*The founding of Kittrell College is celebrated on this date in 1886. This was a two-year historically black college located in Kittrell, North Carolina.
Kittrell college was associated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church as Kittrell Normal and Industrial School. It was founded to train underprivileged blacks as teachers and artisans. Always financially strapped, it closed in 1931; reopened in 1934; it operated until 1948. It served as a high school (1953-65) and again as a college (1953-75) before closing for good. In the 1970s, the school also faced an investigation into the misallocation of federal money and failed to fund-raise enough money to erase debts.
All three buildings from Duke University, including the library, were destroyed by a fire in 1972. Six students were expelled for their alleged connection with the arson. There was also a fire in the business office in March 1973. The last class graduated in 1975, and the school was disbanded shortly after. In 1979, the campus became a Federal Jobs Corps Center, which has remained in place. Enrollment at closure was approximately 400.
After the college closed, many of its facilities became the Kittrell Job Corps Center campus. About 400 students learn trades or prepare themselves by working toward going to a four-year college. Many traders, including furniture making, culinary, and electronics, are taught there. Each quarter many students graduate and take on a trade or go on to college. Pee Wee Kirkland - is a former street basketball player who played on the school's basketball team and averaged 41 PPG.
Black American Colleges and Universities:
Profiles of Two-Year, Four-Year, & Professional Schools
by Levin Hill, Pub., Gale Group, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-864984-
