The founding of the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (A&M) in 1875 is celebrated on this date.
Alabama A&M University is one of over 100 historically Black colleges and universities in America (HBCU). Alabama A&M of Huntsville is a land-grant university supported by state and federal funds. Its first president, Dr. William Hooper Councill, an ex-slave, established this university. The Huntsville Normal School opened on this date with an appropriation of $1,000 per year and an enrollment of 61 pupils and two teachers.
Industrial education was introduced about 1878, with such success that the State Legislature authorized a name change to the "State Normal Industrial School of Huntsville." In 1891, the school received a Federal Land Grant Fund, and its name was then changed to The State Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes. In 1919, the institution became a junior college. In 1939, the institution was permitted to offer work at the senior college level.
The first class received bachelor's degrees at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1920. In August 1946, A&M received a "Class A" rating from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and became a fully accredited member of the Association in December 1963.
On June 26, 1969, the Alabama State Board of Education adopted a resolution changing the institution's name to Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University.
Black American Colleges and Universities:
Profiles of Two-Year, Four-Year, & Professional Schools
by Levirn Hill, Pub., Gale Group, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-864984-2
