Epilogue

The epilogue reveals the importance of placing African American black college presidents in an historical context. I re-emphasize the role of a black college president as more than an administrator of an institution but a race leader to his community. I also explain the creation of “moderation” in North Carolina and how Shepard help create this approach to the race issue prior to the legal battles surrounding school integration during the 1950s. Finally, I examine how Shepard’s legacy at North Carolina Central University has lasted well into the twenty-first century. This lasting impact is seen in the theory of the “Central Way” of doing things at the school today. This approach is largely based on the foundation of “moral education” that Shepard created in the early to mid-twentieth century.

“Change the Man and the Environments Will Be Changed by Man”

This chapter examines the creation of the National Religious Training Institute and Chautauqua (NRTIC), while also revealing a shift in Shepard’s approach to racial issues in North Carolina at the turn of the twentieth century. I analyze relationships that Shepard built with Benjamin Newton Duke and the Duke family and other philanthropists. Moreover, I discuss Shepard’s position on the Washington/Du Bois debate. Shepard is considered by scholars of NCC as a colleague of Washington while also garnering the respect of Du Bois. I reveal the influence and respect that Shepard had within North Carolina as NRTIC shifted from a private to a public entity and became the first publicly funded black college in the South that focused primarily on liberal arts education.

Behind Enemy Lines with No Beachhead

This chapter examines the changing political awareness of Shepard after he became president of NCC. Moreover, this chapter evaluates Shepard’s role in the early civil rights movement in the Durham, North Carolina, area and how he was affected by the outcome of many protests that took place. Most important, this section tackles the idea of a “conservative” African American leader, such as a Booker T. Washington during the early twentieth century.

Creating an Intellectual Partnership While Easing the White Man’s Burden

This chapter examines the faculty that Shepard was able to recruit to NCC during the height of the Jim Crow period. It also focuses on Shepard’s desire to elevate the race by hiring qualified faculty of all races who had the ability to train their students to be critical thinkers, while also using their skills in a pragmatic manner. In this chapter I argue that Shepard understood the role of a highly qualified faculty, not only in their capacity as educators but also as researchers. For example, it was with Shepard’s blessings that Dr. John Hope Franklin was able to begin the first draft of his landmark work, From Slavery to Freedom, while he served on the faculty at North Carolina College for Negroes. I also argue that Shepard’s faculty and invited speakers were appointed or invited not only to provide “book knowledge” but also to offer training for his students in becoming moral social activists for the race.

“Don’t Crash the Gate but Stand on Your Own Feet!”

Scholars often consider the Brown decision of 1954 as the chief legal victory for African Americans in the twentieth century. Although the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s legal team achieved their goal of gaining access to public education for black citizens, historians studying this movement generally praise the outcome of Brown while not focusing on the unintended consequences of that victory. Such circumstances as the ultimate demise of many southern-based black institutions in the name of integration. Researchers have often labelled the leaders of such institutions as obstructionist, gradualists, accommodationist or even worse, “Uncle Toms.” Much of this criticism came from individuals who did not carry the burden of leading either a southern-based institution or community during the early 1900s. Despite these negative labels, black college administrators such as Shepard were responsible for creating a southern black professional class, and future Civil Rights leaders through their institutions of higher learning. Consequently, this essay will explore how Shepard navigated the currents of southern white supremacy, and northern black radicalism while creating an institutional legacy that remains today despite his “gradualist” approach during the long Civil Rights Movement.

Are You For Me or Against Me?

This chapter discusses Shepard’s role as chair of the Negro Republican Party in the state of North Carolina. Such a position for an African American college president during this time could have easily been the death blow to either his career or his school. However, for Shepard this move appeared to create more allies from within both the black and white communities. While serving as chair of the Negro Republican Party, Shepard maintained alliances and friendships with liberal white southerners who were now turning to the Democratic Party for leadership. This phenomenon is best illustrated in his relationship with Frank Porter Graham (president of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Democratic Senator from North Carolina).

Introduction

The introduction provides an overview of the research and places James Edward Shepard in historical context by analyzing the discourse of race relations in North Carolina. I examine the dialogue of black Durham’s participation in the “race issue” of the early twentieth century and evaluate black higher education throughout the United States during this time period. I discuss the famous Washington versus Du Bois debate. This chapter also presents the main argument of the manuscript--that black college presidents of the early twentieth century were more than academic leaders. They were race leaders, as can be seen in the case of Dr. James Edward Shepard. For these presidents the real debate was not the struggle between liberal arts and vocational education but “what was the most practical way to uplift the Negro Race.”

The Emergence of a Black Leader during the Age of Jim Crow and Black Racial Uplift in North Carolina

This chapter focuses on Shepard’s early education and career as a druggist, tax collector, cofounder of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, and superintendent of the International Sunday School Association. I also emphasize his “radical” approach to race relations in Durham at the turn of the twentieth century. By investigating these topics, I develop a clearer understanding of Shepard’s style of leadership as the eventual president of the North Carolina College for Negroes (NCC).