First president of Jackson State University 1877-1894
Dr. Zachary T. Hubert
First Black president of Jackson State University 1911-1927
ABOUT JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY
Jackson State University, founded in 1877, is a historically Black, high research activity university located in Jackson, the capital city of Mississippi. Jackson State’s nurturing academic environment challenges individuals to change lives through teaching, research and service. Officially designated as Mississippi’s Urban University, Jackson State continues to enhance the state, nation and world through comprehensive economic development, health care and technological and educational initiatives. The only public university in the metropolitan area, Jackson State is located next to downtown with five satellite locations throughout the metro area.
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of Jackson State University, an HBCU and comprehensive urban research university, is to provide quality teaching, research and service at the baccalaureate, master’s, specialist and doctoral levels to diverse populations of students and communities using various modalities to ensure that they are technologically-advanced, ethical and global leaders who think critically and address societal problems and compete effectively.
VISION STATEMENT
Building on its historic mission of empowering diverse students to become leaders, Jackson State University will become recognized as a challenging, yet nurturing, state-of-the-art technologically infused intellectual community. Students and faculty will engage in creative research, participate in interdisciplinary and multi-instructional/organizational collaborative learning teams and serve the global community.
JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS
1877-1894: Dr. Charles Ayer
1894-1911: Dr. Luther G. Barrett
1911-1927: Dr. Zachary T. Hubert
1927-1940: Dr. B. Baldwin Dansby
1940-1967: Dr. Jacob L. Reddix
1967-1984: Dr. John A. Peoples, Jr.
1984-1991: Dr. James A. Hefner
1991-1992: Dr. Herman B. Smith Jr. (interim)
1992-1999: Dr. James E. Lyons Sr.
1999-2000: Dr. Bettye Ward Fletcher (interim)
2000-2010: Mr. Ronald Mason, Jr., J.D. 2010: Dr. Leslie Burl McLemore (interim)
2011-2016: Dr. Carolyn W. Meyers
2016-2017: Dr. Rod Paige (interim)
2017-2020: Dr. William B. Bynum Jr.
2020-2023: Mr. Thomas K. Hudson, J.D.
2023: Dr. Elayne H. Anthony (acting)
2023-2025: Dr. Marcus L. Thompson
2025-Present: Dr. Denise J. Gregory (interim)
Rev. Henry P. Jacobs, M.D. Founder of Jackson State University 1877
Henry P. Jacobs was born Samuel Hawkins on July 8, 1825, and, with the rest of his family, was held in bondage by the wealthy Dill family near Ashville, Alabama. His family had moved with the Dills from South Carolina to St. Clair County, Alabama, when he was a child. Settling near the Coosa River in the foothills of the Appalachians, the Dills owned over thirty slaves, making them among the wealthiest in the county. The young Samuel was said to be too small to work in the fields and was charged with aiding an elderly and invalid member of the family. From this man, Samuel learned how to read and write. That education had a profound impact.
By the age of thirty, Samuel had married a woman named Louisa and began a family. Planning his escape meticulously, he forged “free papers” for his wife, their three children, and two of his brothers and then took his master’s horse and buggy and fled to Canada on July 24, 1856. Twice, they were stopped and their papers examined, but they arrived safely on the Detroit River on August 19 of that year, just over three weeks and 750 miles later. On October 20, 1856, Hawkins and his brothers took the name of Jacobs. Henry P. Jacobs or “H.P.” was baptized in the Detroit River by the Reverend William Troy, who had also escaped from bondage.
Jacobs and his family eventually found refuge in Canada in the years prior to the Civil War but moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he found work as a janitor at the Michigan Normal School, now Eastern Michigan University. Jacobs enrolled his daughters in the Music School attached to the college, and they became accomplished musicians and teachers themselves.
Jacobs was ordained a Baptist preacher on September 18, 1858. Within a few years, he became the first pastor of Ypsilanti’s historic Second Baptist Church and founded a school for African American children in Ypsilanti with Michigan’s first Black principal. Jacobs was among the hosts of a historic 1863 meeting of Michigan’s African American men in Ypsilanti, which included leading Black figures, like Martin R. Delany. The meeting declared Michigan’s black men ready to fight in the Civil War but demanded that the state treat them as equal citizens, remove the word “white” from all statues, and revoke any laws “that make a distinction between us and other citizens of the state.”
Immediately after the Civil War, Jacobs returned with his family to the South, where he established a seminary for freedpeople in Natchez, Mississippi, today Jackson State University. Jacobs became one of the most important men in Mississippi during Reconstruction. He helped draft the 1867 State Constitution, was elected to the state Senate three times, served on the Natchez City Council, and was president of the Missionary Baptist Convention of Mississippi for seven years, traveling around the state setting up congregations. Jacobs also organized beneficent societies, such as the Jacobs Benevolence Association, to help freedpeople pool their money and purchase the plantations they had worked as slaves.
After breaking with the Baptist Convention, Jacobs studied medicine though no school would admit him and practiced in various black communities for years before he was given his doctorate in medicine from a college at the age of 65 in Louisville, Kentucky. As a physician, he traveled to the newly forming Black communities of Kansas and Oklahoma to serve as a doctor, healer, educator, pastor, and leader. Jacobs strived to remake America after the Civil War and lived a life of inspiring service before passing away in the early 1900s.
leader: In these times, when social burdens press heavy upon us, we rise with the ancient assurance that though we may be “pressed on every side, [we are] not crushed; [at times] perplexed, yet not in despair; [systemically and historically] persecuted, yet not abandoned; [seemingly] struck down, yet not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9)
Audience: Through peril and pressure, we endure. We will not be moved.
leader: On this 148th Founders’ Day, we remember the boldness of those once bound in chains, who with faith and fire lifted Natchez Seminary into being in 1877. Their courage carved out a sanctuary of learning.
Audience: Through peril and pressure, we endure. We will not be moved.
leader: They were teachers, prophets, pathbreakers. In times when the ground trembled beneath their feet, they planted seeds of hope that still bloom in us.
Audience: Through peril and pressure, we endure. We will not be moved.
leader: We are the harvest of their vision. The living echo of Reverend H. P. Jacobs’s dream. Their prayers are our inheritance, their faith our foundation.
Audience: Through peril and pressure, we endure. We will not be moved.
leader: From Natchez to Jackson, from Seminary to College to University, this institution has carried its lamp through storms and shadows, never extinguished, always shining.
Audience: Through peril and pressure, we endure. We will not be moved.
leader: We give thanks for alumni whose brilliance fills every field. From educators and artists, healers and builders to athletes and activists, visionaries and everyday stewards of family and faith.
Audience: Through peril and pressure, we endure. We will not be moved.
leader: We honor the faculty and staff. Those who taught through lean years and long nights, who poured knowledge and care into our students with unshaken resolve.
Audience: Through peril and pressure, we endure. We will not be moved.
leader: We lift up our administrators. May wisdom guide their steps, may courage guard their decisions, may integrity anchor their leadership in these trying times.
Audience: Through peril and pressure, we endure. We will not be moved.
leader: And we rejoice in our students. Dream-bearers and world-makers, whose promise carries us forward. May angels encircle them, and may they rise into the fullness of their calling.
ALL: For 148 years, O Lord, you have kept Jackson State University. Through fire and flood, through trial and triumph, we remain. Grant us strength to stand, courage to serve, and faith to flourish. Bless our dear old college home. Amen.
Written and Led by Dr. Ebony Lumumba, Chair and Associate Professor, Department of English and Modern Languages
founders’ day speaker
Dr. La Sonya Harris Hall Deputy Chief Administrative Officer
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris
Dr. La Sonya Harris Hall serves as the deputy chief administrative officer for Shelby County, Tennessee Mayor Lee Harris, where she provides executive leadership and oversight for key county initiatives. With over three decades of experience, she has established herself as a senior executive skilled in leading strategic change, redesigning business processes and implementing systems that drive efficiency and organizational effectiveness. Known for her collaborative leadership style, she has a proven record of cultivating strong relationships with crossfunctional stakeholders to deliver sustained results.
Dr. Hall earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Jackson State University, a Master of Public Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a doctorate from the University of Mississippi. Her leadership extends beyond government service to higher education, community engagement and nonprofit governance. She currently serves as chair of the Jackson State University Development
Foundation and has served on the Board of Directors for the Memphis in May International Festival. A proud Diamond Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Dr. Hall is also a graduate of Leadership Memphis, Leadership Tennessee and the WestStar Leadership Program. In recognition of her impact, she was named a 2023 Woman of Impact by the American Heart Association of the Mid-South and presented the C.P. Boyd Award for Leadership. A woman of faith, Dr. Hall has also served as the first lady and minister of music for Philadelphia M.B. Church in Oxford, Mississippi, for over twenty years.
In addition to her professional and civic commitments, Dr. Hall treasures her family life. She is the devoted wife of Dr. Alfred L. Hall II and the proud mother of two adult daughters: Alia Hall, a 2020 graduate of Jackson State University and educator in the Houston, Texas Independent School District, and Alencia, an aerospace engineer in Huntsville, Alabama.
PRELUDE .
PROGRAM 148th FOUNDERS’ DAY CONVOCATION
Dr. Preselfannie W. McDaniels
Interim Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs
Presiding
The Purple Carnival
University Wind Ensemble Dr. Roderick Little, Conductor
.Harry L. Alford
PROCESSIONAL
Fanfare and Processional
University Wind Ensemble
.Edward Elgar Arranged by James D. Ployhar
(Please stand for Presentation of Colors, the National Anthem, the Negro National Anthem and Invocation.)
PRESENTATION OF THE COLORS
NATIONAL ANTHEM. . The Star-Spangled Banner
University Wind Ensemble
Julia Johnson, Senior, Music Education Vocal Concentration
NEGRO NATIONAL ANTHEM
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Army and Air Force ROTC
.Francis Scott Key Arranged by William E. Davis
James Weldon Johnson J. Rosamond Johnson and James Weldon Johnson
University Wind Ensemble
Julia Johnson, Senior, Music Education Vocal Concentration
Lift ev’ry voice and sing, ‘Til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the list’ning skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on ’til victory is won.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who has brought us thus far on the way; Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
THE INVOCATION
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land.
Rev. Sapada Thomas Pastor, New Zion United Methodist Church Director, JSU Wesley Foundation Campus Ministry
(Audience is seated.)
WELCOME
GREETINGS & OCCASION
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS
SELECTION
. Jarek Peterson 2025-2026 Mister Jackson State University
.Raegan Johnson 2025-2026 JSU Student Government Association President
.Dr. Denise Jones Gregory Interim President, Jackson State University
Arranged by Robert T. Gibson
University Choir Dr. Harry Mathurin-Cecil, Director of Choral Activities
FOUNDERS’ DAY ADDRESS
LITANY.
CENTENNIAL BELL RINGING.
ALMA MATER.
Dr. La Sonya Harris Hall
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris
Dr. Ebony Lumumba Chair and Associate Professor Department of English and Modern Languages
Dr. Hilliard L. Lackey Associate Professor College of Education and Human Development
(Please stand and join in the singing of the Alma Mater. Remain standing for the Recessional.)
Jackson Fair
University Wind Ensemble
Ryan Fields, Senior, Music Performance Vocal Concentration
Pawley-Hall
BENEDICTION Rev. Sapada Thomas
THE RECESSIONAL.
.Fanfare and Recessional
University Wind Ensemble
Dr. Roderick Little, Conductor
.Edward Elgar
Arranged by James D. Ployhar
history of the bell ringing
Alumni who attended Jackson State University in the early years attested to the power of the bell. Manufactured in a Baltimore, Maryland, foundry, the exact age of the bell is not known; however, it was mounted by 1905. The bell originally hung in a tower that was located in the center of the campus, where the crosswalks from Ayer Hall, the Administration Tower Lawn, and the H. T. Sampson Library presently intersect. The bell eventually was moved to the western side of campus and later dismantled.
In the early years, the bell regulated all students. During the 1920s, Fred Gayden and Julius Wilcher were responsible for ringing the bell in accordance with the following schedule:
Weekdays
5:30 a.m. Rising
6:30 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. School opens
9:00 a.m. Classes
10:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Classes
2:00 p.m.
3:00 p.m. Dismissal
5:00 p.m. Rehearsals
7:00 p.m. Study hours begin
Weekends
9:00 a.m. Sundays Sunday School
1:00 p.m. Sundays Quiet hour
3:00 p.m. Sundays Vespers
7:00 p.m. Wednesdays Prayer meeting
While this schedule was strictly maintained, students found ways of including the bell in their pranks. Alumni of the 1920s heartily recalled a particular Halloween night when some creative students tied a cow’s tail to the bell rope. With each movement of the cow’s tail, the bell rang out. The campus was in an uproar! Students and faculty alike did not know whether they should get up, go for breakfast, remain quiet, dress for Sunday school or start a prayer meeting!
On October 23, 1977, the Centennial Bell was rededicated and enshrined as a monument to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Jackson State and the ringing of the bell for student activities during the University’s first century. It stands in front of Ayer Hall, the oldest building on campus, and rings each year in honor of Founders’ Day.
JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY key MILESTONES
1877 Founded in Natchez, Mississippi, as the Natchez Seminary, operating under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York. Twenty formerly enslaved people enrolled to become ministers and teachers.
1882 Relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, on what is now the campus of Millsaps College, and renamed Jackson College.
1885 Construction began on the site now home to the University’s main campus.
1924 First degree awarded.
1934 American Baptist Home Mission Society withdrew support; move toward state assistance began.
1940 Renamed Mississippi Negro Training School. The state Institutions of Higher Learning expanded curriculum to a four-year teacher education program.
1944 Renamed Jackson College for Negro Teachers. First graduating class under state support received Bachelor of Science degrees in education.
1967 Renamed Jackson State College.
1970 Phillip Gibbs and James Green are killed and a dozen others wounded at Alexander Hall by city police and highway patrolmen. John R. Lynch Street was closed through campus, and Commencement was canceled.
1974 Renamed Jackson State University.
1975 Jake Ayers, Sr., filed a lawsuit on behalf of his son, a Jackson State student, and Mississippi’s statesupported HBCUs in order to increase and equalize funding.
1979 Designated Mississippi’s Urban University by the State Institutions of Higher Learning.
1991 After twenty-six years, $500 million Ayers lawsuit settled with the State of Mississippi, sparking unprecedented growth for Mississippi’s HBCUs.
1999 Landmark Jackson Heart Study began the largest investigation of cardiovascular disease among African Americans.
2000 The Mississippi Learning Institute, a city-state partnership with an emphasis on math and reading, is created, and the Mississippi e-Center @ JSU, a technological hub, is established.
2010 Civil rights corridor established along John R. Lynch Street featuring the historic COFO Civil Rights Education Center as well as the retail and residential development One University Place.
2015 JSU 101 Capitol Street campus opened in downtown Jackson.
2016 JSU hosted First Lady Michelle Obama as spring commencement speaker.
2021 President Thomas Hudson unveils the Elevate Jackson State Strategic Plan.
2021 JSU received the successful decennial review of its regional accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
2021 JSU is awarded an $11.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities to study minority health and health disparities.
2022 JSU receives two National Park Services grants totaling $650K for the preservation of Ayer Hall and the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) Center.
2022 JSU partners with Microsoft TechSpark Initiative to expand cybersecurity readiness program.
2023 Jackson State University and Jackson Public School District partner on the Jackson Middle College (JMC) Program. The JMC is a dual enrollment program birthed by the collaboration between JSU and JPS faculty and administrations. High school students will specialize in mathematics education to address the need for math teachers and educators in JPS.
2024 The College of Health Sciences at Jackson State University (JSU) launched the Wellness on Wheels mobile lab, a state-of-the-art unit, to reduce health disparities in Mississippi by delivering critical services — including speech, language, hearing and public health screenings — directly to residents.
2025 Jackson State University awarded its first bachelor’s degrees in public health and supply chain management.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING
Dr. Alfred Rankins, Jr., Commissioner of Higher Education
BOARD MEMBERS
Gee Ogletree, President
Dr. Steven Cunningham, Vice President
Amy Arrington
Donald Clark Jr.
Dr. Ormella Cummings
Jerry L. Griffith
James H. (Jimmy) Heidelberg
Teresa Hubbard
Bruce Martin
Hal Parker
Gregory Rader
Charlie Stephenson
JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY EXECUTIVE CABINET
Dr. Denise Jones Gregory, Interim President
Dr. Preselfannie W. McDaniels, Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Ashley Robinson, Vice President and Director of Athletics
Howard Brown, Jr., Vice President of Business & Finance/Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Vance Siggers, Executive Director of Campus Operations
Van Gillespie, Esq., Chief of Staff
Alla Jeanae Frank, Special Assistant to the President and Chief Transformation Officer
Onetta Starling Whitley, J.D., General Counsel
Dr. Deborah Dent, Chief Information Officer of Information Technology
Sloan D. Cargill, Vice President of Institutional Advancement & External Affairs
Dr. Almesha L. Campbell, Vice President of Research and Economic Development
Dr. Jonas Owen Vanderbilt, Jr., Vice President of Student Affairs & Interim Vice President of Enrollment Management
Dr. Tangelia Kelly, Chief Communications Officer and Executive Director of University Communications
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Dr. Patrice Jenkins, Co-Chairman
Dr. Arianna C. Stokes, Co-Chairman
Frankie Adams
Dr. Lisa Beckley-Roberts
Yolanda T. Brown
Alla Jeanae Frank
Dr. LaTonia Harper
Kamesha Hill
Anthony Howard
Dr. Tangelia Kelly
Dr. Hilliard Lackey
Dr. Preselfannie W. McDaniels
Dr. Martha McRavin-Oliver
Victor Mills
Andrea Mozee
Dr. Brandi Newkirk-Turner
Dr. Dion Porter
Kentrice Rush
Major Justin Smith
Don Spann
Dr. Jennifer Young Wallace
Sherree White
Dr. Carlos Wilson
Carol Woodson
MACE BEARER
Van Gillespie, Esq.
CHIEF MARSHAL
Dr. Carlos Wilson, Division of Graduate Studies
ASSISTANT CHIEF MARSHAL
Dr. Dion Porter, College of Education and Human Development
FACULTY MARSHALS
Dr. Edith Davidson, College of Business
Dr. Kanesha Bennett, College of Education and Human Development
Dr. Whitney Perkins, College of Health Sciences
Prof. Mark Geil, College of Liberal Arts
Dr. Jessica Murphy, College of Science, Engineering and Technology
