B

Organized in December 1973 in Greensboro, N.C., the North Carolina Alumni and Friends Coalition (NCAFC) sought to strengthen the historically black universities and colleges in North Carolina, broaden African Americans' access to higher education in the state, and eliminate vestiges of the segregated system of public higher education that left predominately African American universities underfunded. NCAFC's membership comprised educators, students, community leaders, and the alumni associations of the five predominately African American universities of the University of North Carolina system (Fayetteville State University, Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Winston-Salem State University, and North Carolina Central University). Sarah M. Bell-Lucas was committee chair of the NCAFC Banquet and Publicity Committee, 1975-1982.

D

The Durham Fact-Finding Conference, a congress of African American leaders in business, education, and religion, was held three times--7-9 December 1927, 17-19 April 1929, and 16-18 April 1930--at the North Carolina College for Negroes (later North Carolina Central University) in Durham, N.C.

E

Historian and civic leader Helen Grey Edmonds was born in Lawrenceville, Va., on 3 December 1911 to John and Ann Edmonds. From 1941 until her retirement in 1977, she held faculty and administrative positions at the North Carolina College for Negroes (later, North Carolina College at Durham, and then, North Carolina Central University) including dean of the graduate school and chair of the History Department. Edmonds was the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. at Ohio State University and the first African American woman to become a graduate school dean in the United States.
In 1948, Alfonso Elder became the second president of the North Carolina College for Negroes (renamed the North Carolina College at Durham in 1947 and North Carolina Central University in 1969). He served in that position until his retirement in 1963.

N

The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is a college athletic conference that was founded in 1912 as the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association. It is the oldest African American athletic conference in the nation. North Carolina Central University (NCCU), then North Carolina College for Negroes, joined the CIAA in 1928.
In 1909, James E. Shepard founded the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race. The school was later known as North Carolina College for Negroes (1925-1946), North Carolina College at Durham (1947-1968), and, beginning in 1969, North Carolina Central University. North Carolina Central University was the first state-funded liberal arts college for African Americans in the United States.
The graduate program in Public Health Education at North Carolina College for Negroes (North Carolina College for Negroes (1925-1946), then North Carolina College at Durham (1947-1968), and later North Carolina Central University (1969- )) was developed in 1945 by the founder of the College, James E. Shepard, with the assistance of M.J. Rosenau, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina. The establishment of the program came out of a concern for disparities in health status between black and white Americans.

S

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.