Southern University and A & M College

At the 1879 Louisiana State Constitutional Convention , African-American political leaders P. B. S. Pinchback , Theophile T. Allain , and Henry Demas proposed founding a higher education institution "for the education of persons of color ". In 1880, the Louisiana General Assembly chartered what was then called Southern University for Colored Students in New Orleans . Southern opened its doors on March 7, 1881 with 12 students. Classes were held for a time at the former Israel Sinai Temple on Calliope Street, between St. Charles and Camp Streets. [ 8 ] In 1890, the legislature designated Southern as a land grant college for blacks, in order to continue to satisfy federal requirements under the land grant program to support higher education for all students in the state, despite having a segregated system. It established an Agricultural and Mechanical department. [ citation needed ] President William McKinley speaks at Southern University in New Orleans (1901) The 1904 "Picayune Guide to New Orleans" described the university, then on the 5100 block of Magazine Street in Uptown New Orleans , as "for the education of colored persons. Coeducation is in force here. The school is excellent and the instruction of an advanced character." [ 9 ] For various reasons, including proximity to more rural Louisiana residents and pressure from white neighbors in the Tulane area, in 1914 the university moved to Scotlandville, an area just north of Baton Rouge along Scott's Bluff facing the Mississippi River . [ 10 ] Now absorbed into the capital, this area is included as a historic destination of the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail . The college's first president after the move was Joseph Samuel Clark , an African-American leader from Baton Rouge, who previously led Baton Rouge College and the Louisiana Colored Teachers Association.

[ citation needed ] In 1921, the Louisiana Constitutional Convention authorized the reorganization and expansion of Southern University; Legislative Act 100 of 1922 provided that the institution be reorganized under the State Board of Education's control. Clark continued to preside over Southern University during its resulting expansion. Student enrollment grew from 47 to 500, and two of the school's early buildings were built during this time. [ citation needed ] The Southern University Laboratory School System began operating in 1922. The Laboratory School was first accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1936 and has conferred more than 5,000 high school diplomas since its inception. [ 11 ] Clark's son Felton Grandison Clark was appointed president that year. He had been serving as a dean at Southern since 1934. The State School for the Negro Deaf and Blind was established here in 1938, under Southern University's supervision. In 1943, the university was visited by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt . F. G. Clark generated much more expansion of the university: 33 of the 114 current buildings were erected during his 30-year tenure. Student enrollment grew from 500 to nearly 10,000 by the end of his tenure. [ citation needed ] Under segregated state education, LSU Law School had refused to admit Charles J. Hatfield, III, an African American college graduate who filed a lawsuit in 1946 to gain professional education in the state. A special Louisiana Convention established a law program in 1947 at Southern University; it is now known as the Southern University Law Center . F. G. Clark expanded affiliated centers for Southern University, founding Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO, 1956) and Southern University at Shreveport (SUSLA, 1964). They were officially incorporated by the legislature into the Southern University System in 1974. [ citation needed ] In 1969, Clark retired and G. Leon Netterville was selected as president.

On November 16, 1972, in a second day of protests as students demanded to be included in determining administration policies and decisions, Denver Smith and Leonard Brown were shot during a protest outside the Old Auditorium (now the Southern University Museum of Art). The murders have never been solved, but the students were killed with buckshot, which the sheriff's deputies were using. These two students were involved with "Students United", a student activist group. The governor and sheriff's office denied that their people were responsible for the deaths. Governor Edwin Edwards ordered the campus temporarily closed, and it was patrolled by troops to keep the peace. [ 12 ] The institution continued to grow. In 1974, a special session in the Louisiana Legislature established the Southern University System , with Jesse N. Stone of Shreveport as its president. The system consists of Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge (SUBR); Southern University, New Orleans (SUNO); Southern University Law Center (SULC); Southern University Agricultural Center (SUAC); and Southern University, Shreveport (SUSLA). SUSLA is a two-year commuter college. [ citation needed ] Between 1970 and 1990, the university consistently enrolled over 10,000 students and became the nation's largest HBCU. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] Between 2004 and 2013, Southern University ranked 4th in the nation for baccalaureate -origin institution of black male doctorate recipients. [ 16 ] In 2013, the American Association of University Professors censured Southern University "for its decision during the 2011-12 school year to lay off 19 tenured professors while giving the faculty little to no say in the matter." [ 17 ] In 2021, Southern attained the R2 Carnegie Classification (Doctoral University; High Research Activity). It is one of only 11 HBCUs to be granted R2 status and the first HBCU in Louisiana in this category. [ 18 ]

Quick facts Academic rankings, Master's ... Academic rankings Master's Washington Monthly [ 19 ] 104 Regional U.S. News & World Report [ 20 ] 114–142 (South) Close Southern has six degree-granting colleges and a law school on campus: College of Education, Arts, and Humanities College of Business College of Sciences and Engineering College of Social and Behavioral Sciences College of Sciences and Agriculture College of Nursing and Allied Health Southern University Law Center The Southern University Law Center is one of only two public law schools in Louisiana. The law school is accredited by the American Bar Association and was established in 1947. The law school has approximately 700 full-time and part-time students and operates as an independent entity. [ 21 ] Southern University is the first Louisiana institution to offer degrees in philanthropic studies. [ 22 ] In 2023, the College of Nursing and Allied Health won Louisiana's nursing school of the year award given by the Louisiana Nursing Foundation for the sixth time. The college is one of only two in Louisiana to offer a PhD in Nursing and is the largest producer of African Americans with Master of Science in Nursing degrees in the nation. [ 23 ] Southern University is the only HBCU and one of six public universities in Louisiana with an engineering program . [ citation needed ] Southern University has nationally recognized Army and Navy ROTC programs. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] The Dolores Spikes Honors College is a selective non degree-granting college specifically established to provide an enhanced educational experience for undergraduates with strong academic achievements and intellectual ability. The college is named after Southern University graduate and only woman president of the institution, Dolores Richard Spikes . [ 26 ] Southern University and A&M College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). [ citation needed ]