Thanks to our partner, Rowan Public Library, Boyden High School and Livingstone College yearbooks are now available on our website. This batch includes yearbooks from 1941 for Boyden High School and 1930, 1946-1947 for Livingstone College.
Livingstone College is a historically Black college located in Salisbury, North Carolina. In 1879, the college was founded by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church and was just a single building on 40 acres of land. In 1887, the school was renamed from Zion Wesley College to Livingstone College in honor of David Livingstone—a philanthropist, explorer, and Christian missionary. Today, the college consists of more than 15 buildings on over 300 acres of land with over a thousand enrolled students.
In 1904, Salisbury High School was founded in to educate children of the area. Twenty-two years after its founding, in 1926, the school’s name changed to Boyden High School after a new school building was built. The school remained Boyden for almost 50 years until the name was reverted back to Salisbury High School in 1971.
To learn more about Rowan Public Library, please visit their website.
Livingstone College’s Andrew Carnegie Library has contributed another 13 yearbooks to be shared on DigitalNC, including the earliest volume from that school on the site to date (1927). There are now over 50 online.
Located in Salisbury, Livingstone College was named after explorer David Livingstone. It has a long history – it was founded in 1879 and is one of North Carolina’s eleven Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs).
It’s football season! North Carolina’s football history goes back to 1888, when the first games between college teams were played. In 1892, North Carolina hosted the first game ever played between African American colleges when Livingstone College in Salisbury hosted the Biddle Institute (now Johnson C. Smith University).
The photo here, from 1914, shows the first football team at the State Normal School, now Elizabeth City State University.
We have added additional issues to our online run of one of the oldest African American newspapers in North Carolina, the Star of Zion. Started in 1876 by the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church the paper is still published today. These 151 new issues date from 1926-1928.
Published out of Charlotte, the paper includes national and international news about the Church. There are articles of religious instruction and exhortation, and brief snippets of local news related to members of the Church. Those interested in the history of Livingstone College in Salisbury, which was founded by the A.M.E. Zion Church, will find many articles about the College’s growth like the one shown on the front page above.
These issues of The Star of Zion, which are now out of copyright, were selected by NCDHC staff from the collections at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To view more North Carolina African American newspapers, visit our exhibit. You can see the entire run of the Star of Zion available on our site through this link.
Thanks to funding from the North Caroliniana Society and from the UNC Libraries IDEA grants, one of the oldest African American newspapers in North Carolina, and the longest continuously published, is now online. The Star of Zion, which is still published today, began publication in 1876 by the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church. Issues covering 1884 through 1926 are now on DigitalNC, digitized from microfilm. The earliest years we digitized are published in a few different places, including Petersburg, Va. and Salisbury, NC. Beginning in 1896, the paper moved publication to Charlotte, NC where it is still published today.
Issue highlighting the 1923 graduates of students at schools affiliated with the AME Zion Church
The topics covered by the paper are heavily focused on church activities, including reports from pastors across the country about their localities. Other topics are also covered, including commentary on political issues of the day. The papers in 1884 feature the full Republican ticket for the presidency and down, which the editors heartily supported. The issues in the later years have a wider focus on both issues of the day and church news.
An editor’s note from the November 19, 1986 issue.
A rather interesting feature that also pops up often in the paper is a presence of a real rivalry with other denomination based African American publications in the state. One particularly humorous note was posted by the editor in the November 26, 1896 issue of the paper, noting that the Africo-American Presbyterian was lauding the honorary degree Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University) had conferred on George White, elected to serve in the 2nd Congressional District from NC (and the last Black Congressman to serve before Jim Crow). The editors of the Star noted that Livingstone College, the AME Zion affiliated school in North Carolina, had already given one to him in May of that year. College and religious rivalries are timeless.
Note from the Editor of the Star of Zion in the November 26, 1896 issue
As we continue working from home at DigitalNC, we’re putting our efforts into areas different than our normal day-to-day. Sometimes, you find yourself sucked into things that would be glossed over if not for this change. I found myself absorbed in yearbooks, specifically from the 1960-70s.
While updating metadata on yearbooks, I began to visually notice differences by the decade. There was an obvious break in the standard presentation starting in the 60s. One of the big differences in the 1960s and 70s yearbooks was that they deviated from the conventional by utilizing monochromatic color and blank space to create areas of interest.
Other eras did not benefit from the same camera technology, but these 60s and 70s students utilized the fast-acting updates to great effect. Candid photographs became popular and were integrated into the aesthetics of yearbooks. Often, the layout created a mood through the arrangement of pictures, explaining the story visually.
Unlike their predecessors, 60s and 70s yearbooks used less text to review the academic year and instead opted for explanations via visual Rorschach tests. Attitudes of two-page spreads were up for interpretation from the pairing of photo and text.
But the biggest impression I was left with from looking at these yearbooks was how much creativity was squeezed into every page. Students obviously relished the chance to showcase their own versions of life on the many campuses of North Carolina.
Five new large format photographs have been added to DigitalNC’s image collection thanks to our partners at Johnson C. Smith University. A historically Black university, Johnson C. Smith University has been a fixture in Charlotte, North Carolina since 1867.
As these new photos are all from the early 1900s, you may notice an institution name change between the image titles. First established as Biddle Memorial Institute, Johnson C. Smith University was known as Biddle University between 1876 and 1923 before arriving at its current name.
Several of these images capture traditional university moments, such as graduation, class photos, and reunions.
Of note is a panoramic photo taken during a 1929 rivalry baseball game. This candid shot of the crowd avidly watching an Easter Monday match between Johnson C. Smith University and Livingstone College depicts just how well attended baseball games were at the time.
As would have been well known in the early 1900s, white baseball teams barred Black players from joining their leagues, effectively segregating the sport. Black communities thus formed their own professional baseball leagues, culminating in a national organization known as the Negro National League, organized by Andrew (Rube) Foster in 1920. Baseball continued to be a popular and lucrative enterprise for the Black community throughout the mid-1900s, splitting into western and eastern circuits. The last of the leagues folded in 1962. While Johnson C. Smith University no longer has a baseball team, spectators can still enjoy following the women’s softball team, the Golden Bulls.
To see the newest photos in their entirety, click here. To view all images from Johnson C. Smith University, click here. And to learn more about Johnson C. Smith University, you can visit their home page here.
A small but meaningful addition of 33 issues of The Charlotte Post have been added to DigitalNC’s online collection, further expanding the digital access of this contemporary (and ongoing) newspaper. All 33 issues are from 2006, ranging from March 16 to November 2. Thanks to our longstanding partners at Johnson C. Smith University for allowing us to share these images.
Goldie Phillips started her own company, Island Flavors, to raise money for graduate school, April 20, 2006.
Known as “The Voice of the Black Community,” The Charlotte Post not only delivers relevant national and global news, but focuses on Black topics in and around the Charlotte, N.C. area. Creating space to vocalize achievements from the community, such as printing an entire supplement showcasing the Black high school graduates of Mecklenburg County, as well as navigating issues normally left untold by U.S. news outlets, such as mental illness in the Black community and the racial income gap, The Charlotte Post fills in an inequality information gap for all to benefit from.
The 2006 issues of The Charlotte Post sectioned off the newspaper by topic, including Religion, Sports, Arts and Entertainment, Business, Real Estate, and Classifieds. Covering a variety of subjects, The Charlotte Post maintained consistent features in each section, such as “Sounds,” by Winfred Cross. In Arts and Entertainment, Cross reviewed new music releases, like India.Arie’s Testimony, Vol. 1.
For a look at all of the issues DigitalNC has online from The Charlotte Post, click here. To view all materials from Johnson C. Smith University, click here, and to visit their website, click here.
The quote in this post’s title comes from a student who participated in a 1989 protest at UNC-Chapel Hill, pictured below.
One of the most historic student protests in the United States happened on this day in 1960 right here in North Carolina. NC A&T students protested segregation by sitting down at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro. The first images in this post were taken at that event and come from the 1960 Ayantee yearbook. Other images come from schools in all parts of the state, and date from 1960 through 2012.
North Carolina college students have passionately protested a variety of issues and events over the years. Looking back through yearbooks and student newspapers, you’ll find editorials with strong opinions and photographs of students standing up and speaking out in this most public of ways. Today we’re sharing the tradition of protest by students over the years, as reported in their own media.
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, 1960, Segregation (Woolworth’s Lunch Counter, Greensboro)
North Carolina Central University, 1960, Segregation (Woolworth’s Lunch Counter, Durham)
This blog is maintained by the staff of the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center and features the latest news and highlights from the collections at DigitalNC, an online library of primary sources from organizations across North Carolina.
