Viewing page 2 of 9

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[typed text on white paper; left side page]
The State Teachers College at Montgomery, Alabama

The State Teachers college is located within the corporate limits of Montgomery, Alabama, at the intersection of Thurman and South Jackson Streets (twelve blocks from the State Capitol and eighteen blocks from the center of the business district-Court Square) in a city of approximately 70,000 inhabitants of whom 29,970 (1930 U.S. Census) are Negroes to constitute the thirtieth largest concentration of Negro population in the 695 cities and towns in the United States that reported 1000 or more Negro inhabitants in 1930.

The State Teachers College was established at Marion, Alabama, in 1874, as the Lincoln Normal University, having as its aim, "the Higher Education of the Colored Race". It was the first, and for many years, the only school of its kind in the Southern States. This institution is now recognized as the oldest state-supported institution in the United States devoted specifically to the preparation of Negro teachers.

In 1887, the school was moved from Marion to Montgomery. Here the school was reopened as "The State Normal School for Colored Students". The school functioned for 33 years on its original plan as a five-year Normal School and then as a High-School Teacher-Training Institution.

In 1920, the school was made a standard Normal school by the addition of the Junior College department which comprises two years beyond high school. It was recognized by the State Board of Education as a Class "A" Normal School, carrying with it all the privileges and advantages of schools of this type, and was the only such school in Alabama for colored people. The first graduates from the junior college curriculum received their diplomas in May 1922, and the first Summer Quarter graduates received their junior college diplomas in August 1922.

In 1929, the institution was expanded into a four-year teachers college as a part of the program of development inaugurated by the State Board of Education at five of the six erstwhile two-year Class A Normal Schools. The third year of work was started in September, 1929, and the fourth year was added for 1930-31 so that the first college graduates were awarded their B.S. degrees in June 1931.

In 1927, branch summer schools operating for ten-week periods were opened at Birmingham and Mobile and have since been conducted each summer in the high school buildings of these respective cities to offer teachers the opportunity to pursue both junior college and senior college courses in these respective locations but with the final "graduation quarter" for both the junior college and senior college being required in residence at the parent school at Montgomery.

In September 1937, an all-year branch junior college was opened in Mobile with classroom in the Lawrence Street Wing of the Community Center on St. Anthony Street that at one time was the building used by the University of Alabama for its Medical School. These quarters were conditioned and equipped by the State Teachers College with the anticipation that Freshman courses would be offered during the 1936-37 session and that both Freshman and Sophomore courses would be offered during the coming session of 1937-38.

[right side page]
[typed text & 4 pictures contained in text box with black border lines]
THE PRESIDENTS [centered, large font]
[picture 1 - 3 in top quarter of page]
Picture 1 black & white photo of man with mustache wearing suit and bow tie to left of page
[picture 1 caption]
PRES. W.B. PATERSON
     1878 - 1914
Picture 2 black & white photo of man wearing suit & tie in middle of page
[picture 2 caption] 
PRES. J.W. BEVERLY
    1915 - 1920
Picture 3 black & white photo of man wearing suit & tie to right of page
[picture 3 caption]
PRES. G.W. TRENHOLM
      1920 - 1925
[bottom half of page]
[right justified]
A tribute to 10 Years [script font]
      PRESENTED       [reg. small font] 
  PRESIDENT TRENHOLM  [reg. large bolded font]
       May 1936       [script font]
[picture of shield shaped plaque honoring Trenholm to left of page starting the the first line of text]
Picture 4 black & white photo of man wearing glasses wearing suit & tie sitting at desk with papers on the desk looking at camera; additional double line border lines to left & right of picture  
[picture 4 caption]
PRESIDENT H. COUNCILL TENHOLM
            1925 -