The Albany State University campus was awash with bright blue and gold during a weeklong celebration of Founder’s Day and the school’s 119th anniversary.
Albany State students, faculty and boosters gathered in the Billy C. Black Auditorium for the Founder’s Day Convocation last week. Following the annual program, officials and family members placed wreaths at the gravesite of founder Joseph Winthrop Holley and William Henry Dennis Sr., who was named president in the 1950s.
Holley, a South Carolina native whose parents were former slaves, was informed of the bleak conditions in the lives of the region’s black residents in the writings of W.E.B. DuBois and, reportedly encouraged by Booker T. Washington, moved to Albany to establish a school.
Credit: Alan Mauldin
Credit: Alan Mauldin
In 1903, Holley purchased land in the city and founded the Albany Bible and Training Institute, which, initially, a handful of students attended.
Exciting the crowd, Portia Holmes Shields, Albany State’s seventh, and first female, president, recounted some of the founder’s struggles and triumphs during the early years at the institution that began offering grade-school level classes focusing on religious studies, agriculture and homemaking skills, and today offers graduate degrees.
On one occasion, Shields said, Holley was offered a cow by a white farmer. Talking the farmer into doubling the offer, the president chose two that had just given birth so when he led them out they were followed by their calves, giving him a total of four cows. On the way back to campus, Holley stopped at the residence of a black farmer, who offered a pig because he could not give a cow, as Holley sought to have the black population invested in the school as well.
“The money had to come from the bankers of Albany,” Shields said. “He was able to make them see the advantages (of the school) for themselves. He built a Bible school at first, because people around here would accept it.”
After his initial success, however, Holley worked to improve educational opportunities, she said.
In 1917, the state of Georgia began providing financial support, and Albany State expanded from basic education to a two-year college as the Georgia Normal and Agricultural College. The school later joined the University System of Georgia, and in 1943 was granted four-year status with a third name: Albany State College.
Holley had to deal with the times, when some white residents opposed educating black students, and on one occasion armed himself to protect the students, Shields said.
“Dr. Holley’s full measure was tested when he heard there were Klansmen on horses on the way to the campus,” she said. “He (grabbed) his rifle.
“I call this inspired genius; he got the job done.”
Finally, Shields encouraged ASU students to stick to their studies and fulfill Holley’s legacy.
“My dad used to say, ‘It’s not to the swift, but to we that endureth to the end,’” she said. “Maybe you do it in four, maybe five years and maybe six years, but please persevere to the end.”
During the convocation, current President Marion Fedrick presented plaques to 14 employees who have been working at Albany State for more than 25 years, an annual tradition.
Credit: Albany Herald
Credit: Albany Herald
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