Former names | Claflin College |
---|---|
Motto | "The World Needs Visionaries" |
Type | Private, HBCU |
Established | 1869 |
Religious affiliation | United Methodist Church UNCF |
Endowment | $48.6 million |
President | Dwaun J. Warmack |
Students | 1,830 [1] |
Location | , , United States |
Campus | Urban, 40 acres (16 ha) |
Colors | Orange & Maroon |
Nickname | Panthers and Lady Panthers |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division II, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association |
Website | www |
Claflin University is a private historically black university in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Founded in 1869 after the American Civil War by northern missionaries for the education of freedmen and their children, it offers bachelor's and master's degrees. [2]
It was originally named Claflin College, and was founded in 1869 by Alonzo Webster (1818–1887), a minister for the Methodist Episcopal Church (today the United Methodist Church). [3] Claflin College opened its doors on October 27, 1869. [4]
Webster came from Vermont to South Carolina as a missionary to teach at the Baker Bible Institute in Charleston, a training school for African American ministers. [5] The Baker Biblical Institute in Charleston, was an institution established by the South Carolina Mission Conference of 1866 of the Methodist Episcopal Church for the education of African American ministers. In 1870, the Baker Biblical Institute merged with Claflin University.
Webster had received a charter from the state of South Carolina to establish a college freed slaves to take their rightful places as full American citizens. [5] [3] Claflin University is the oldest historically black college or university in South Carolina and touts itself as the first college in the state to welcome all students regardless of race or gender. It was the first Black college to offer architectural drawing courses. [6]
The university was named after two Methodist churchmen: Massachusetts Governor William Claflin and his father, Boston philanthropist Lee Claflin, who provided a large part of the funds to purchase the 43-acre (17 ha) campus. [3] [4] Claflin's first president was Alonzo Webster, who had previously spent time as a member of Claflin's board of trustees. Since the administration of Webster, Claflin has been served by eight presidents.
An act by the South Carolina General Assembly on March 12, 1872, designated the South Carolina State Agricultural and Mechanical Institute as a part of Claflin University. In 1896 the S.C. General Assembly passed an act of separation which severed the State Agricultural and Mechanical Institute from Claflin University and established a separate institution which eventually became South Carolina State University. [7]
In 2020, American novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated US $20 million to Claflin University. Her donation is the largest single gift in Claflin's history. [8]
Claflin offers degrees through four schools:
Claflin University's athletics teams are referred to as the Panthers. The university is a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) since the 2018–19 academic year. The Panthers have also competed in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) from 2008–09 to 2017–18; as well as in the defunct Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (EIAC) from 1983–84 to 2004–05.
Claflin competes in ten intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's basketball, baseball, cross country and track & field, and women's basketball, cheerleading, cross country, softball, track & field and volleyball.
Claflin has an all-girl cheerleading team that serves as athletics support and ambassadors of the university as well as their pep band.
There are over 50 student organizations on campus, including several honor societies, and chapters for eight of the nine National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations. [10]
Name | Class year | Notability | Reference(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Robert Charles Bates | did not graduate | He taught at Claflin University from 1890 to 1897, and designed Fisk Hall (destroyed), T. Willard Lewis Chapel, and other campus buildings. | [11] |
Gloria Rackley Blackwell | 1953 | Civil rights activist, professor at Clark Atlanta University. | [12] |
William Wilson Cooke | 1893, 1902 | Architect, designed Lee Library (1898) and Tingley Memorial Hall. He went to Washington, D.C., to become the first black architect in the Office of the Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury, and planned and administered federal buildings. | [11] |
Joseph H. Jefferson | 1970 | Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, representing the 102nd District. | [13] |
E. Roger Mitchell | 1993 | Actor in The Walking Dead and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire . | [14] [15] |
Ernest Newman | 1948 | First African-American bishop of the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church. | [11] |
Arthur Rose Sr. | 1950 | Chair of Art Department (1952-1973) at Claflin University; the Arthur Rose Museum at the university was named for him | [16] |
James S. Thomas | 1939 | First African-American bishop of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church | [11] |
Henry N. Tisdale | B.S. 1965 | Eighth president of Claflin University. First African-American to earn a PhD. In mathematics at Dartmouth College. | [11] [3] |
Leo Twiggs | 1956 | Artist and educator at South Carolina State University; the first African American to receive a doctorate of Arts from the University of Georgia. | [17] |
Cecil J. Williams | 1960 | American photographer, founder of the Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum, publisher, author and inventor best known for his photography documenting the civil rights movement in South Carolina. | [18] |
Bryan Andrew Wilson | 2004 | Gospel artist | [19] |
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, whose member institutions consist entirely of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Formed in 1913, it consists mostly of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), with all but one member located in the Southern United States.
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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).
William Claflin was an American politician, industrialist, and philanthropist from Massachusetts. He served as the 27th governor of Massachusetts from 1869 to 1872 and as a member of the United States Congress from 1877 to 1881. He also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1868 to 1872, serving as a moderating force between the Radical and moderate wings of the Republican Party. His name is given to Claflin University in South Carolina, a historically black college founded with funding from him and his father.
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Henry E. Hayne was a politician in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. Born into slavery, he served in the South Carolina Senate and as Secretary of State of South Carolina in the 1870s. In 1873, he became the first student of color at the University of South Carolina medical school.
Gloria Blackwell, also known as Gloria Rackley, was an African-American civil rights activist and educator. She was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Orangeburg, South Carolina during the 1960s, attracting some national attention and a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Her activities were widely covered by the local press.
The Southeastern Athletic Conference (SEAC) was an intercollegiate athletic conference of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that existed from 1929 to 1965. It was known as the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association between 1929 and 1942. The conference's members were located in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
William McNeil "Big Bill" Bell Sr. was an American college football player and coach and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina from 1934 to 1935, Florida A&M University from 1936 to 1942, and North Carolina A&T State University from 1946 to 1956.
William Wilson Cooke (1871–1949) was an American architect. He worked in the Office of the Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury and was the first African American man to be employed there. Cooke was the first African American to obtain an architect’s license in the state of Indiana in 1929. He designed many buildings for Claflin College, the Cookman Institute, and the United States Postal Service. Early in his career he worked as a school official.
Robert Charles Bates, was an American architect, educator, and textbook author. He was an African American architect and helped design and build many of the Claflin University campus buildings, a historically black university (HBU) in South Carolina. He is thought to be the first Black teacher of architecture at a HBU; and the first African American author of an architecture textbook.
Henry Nehemiah Tisdale is an American retired academic administrator, educator, and mathematician. He served as the 8th president of Claflin University, a historically black university in Orangeburg, South Carolina from 1994 to 2019.