North Carolina A&T State University was founded on March 9, 1891 as a land grant institution for African Americans.

A&T-North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University was founded as a land grant institution for African Americans.

The school was originally named the Agricultural and Mechanical College, and was established as a result of the Second Morrill Act, enacted by Congress in 1890.

Initially, the new college shared space with Shaw University in Raleigh, NC, but eventually moved to its permanent home in Greensboro, NC with the assistance of Dewitt Clinton Benbow, a Guilford County businessman and philanthropist, and Charles H. Moore, an African American educator and businessman.

In 1915, the NC state legislature changed the name to Agricultural and Technical College. In 1967, the college became a university and took its current name, and in 1972, N.C. A&T became a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system.

Today, North Carolina A&T State University has more than 10,000 students and awards degrees in bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs with a strong emphasis on engineering, science and technology. It awards more degrees in engineering to African Americans than any other university in the country and is the second-largest producer of minority agricultural graduates nationwide.

Pictured here is the N.C. A&T library in 1915.
Photograph description : 9 Black students in the schools library, reading books and studying at desks and tables.