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[[image: monochrome photo or painting of a large, low-rise building with flat roofs.]]
[[caption]] The John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Fine Arts Building houses Spelman's departments of art, music and drama. It was dedicated in April, 1964. [[/caption]]

[[image: monochrome photo of building mostly hidden by trees]] [[caption]] Morehouse Hall-North and South Ends was built in 1901 and is named for Dr. Henry L. Morehouse. Dr. Morehouse is also the man for whom Morehouse College is named (the brother institution to Spelman) [[/caption]]

[[image: photo of 4-story building with gabled roof, trees in foreground]] [[caption]] Giles Hall, built in 1892, is the central classroom building on campus. The building was named for Miss Harriet E. Giles, one of the founders and second president of Spelman College. [[/caption]]

SPELMAN COLLEGE

Spelman College grew out of a school started in the basement of a Negro church. The founders were two New England women, Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles, who came to the South during the post-civil war period to establish a freedom school for young black women just out of slavery. It was first called the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary.

From the very first day when classes began with eleven women, a Bible as the only textbook, and paper and pencils as the only equipment, creative excellence has been the standard. The teachers were dedicated women who believed that character and cultural exposure was of more importance than the mere acquisition of knowledge. They sought to give their pupils practical knowledge lighted with the insight necessary to relate learning to the facts and realities of life.

Spelman was founded in 1881 and was the first college for black women in this country. It has grown from nine acres of drill ground and five frame barracks used for federal troops after the Civil War, into Spelman College with more than thirty-two beautifully landscaped acres, twenty-two modern buildings, and an enrollment of 974 students.
 
In 1901 the first college degrees were granted to six women. The name was officially changed from the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary to Spelman College in early 1924. Since 1929, Spelman has been a part of a larger complex - the Atlanta University Center. This means that there is also the benefit of academic and cultural exchange among five other neighboring institutions.

Spelman College is a member of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and on the approved list of the Association of American Universities.

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