Alcorn State University

History

Alcorn State University was the first black land grant college in the country. Mississippi's Reconstructionist legislature, dominated by Republicans sympathetic to the cause of educating the formerly enslaved, established the college on the site of Oakland College, a college that had gone defunct due to the Civil War. Alcorn University started with what is recognized as three historic buildings.

United States Senator Hiram R. Revels resigned his seat when he accepted the position as Alcorn's first president. The state legislature provided $50,000 in cash for ten successive years for the establishment and overall operations of the college. The state also granted Alcorn three-fifths of the proceeds earned from the sale of 30000 acre of land scrip for agricultural or land grant colleges under federal legislation. The land was sold for $188,928 with Alcorn receiving a share of $113,400. This money was to be used solely to support the agricultural and mechanical components of the college, which Congress wanted to develop nationally. From its beginning, Alcorn State University was a land-grant college. After a group of white Democrats known as Redeemers took over the legislature, Alcorn's appropriation was slashed by almost 90 percent, to $5,500 per year, and an all-white board of trustees was appointed.

In 1878, the name Alcorn University was changed to Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College. The university's original 225 acre of land have been expanded to develop a 1700 acre campus. The goals for the college set by the Mississippi legislature following the Reconstruction era emphasized training for blacks rather than academic education. The school, like other black schools during these years, was less a college than a vocational school intended to prepare students for the agricultural economy of the state and of most of their hometowns.

At first the school was exclusively for black males, but women were admitted in 1895. Alcorn began with eight faculty members in 1871. Today the faculty and staff number more than 500. The student body has grown from 179 mostly local male students to more than 2,933 students from all over the world.

In 1974, Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College was renamed Alcorn State University, representing the development of its programs. Governor William L. Waller signed House Bill 298 granting university status to Alcorn and the other state-supported colleges. Alcorn had already become a more diversified university, with graduate programs. It provides an undergraduate education that enables students to continue their work in graduate and professional schools, engage in teaching, and enter other professions. It also provides graduate education to equip students for further training in specialized fields.

In 1994, Jay Searcy of the Philadelphia Inquirer said that except for its football team, Evers, and "an occasional Olympic athlete," "Alcorn rarely gets mentioned outside the state of Mississippi" although attention on the university increased after Steve McNair's athletic successes.

In 2020, MacKenzie Scott donated $25 million to Alcorn State. Her 2020 donation is the second largest gift in Alcorn's history. Five years later, she donated an additional $42 million to Alcorn which is the largest gift in its history.

Presidents

Academics

Alcorn State is the second largest historically black college or university (HBCU) and the fifth largest university in Mississippi with an enrollment of approximately 3,700 undergraduate students and 600 graduate students. The university has seven schools, offering more than 50 different fields of study.

• College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences
• College of Arts and Sciences
• School of Business
• School of Education and Psychology
• School of Nursing

Alcorn State University consistently ranks among the top 25 HBCUs in the nation according to the annual U.S. News & World Report HBCU rankings.

Alcorn State University is the only HBCU in Mississippi with a comprehensive nursing program, and the first institution in Mississippi and at an HBCU nationwide offering a STEM MBA.

The Myrlie Evers-Williams Honors Program is available to highly motivated undergraduate students seeking to enhance their academic experience and leadership skills.

Locations

The main campus is located in Alcorn State University census-designated place, an unincorporated area in Claiborne County, Mississippi. The campus is often referred to as "The Reservation". It is 45 mi south of Vicksburg, 40 mi north of Natchez, and 80 mi southwest of Jackson. It is near Lorman.

The Nursing School is located in Natchez, Mississippi. The university also has technology centers at the Thad Cochran Mississippi Center for Innovation and Technology (MCITy) in Vicksburg.

Campus housing

Male residence halls include Medgar Wiley Evers Heritage Village Complex A and B, Hiram Revels Hall and Albert Lott Hall. Female residence halls include Medgar Wiley Evers Heritage Village Complex buildings C and D, John Burrus Hall, Beulah Robinson Hall, and the Female Honors Residence Hall. D Faculty housing, which is open to full time employees, and their dependents, is zoned to the Claiborne County School District. Port Gibson High School is the comprehensive high school of the district.

The county is in the district of Copiah–Lincoln Community College, and has been since 1967.

Athletics

Main article: Alcorn State Braves and Lady Braves

Alcorn State is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and participates in NCAA Division I FCS. Alcorn sponsors 15 athletic programs.

Sounds of Dyn-O-mite

Alcorn State University's marching band was founded in the 1960s; the band is known as the "Sounds of Dyn-O-mite" (SOD). Led by four or five drum majors, SOD has more than 190+ members. The band was invited to perform in the 2025 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The "World Renowned Golden Girls" (GGs) is the danceline that has been featured with SOD since its inception. Founded in 1968, they are the first danceline (no twirling batons) featured with a HBCU marching band hence why they often refer to themselves as "The Mother of HBCU dancelines."

Demographics

Alcorn State University CDP is a census-designated place (CDP) and the official name for an area covering the Alcorn State University campus, in Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States.

It first appeared as a CDP in the 2010 U.S. census. while the Fall 2019 enrollment at Alcorn State University was 3,523.

|align-fn=center 2010 2020

2020 census

Notable alumni

Politics and activism

Sports

Other fields

Notable faculty

• Melerson Guy Dunham – educator, lay minister, civil rights activist, and history; taught at Alcorn until her retirement in 1970; wrote the book Centennial History of Alcorn College

Notes

References

References

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14. Searcy, Jay. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140301084228/http://articles.philly.com/1994-11-01/sports/25868294_1_steve-mcnair-alcorn-cardell-jones A Phenom Puts The Middle Of Nowhere On The Map Alcorn State's Steve Mcnair Is An Out-of-this-world Qb In An Out-of-the-way Place. He's Getting It A Lot Of Attention.]" ''[[Philadelphia Inquirer]]''. November 1, 1994. Retrieved on May 3, 2012.
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