In 1910,
the
pharmacist and religious educator Dr. James E. Shepard and a group of like-minded civic leaders established the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race, the institution known today as North Carolina Central University. Chautauqua was the name of an adult education movement hugely popular across the United States at the time. Originating at a gathering next to a lake by that name in upstate New York, the movement promoted the benefits of the liberal arts, performing arts, religious traditions and public debate. President Theodore Roosevelt hailed the movement as the “most American thing in America.” It connected communities and fostered engagement with social issues and global affairs, particularly in rural areas and among people who would not otherwise have access to such opportunities. Shepard and his supporters embraced the Chautauqua concept as a founding framework for their great ambitions for the education, health care and civic engagement of former slaves, their descendants and the Durham community. Their Chautauqua for the Colored Race was established at the edge of the historic Hayti district on a 20-acre campus donated by Brodie L. Duke, eldest son of philanthropist and industrialist Washington Duke, and with the encouragement of the Durham Merchants’ Association, precursor to today’s Durham Chamber of Commerce. Also bordering the Hayti neighborhood was Durham’s Union Station, which opened in 1905, and, a half-block away, the Biltmore Hotel, which billed itself as “America’s Finest Colored Hotel.” Situated on the rail line between Richmond and Atlanta, these conveniences and the growing reputation of the school helped Shepard’s school attract an international roster of intellectuals, artists and entrepreneurs, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Marian Anderson (1926, ’32, ’46, ’47), Paul Robeson (1941), James Weldon Johnson (1927, ’28), Zora Neale Hurston (who taught as a member of the Theatre Department faculty in 1939), Duke Ellington, A. Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King Jr. Through lectures and private consultations as well as through performances, forums and debates, their presence made a profound difference to the development of NCCU and Durham. The Chautauqua helped establish Shepard’s school and the Durham community as a major destination and incubator for international talent and thought leaders.
From its Rich Past, NCCU Draws Hints of a Future Course __________________ B y d e b o r a h c h ay a n d lo i s d e l o at c h
Chautauqua 20
NCCU NOW Fall 2012