Bennett College is a four-year liberal arts women's college in Greensboro, North
Carolina. Founded in 1873, this historically black institution began as a normal school to provide education to newly emancipated slaves. It became a women's college in 1926 and
currently serves roughly 600 undergraduates. Bennett has been described as the
Vassar of the South, of historically black higher-education institutions in the
United States.
Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou have recently
offered public support to Bennett College.
History
Bennett's founding and coeducational years
Bennett College was founded by Albion Tourgee an activist in the second half of the 19th century who championed the cause of
racial equality. The school held its inaugural classes in the basement of Warnersville Methodist Episcopal Church North (now St.
Matthew's United Methodist) in Greensboro. At its inception, Bennett was a coeducational
school (offering both high school and college level
courses), and remained so until 1926. The year after its founding, the school became sponsored by
the Freedman's Aid Society and Southern Education
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The school remained in temporary quarters for several years, until donations
from New York businessman Lyman Bennett provided sufficient funds to build a permanent campus.
Bennett died soon thereafter, and the school was named Bennett Seminary in his honor.
In 1888, Bennett Seminary elected its first African-American school president, the Reverend
Charles Grandison. Grandison spearheaded a successful drive to have
the school chartered as a four year college in 1889. Under his direction, and the direction of the
president who followed him (Jordan Chavis), Bennett College grew from 11 undergraduate students
to a total of 251 undergraduates by 1905. The enrollment leveled out in the 1910s at roughly 300.
Reorganization as a women's college
From the Bennett College page at stateuniversity.com [1]
In 1926, Bennett College, which had long had a close working relationship with the Women's Home
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, chose to reorganize as Bennett College for Women. In the wake of
World War I, increased opportunities for women had increased the need for colleges that
would prepare young women for greater social and commercial opportunity. David Dallas Jones was
appointed the first president of the women's college -- under his leadership, the high school campus at Bennett was closed to
focus the attentions of the staff fully on expanding and enriching the college curriculum. After Jones's death, Willa B. Player assumed the presidency -- under her guidance, Bennett College became one of the first 15
four-year African American colleges to be admitted to the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools....
Bennett today
Roughly 600 students, all women and primarily of African-American descent, are enrolled in one of Bennett's 24 degree
programs. Bennett is consistently ranked among the top historically black colleges and universities, both for its academic
achievements and its relatively reasonable tuition rates. Today Bennett is reorganizing and
revitalizing its campus and academic infrastructure. Bennett's historical and official brother school is Morehouse College in Atlanta,GA.
Presidents of the College
There have been fifteen principals or presidents of Bennett College [2]
- W.J. Parker (principal) (1874 - 1877)
- Reverend Edward O. Thayer ([1877]] - 1881)
- Reverend Wilbur F. Steele - (1881 - 1889)
- Reverend Charles N. Grandison - (1889 - 1892)
- Dr. Jordan Chavis - (1892-1905)
- Reverend Silas A. Peeler - (1905 - 1913)
- Professor James E. Wallace - (1913 - 1915)
- Reverend Frank Trigg - (1915 - 1926)
- David Dallas Jones
- Dr. Willa B. Player
- Dr. Isaac H. Miller, Jr. - (1966 - ???)
- Gloria Randle Scott
- Dr. Althia F. Collins
- Dr. Charles Fuget
- Johnnetta B. Cole - (2002 - 2007)
- Julianne Malveaux (beginning June 1, 2007)
Unique academic programs
Bennett has incorporated three new programs that are aimed at increasing students' awareness of the struggles and
accomplishments of all women, especially those of African descent; and staying in-step with the ever-changing climate of today's
globally integrated society: Womanist Religious Studies Global Studies African Women's Studies
Residence halls
Referred to as Living Learning Centers, Bennett College houses its students in the following six facilities:
- Carrie Barge Hall
- Laura Cone Hall
- Robert E. Jones Hall
- Annie Merner Pfeiffer Hall
- Willa B. Player Hall
- Jessie Reynolds Hall
Student organizations
There are approximately 50 campus organizations including social, service, religious, music organizations; departmental and
special interest clubs; honor societies; and the student government association. The four historically black Greek letter
sororities- Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, and Sigma Gamma Rho- are also active on campus and govern
themselves through the Pan-Hellenic Council.
Notable alumnae
Among Bennett's more distinguished alumnae include:
- Dr. Glenora M. Putnam, the first African-American woman to serve as president of the national
YWCA
- Faye Robinson, an accomplished and internationally well-known opera singer
- Dr. Hattie Carwell, a noted research scientist and expert in the study of radiation
- Barbara Hamm, the first African-American woman to serve as a television news director in the
United States
- Patricia Brown, serving as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) as of 2004
References
See also
External links
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