hughes Brown was also an activist and poet.
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