]
]
This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This collection has use restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the James E. Shepard Memorial Library at North Carolina Central University. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web.
Portions of this collection have been digitized as part of "Content, Context, and Capacity: A Collaborative Large-Scale Digitization Project on the Long Civil Rights Movement in North Carolina." The project was made possible by funding from the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.
Expand/collapse
Collection Overview
| Size | 10.0 feet of linear shelf space |
| Abstract | James Edward Shepard was born in Raleigh, N.C., on 3 November 1875 and died in Durham, N.C., on 6 October 1947. In 1909, he founded and served as president of the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race. In 1925, the School became the North Carolina College for Negroes (later North Carolina Central University), the first state-funded liberal arts college for African Americans in the United States. The collection contains correspondence, speeches, writings, organization files, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Correspondence with local and national educators, government officials, civil rights activists, historians, and others documents Shepard's professional life at the North Carolina College for Negroes and his civic involvement. Slight correspondence with family members is also present. Speeches and writings address a variety of topics including race relations, World War II, and education. Organization files represent more than 200 local, state, and national civic associations, fraternal orders, businesses, and educational institutions with which Shepard was affiliated chiefly as a board or committee member. The organization materials document Shepard's concerns with social and economic conditions in North Carolina and his involvement in higher education and state government. World War II materials pertain to Shepard in his roles as a spokesperson for African Americans in North Carolina and as one of two African Americans appointed to the North Carolina Appeals Board for men drafted into military service. Newspaper clippings represent a variety of publications and a broad range of perspectives on contemporary issues including, but not limited to, race relations and education. Among the persons significant in the collection are John C.B. Ehringhaus, Clyde A. Erwin, Miles Mark Fisher, Robert Lee Flowers, John Hope Franklin, E. Franklin Frazier, Gordon B. Hancock, N.C. Newbold, Walter F. White, and Plummer Bernard Young. Subjects of photographs include Shepard and his family, as well as faculty functions, Shepard's funeral, and professional colleagues. Among the photographs is one of Booker T. Washington together with Shepard during Washington's 1910 visit to the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race. |
| Creator | Shepard, James E. |
| Curatorial Unit | North Carolina Central University. James E. Shepard Memorial Library. |
| Language | English |
Expand/collapse
Information For Users
Expand/collapse
Processing Information
Processed by: Andre D. Vann, Shanee Yvette Murrain, and Danielle McGhee.
Finding aid authored by: Andre D. Vann, Shanee Yvette Murrain, and Danielle McGhee.
Finding aid encoded by: Joyce Chapman.
Updated: February 2020
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Expand/collapse
Related Collections
Expand/collapse
Biographical Information
James Edward Shepard was born in Raleigh, N.C., on 3 November 1875 to Reverend Augustus Shepard and Harriet E. Whitted Shepard. Reverend Shepard was the pastor of White Rock Baptist Church, a prominent African American congregation in Durham, N.C. James Shepard was the eldest of twelve children. He received his undergraduate education at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., and graduated with a Ph.G. degree in pharmacy in 1894. From 1895 to 1897, he worked as a pharmacist and religious educator in Virginia and North Carolina. Shepard was the owner and pharmacist of the first African American drug store in Durham, N.C., and the field secretary for the International Sunday School Association.
On 7 November 1895, Shepard married Annie Day Robinson, a native of Yanceyville, N.C., the daughter of Thomas Day Jr. and Mary Day of Virginia, and the granddaughter of furniture maker Thomas Day. Shepard and Robinson had two daughters, Annie Day Shepard (who married Isaac H. Smith Jr.) and Marjorie A. Shepard.
In 1909, the Durham Merchants Association together with prominent African American businessmen John Merrick and Charles C. Spaulding, physicians Aaron M. Moore and Charles H. Shepard, and educator William Gaston Pearson raised $25,000 for a school that Shepard planned to open in Durham, N.C., called the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race. The official charter was signed on 28 June 1909, and classes began in 1910. The school provided professional training and development for African American teachers. Twenty of the original twenty-five acres of the campus--located just outside the Durham city limits on the traditionally African American side of Durham known as Hayti--were donated by philanthropist Brodie L. Duke.
By 1912, the campus had ten buildings and approximately 130 students. In 1915, the school was sold and renamed the National Training School. In 1923, the North Carolina General Assembly began to provide annual support of $20,639, and the name was changed to Durham State Normal School. Despite the support, the school faced financial hardships and mounting debt nearing $49,000. When Shepard could not raise the money, he urged the state of North Carolina to take over the school. In the legislative session of 1925, a bill was passed with only one dissenting vote to make it a state institution, and the school was renamed the North Carolina College for Negroes, becoming the first public liberal arts college for African Americans in the United States. The first four-year class graduated in 1929. After Shepard's death in 1947, the name became North Carolina College at Durham. In 1969, the North Carolina General Assembly changed the name to North Carolina Central University (NCCU), and, in 1972, NCCU joined the University of North Carolina (System).
Shepard was actively involved in fraternal, religious, business, and civic organizations in the local Durham community, North Carolina, and the nation. From 1928 to 1933 and again from 1936 to his death in 1947, Shepard served as Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons of North Carolina. Today, two Mason chapters are named in his honor, including the James E. Shepard Chapter #840 in Durham, N.C. Shepard also served as Grand Patron of the Eastern Star (the world's largest fraternal organization), and as secretary of finances for the Knights of Pythias (an international, non-sectarian fraternal order). Shepard served as president of the State Negro Teachers Association and the Interdenominational Sunday School Convention. He was a member of the board of directors for Mechanics and Farmers Bank, the trustee board for the Oxford Colored Orphanage, the Odd Fellows, the Civic Club, the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs, and the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
| 1875 | Born on 3 November 1875 to Reverend Augustus Shepard and Harriet E. Whitted Shepard. |
| 1886-1894 | Shepard attended Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. |
| 1894 | Shepard graduated from Shaw University with a degree in pharmacy. |
| 1895 | Shepard married Annie Day Robinson and moved to Durham, N.C. |
| 29 July 1897 | Shepard's daughter Annie Day Shepard was born. |
| 1989 | Shepard helped to establish the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Insurance Company (now North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company). |
| 1898-1900 | Shepard served as Comparer of Deeds in the Recorders Office of Washington, D.C. |
| 5 September 1900 | Shepard's daughter Marjorie A. Shepard was born. |
| 1899-1905 | Shepard served as Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue in Raleigh, N.C. |
| 1902 | Shepard's daughter Marion Shepard was born. |
| 25 July 1903 | Marion Shepard died. |
| 1905-1909 | Shepard served as Field Superintendent of the International Sunday School Association. |
| 1909 | Shepard began his 38-year tenure as president of the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race, Inc. |
| 1910 | Shepard was the only African American speaker at the Rome, Italy, meeting of the International Sunday School Association |
| 1910 | Shepard was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity by Muskingum College in Ohio. |
| 1912 | Shepard was awarded an honorary master of arts degree by Selma University in Alabama. |
| 1915 | The National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race was sold and repurchased. |
| 1916 | The National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race was re-chartered as the National Training School. |
| 1923 | The General Assembly appropriated funds, making the National Training School a publicly supported institution. The National Training School was renamed Durham State Normal School. |
| 1925 | Shepard was awarded an honorary degree in literature by Howard University. |
| 1925 | Two disastrous fires struck the Durham State Normal School while students were in chapel, and official files and equipment were lost. |
| 1925 | The Durham State Normal School was renamed North Carolina College for Negroes and became the first state-supported liberal arts college for African Americans in the United States. |
| 1925 | Shepard's home burned down. Both white and black citizens of Durham, N.C., rallied to raise money for the Shepard House that served as the official residence of Shepard and his wife until their deaths in 1947. |
| 1929 | The first four-year college class graduated from the North Carolina College for Negroes. |
| 1931 | The North Carolina College for Negroes received its first accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. |
| 1935 | Shepard and other African American leaders founded the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People. |
| 1937 | The North Carolina College for Negroes was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools as an A class institution and was admitted to membership later in 1957. |
| 1939 | The North Carolina General Assembly authorized graduate programs at the North Carolina College for Negroes. |
| 1940 | The School of Law was founded at North Carolina College for Negroes. |
| 1941 | The School of Library Science was founded at North Carolina College for Negroes. |
| 1944 | Residents in the Wakefield-Zebulon area of North Carolina renamed their public school the James E. Shepard School. |
| 12 March 1944 | North Carolina College for Negroes played the Duke Medical School basketball team in the first racially mixed basketball game of the Jim Crow era. |
| 8 February 1947 | Shepard's wife Annie Day Shepard died. |
| 15 April 1947 | Shepard's mother Hattie Whitted Shepard died. |
| 6 October 1947 | James E. Shepard died. |
| 1947 | The North Carolina College for Negroes was renamed the North Carolina College at Durham. |
| 1948 | Alfonso Elder was elected president of North Carolina College for Negroes succeeding Shepard. |
| 1951 | The James E. Shepard Memorial Library was dedicated in honor of Shepard. |
| 1964 | The James E. Shepard Middle School was built in Durham, N.C. |
| 1969 | The North Carolina General Assembly changed the name of the North Carolina College at Durham to North Carolina Central University and established the university as one of the state's regional institutions. |
| 1972 | North Carolina Central University joined the University of North Carolina (System). |
Expand/collapse
Scope and Content
The collection contains correspondence, speeches, writings, organization files, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Correspondence with local and national educators, government officials, civil rights activists, historians, and others documents Shepard's professional life at the North Carolina College for Negroes and his civic involvement. Slight correspondence with family members is also present.
Speeches and writings address a variety of topics including race relations, World War II, and education.
Organization files represent more than 200 local, state, and national civic associations, fraternal orders, businesses, and educational institutions with which Shepard was affiliated chiefly as a board or committee member. The organization materials document Shepard's concerns with social and economic conditions in North Carolina and his involvement in higher education and state government.
World War II materials pertain to Shepard in his roles as a spokesman for African Americans in North Carolina and as one of two African Americans appointed to the North Carolina Appeals Board for men drafted into military service.
Newspaper clippings represent a variety of publications and a broad range of perspectives on contemporary issues including, but not limited to, race relations and education.
Subjects of photographs include Shepard and his family, as well as faculty functions, Shepard's funeral, and professional colleagues. Among the photographs is one of Booker T. Washington together with Shepard during Washington's 1910 visit to the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Series Quick Links
Expand/collapse
Series 1. Personal Correspondence, 1926-1947.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
This series contains correspondence with local and national educators, politicians, civil rights activists, historians, and others concerning travel, activities, and events. There is also minimal correspondence with family members. Notable correspondents include North Carolina Governor John C.B. Ehringhaus, John Hope Franklin, Miles Mark Fisher, E. Franklin Frazier, Gordon B. Hancock, Walter F. White, N.C. Newbold, and Plummer Bernard Young.
Expand/collapse
Series 2. Miscellaneous and General Correspondence, 1914-1947.
Arrangement: chronological.
This series consists chiefly of correspondence exchanged between Shepard and his acquaintances, documenting his work as president of North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University).
| Folder 331 |
Miscellaneous Correspondence, undated |
| Folder 332 |
General Correspondence, 1914 |
| Folder 333 |
General Correspondence, 1936 |
| Folder 334 |
General Correspondence, 1937 |
| Folder 335 |
General Correspondence, 1938 |
| Folder 336 |
General Correspondence, 1939 |
Folder 337-342
Folder 337Folder 338Folder 339Folder 340Folder 341Folder 342 |
General Correspondence, 1940 |
Folder 343-348
Folder 343Folder 344Folder 345Folder 346Folder 347Folder 348 |
General Correspondence, 1941 |
Folder 349-353
Folder 349Folder 350Folder 351Folder 352Folder 353 |
General Correspondence, 1942 |
Folder 354-356
Folder 354Folder 355Folder 356 |
General Correspondence, 1943 |
Folder 357-360
Folder 357Folder 358Folder 359Folder 360 |
General Correspondence, 1944 |
| Folder 361 |
General Correspondence, 1945 |
Folder 362-367
Folder 362Folder 363Folder 364Folder 365Folder 366Folder 367 |
General Correspondence, 1946 |
Folder 368-371
Folder 368Folder 369Folder 370Folder 371 |
General Correspondence, 1947 |
Expand/collapse
Series 3. Writings and Speeches, 1905-1947.
Arrangement: chronological.
This series contains the text of speeches, notes for speeches, and programs for events at which Shepard spoke. Shepard's speeches were delivered to educational, business, and political groups, assemblies, colleges, conventions, and private clubs. Prominent speeches include "The Spirit of North Carolina," delivered during a Wings Over Jordan Program in 1938, and Shepard's 1943 statement before the Committee on Ways and Means in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Other speeches of interest include those that were delivered on WDNC--Durham's first radio station--that deal with issues of race relations, World War II, and the state of North Carolina. The speeches are arranged chronologically and listed by title. Undated speeches are filed together at the end of the series.
Expand/collapse
Series 4. Business, Civic and Educational Files, 1926-1947.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Materials in this series pertain to more 200 local, state, and national business, civic, and educational institutions and organizations with which Shepard was affiliated, chiefly as a board or committee member. These items provide extensive documentation of Shepard's contributions to social and economic uplift in North Carolina and demonstrate his involvement in education and state government.
Expand/collapse
Series 5. World War II Files, 1939-1947.
Arrangement: chronological
The majority of the materials in the series pertain to Shepard's role as spokesperson and liaison to North Carolina's African American community. Materials document the work of Shepard as one of only two African Americans in North Carolina appointed to the North Carolina Appeals Board to hear appeals from drafted men in military service.
See also the Speeches and Writings series, which includes Shepard's "Let's Win the War" speeches, calling on all African Americans to do their part on the home front while men were away in the war.
| Folder 609 |
World War II, 1939 |
| Folder 610 |
World War II, 1940 |
| Folder 611 |
World War II, 1941 |
Folder 612-613
Folder 612Folder 613 |
World War II, 1942 |
Folder 614-616
Folder 614Folder 615Folder 616 |
World War II, 1943 |
| Folder 617 |
World War II, 1944 |
| Folder 618 |
World War II, 1945 |
| Folder 619 |
War Production Board, 1945 |
| Folder 620 |
World War II (Lawrence A. Lt. Oxley), 1945 |
| Folder 621 |
World War II, 1946 |
| Folder 622 |
World War II, 1947 |
| Folder 623 |
World War II, Miscellaneous, undated |
| Folder 624 |
World War II, Servicemen letters, 1941-1946 |
| Folder 625 |
World War II, Servicemen newsletters, 1943-1944 |
| Folder 626 |
World War II, Servicemen news clippings, 1941-1945 |
| Folder 627 |
World War II, Servicemen postcards, 1943-1944 |
Expand/collapse
Series 6. Newspaper clippings, 1909-1947.
Arrangement: chronological
This series contains clippings documenting Shepard's education, as well as the business and civic activities of himself and his wife Annie Day Shepard. Newspaper clippings represent a variety of publications and a broad range of perspectives on contemporary issues including, but not limited to, race relations and education.
| Folder 628 |
Newspaper Clippings, 1934-1940 |
| Folder 629 |
Newspaper Clippings, 1941-1943 |
| Folder 630 |
Newspaper Clippings, Lyceum-Concerts Events, 1943-1944 |
| Folder 631 |
Newspaper Clippings, 1944-1945 |
| Folder 632 |
Newspaper Clippings, Guest Speakers, 1944-1945 |
| Folder 633 |
Newspaper Clippings, 1946-1947 |
Expand/collapse
Series 7. Photographs, 1905-1990.
This series includes personal photographs of Shepard and his family, as well as photographs of faculty functions, Shepard's funeral, and professional colleagues. Also included is a photograph of Shepard with Booker T. Washington during Washington's visit in 1910.
Expand/collapse
Addition of 2012, 1939-1947.
Arrangement: alphabetical
The addition of 2012 is composed of correspondence.