Alcorn State University
 |
|
| Motto | Where Knowledge and Character Matter |
|---|---|
| Type |
Public, HBCU Land grant |
| Established | 1871 |
| President | Alfred Rankins, Jr. |
| Students | 3,730 (Fall 2016) |
| Location |
Lorman, Mississippi, U.S. 31°52′37″N 91°08′28″W / 31.87694°N 91.14111°WCoordinates: 31°52′37″N 91°08′28″W / 31.87694°N 91.14111°W |
| Campus | Rural; 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) |
| Colors | Purple and Gold |
| Athletics | NCAA Division I – SWAC |
| Nickname | Braves and Lady Braves |
| Affiliations |
APLU TMCF |
| Website | www |
 |
|
Alcorn State University (Alcorn) is a historically black comprehensive land-grant institution in Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 by the Reconstruction-era legislature to provide higher education for freedmen. It is the first black land grant college established in the United States. The university is counted as a census-designated place and had a resident population of 1,017 at the 2010 census.
The university's most famous alumnus, Medgar Evers, a civil rights activist, graduated in 1948. Students at the college were part of the mid-twentieth century civil rights struggle, working to register residents for voting and struggling to end segregation. Other alumni have been activists, politicians and professionals in Mississippi and other states. The university is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
Alcorn State University was founded at the former Oakland College, a school for whites established by the Presbyterian Church. Oakland College closed its doors at the beginning of the American Civil War because of the outbreak of war; most students enlisted in the military. When the college failed to reopen at the end of the war, the property was sold to the state of Mississippi. It renamed the facility as Alcorn University in 1871, in honor of James L. Alcorn, then the state's governor, and established it as a land grant institution and historically black college.
This was the first black land grant college in the country. Congress required that states with segregated educational institutions (as was maintained in all the former Confederacy) designate black land grant colleges in order to receive land grants monies for white colleges, as Congress had authorized the program to benefit students of all races. Alcorn University started with what are recognized as three historic buildings.
...
Wikipedia