North Carolina Central University will begin celebrating 100 years of service to North Carolina with its Charter Day observance on Tuesday, June 30, 2009.  A bell-ringing ceremony at 9:30 a.m. will precede the main program which will begin at 10 a.m. in the B.N. Duke Auditorium.  
 
The Charter Day bell ringing will take place at the west end of the Edmonds Classroom Building on Campus Drive.  NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms and other program participants will then proceed to B.N. Duke Auditorium at the corner of Fayetteville and Lawson streets for the Charter Day program.

Chartered in 1909, NCCU is the nation's first state supported liberal arts college for African-Americans. The first classes were taught in 1910. The institution’s founder, Dr. James E. Shepard, served as president of the school from 1910 until his death in 1947. He was known to ring the campus bell to wake his students in the morning, and announce meals, class changes and assemblies.
 
“He was a stickler for time,” said Robert Lawson, alumnus and campus photographer. “The people in the community set their watches by that bell.” There was also a tradition of ringing the bell after every sports victory.  
 
The Charter Day program will also feature reflections by UNC Board of Governors member Dr. Dudley E. Flood, and a re-enactment of the charter signing by descendents and others representing the original six signatories.

One century ago this month, the articles of incorporation for NCCU’s precursor, the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race, were signed by Dr. James E. Shepard, founder; Dr. Charles H. Shepard, the founder’s brother; Dr. Aaron M. Moore, physician; William Gaston Pearson, educator; and Durham businessmen John Merrick and Charles C. Spaulding, Sr.

The Charter Day observance is free and open to the public and the media.

To view the webcast, click here.