Shaw University is a private Baptist historically black university in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. Founded on December 1, 1865, Shaw University is the oldest HBCU to begin offering courses in the Southern United States. The school had its origin in the formation of a theological class of freedmen in the Guion Hotel. The following year it moved to a large wooden building, at the corner of Blount and Cabarrus Streets in Raleigh, where it continued as the Raleigh Institute until 1870. In 1870, the school moved to its current location on the former property of Confederate General Barringer and changed its name to the Shaw Collegiate Institute, in honor of Elijah Shaw. In 1875, the school was officially chartered with the State of North Carolina as Shaw University.
The main campus resides on 24 acres in the East Raleigh-South Park Historic District in downtown Raleigh. Shaw also owns and operates a 35-acre farm located on Rock Quarry Rd.[6] Historical buildings, which either currently (Estey Hall) or previously (Shaw Hall) reside on campus, were designed by the famed Raleigh architect George S. H. Appleget and feature a Second Empire and Italianate architectural styles. Other architectural styles present on campus are Leonard Hall, a twin-turret Romanesque Revival style building, and several buildings featuring Brutalist style architectures.
Shaw is known for many significant historical achievements. It was the first university to offer a four-year medical school, the first to offer a school of pharmacy, and the first to offer a law school for freed slaves in the United States.The first building of higher education for African American women in the country was built and still resides on the campus of Shaw. Shaw is the alma mater of one United Nations General Assembly President, three founders of other North Carolina HBCUs, and numerous entertainers, lawyers, politicians, and educators.
Along with Howard University, Hampton University, Lincoln University and Virginia Union University, Shaw was a co-founding member of the NCAA Division II's Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Conference, the oldest African American athletic association in the U.S. The university has won CIAA championships in Football, Basketball (women's and men's), Tennis (women's and men's) and volleyball.
In 1867 the school consisted of two buildings, a large two-story structure and one Antebellum cabins. In 1870, it was renamed Shaw Collegiate Institute after Elijah Shaw who donated a sum of $5,000 ($110,897 in 2021) to partially fund the $13,000 ($288,331 in 2021) necessary to purchase 12 acres of land formally held by General Barringer (where Tupper and his wife once hid in the cornfields from a KKK lynch mob) and erect Shaw Hall, the first building on campus. Shaw Hall was built with a 165-foot frontage, four stories high and possessing a tower, was the most commodious school building in all of North Carolina at that time. It provided instruction services, a library, and lodging.
In 1873, Estey Hall was built in honor of Deacon Jacob Estey and sons of Brattleboro, Vermont, who gave $8,000 ($187,365 in 2021) toward its construction. Estey Hall was the first building constructed in the U.S. for the higher education of African-American women. Estey Hall was devoted to training women in cooking, sewing, music, and the like. Henry Martin Tupper bought the material from which the women made garments and he himself sold the garments in an effort to pay for the cost of the material and other expenses.
In 1879, a third major building was erected – a chapel and dining hall called the Greenleaf Building. It was named for Orick H. Greenleaf of Springfield, MA, a yearly liberal contributor. The upper part of the building was accessible by stairs. Doors on either side of the tower provided entrance to the dining room. At the right of the chapel was a small room and at the left a library. A storeroom existed under the stairway. Funds saved from tuition and board were used to build this structure at a total cost of $6,000. These were augmented by contributions from O.H. Greenleaf, Captain Ebenezer Morgan of Groton, CT, and Deacon O.B. Grant of Stonington, CT.
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