A History of Progress
Shaw University is a small school with a big mission. For 150 years, we’ve led the way by offering a home and opportunity to students who’ve historically been shut out, and by daring to innovate. At Shaw, young people have found what it takes to shape the future.
150 Years of Firsts
Founded as the Raleigh Theological Institute by the American Baptist Home Missionary Society in 1865, Shaw was the first HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in the American South. The University was incorporated ten years later. In the school’s first four years, it taught nearly 1,000 former slaves to read.
In 1873, Shaw opened Estey Hall, the nation’s first college building with dormitories and classrooms open to African-American women. Estey Hall still stands as one of the historic buildings on today’s campus.
Shaw was the South’s first university to open a four-year medical school training African-American doctors. The Leonard Medical School held its first lecture in 1881.
The Leonard School of Pharmacy, a first in the U.S. for Black student pharmacists, opened at Shaw in 1882.
The Shaw University Law School opened doors in 1888, offering the first legal-studies program for African-American students in the U.S.
Shaw was one of the first homes of the American Civil Rights Movement. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee grew from a 1960 meeting on campus, organized by alumna and activist Ella Baker.
Shaw was the first Black college to own a radio station. WSHA hit the airwaves in 1968.
The University was North Carolina’s first HBCU to be granted an “A” rating for teacher-training excellence by the State Department of Public Instruction.
Optimism and Resilience
Shaw changed the path of education as the South’s first historically Black institution of higher education, and among the first in the nation. Though we’ve seen our share of challenges, we’ve turned them into opportunities. Shaw has grown, held its role as an academic leader, and served as an incubator for new thinking.
Bible-School Beginnings
In 1865, the year that slavery was abolished in the U.S., the American Baptist Hope Mission Society founded the Raleigh Theological Institute—now Shaw University. Black people seeking education, employment, and financial independence—many of them former slaves—flocked to the school, which gained support and grew. Shaw University incorporated in 1875, just ten years after its founding.
Groundbreaking Growth
As Shaw grew, the University’s vision for Black higher education expanded, leading to a series of firsts: the first HBCU to welcome women students, and the first to train doctors, pharmacists, and lawyers who could serve their communities. By 1900, the University had trained more than 30,000 teachers of color. Several went on to become the first presidents of HBCUs around the country.
In the 20th century, Shaw graduates advanced science, media, and political, racial and gender studies. Our alumni stood among Black America’s first professional generation.
Struggles, Perseverance, and Support
Shaw has met challenges, too. In the 1980s, the University suffered low enrollment and crushing debt. More money problems emerged in 2009, and in 2011, a tornado ravaged the campus. Through the years, alumni and others have lent their support, helping the University restructure, rebuild, and look to a brighter future.
Shaw Forever
Today nearly 1,100 students attend Shaw University. The American South’s oldest HBCU remains relevant and strong, offering both students and members of the Raleigh community new opportunities.
Today, students can prepare at Shaw for careers in emerging fields like digital technology and cybersecurity. Our Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center works with students and local aspiring small business owners who want to become successful Black entrepreneurs. We’re extend our connections with the Raleigh community, offering educational options to adult learners with career dreams to incarcerated men and women who want to learn while in prison. And Shaw’s collaboration with the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina promises to lead to new corporate partnerships that will enhance student career opportunities in the innovation sector.
A Leader for Justice
Shaw has been countering racial and social injustice since we started teaching freedmen to read a century and half ago. Since then, our community has continued to remedy historical wrongs through activism and scholarship, and has kept the spotlight on civil rights.
Making Change
Our Alumni
Shaw’s former students include members of Congress and college presidents, pastors, lawyers, hip-hop legends, and even a United Nations General Assembly president. We’ve graduated school principals and teachers of the year, footballers and slam-dunkers, writers and civil rights fighters, gospel and soul stars—and many other noteworthy people.
Some of the Greats
These Shaw graduates—and many more—went on to make their mark.
Ella Baker
A founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, this activist worked with civil rights legends, including Martin Luther King Jr. She graduated in 1927.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr
A 1934 graduate and one of the first African-Americans elected to Congress, he represented New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in the House of Representatives for 26 years.
Angie Brooks
An international student from Liberia, Brooks applied to Shaw as a divorced mother of two and graduated in 1949. In the 1970s, she became the first African woman to lead the United Nations General Assembly.
Gladys Knight
The famous front-woman of Gladys Knight & the Pips and a seven-time Grammy winner, Knight completed her B.A. at Shaw in 1966. Shaw awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1990.
William L. Pollard
After graduating from Shaw with a .A. in 1967, Pollard earned a Master’s and Ph.D., and went on to become the president of Medgar Evers College at the City University of New York.
Willie E. Gary
Actor Jamie Foxx played this famously wealthy attorney, known as the “Whale Killer,” a 1971 graduate, in the 2023 movie The Burial.
James “Bonecrusher” Smith
This former World Boxing Association titleholder was the first heavyweight boxing champion ever to hit the ring with a college degree. He graduated from Shaw in 1975.
Sheila P. Moses
A 1983 graduate and bestselling author, Moses received a National Book Award nomination and Coretta Scott King Book Awards honors for her 2023 novel, The Legend of Buddy Bush.
Shirley Caesar
A pastor and gospel artist known as the First Lady of Gospel Music, Caesar had already been signed when she came to Shaw. She graduated in 1984 and went on to win 11 Grammys.
Lords of the Underground
“DoItAll” Dupré Kelly, “Mr. Funke” Al’Terik Wardrick, and Bruce A. Colston (a.k.a. DJ Lord Jazz) met at Shaw as students. The hip-hop stars dropped their debut album in 1993.
Shawn “CoCo” McMillan
This artist, who has won Raleigh’s Next Gospel Star Competition and sung backup with Aaliyah, lent her voice to Shaw’s University and Gospel Choirs before graduating in 1995.
Ronald “Flip” Murray
Before he played for the Chicago Bulls and the Charlotte Bobcats, this 2002 graduate was the NCAA’s Division II Player of the Year, and as a Shaw senior he lead the Bears to the Final Four.
Julius Gregory
A Bears wide-receiver before graduating in 2011, he later played for the National Arena League’s Carolina Cobras and founded Gregory’s Elite Sports & Mentoring Academy in Raleigh.