North Carolina Central University inaugurated its Centennial Year with a bell-ringing ceremony followed by an observance at B.N. Duke Auditorium in honor of Charter Day, the 100th anniversary of the day the school was officially incorporated. 
 
Mr. Timothy McIntosh drove down from Maryland to call the assembly to order by ringing the same bell he sounded five times a day as a student from 1958 to 1962. 
 
“If it were not for NCCU, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today,” said McIntosh.  “And I hope the university continues to keep its closeness and concern for the students.”
 
NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms spoke of the symbolic significance of the bell in the African-American community and the special place the campus bell holds in the hearts of alumni and former faculty and staff.
 
“This bell signaled opportunity, but also certainty, as it tolled like clockwork, letting the students know they were drawing nearer to a better life every hour of every day,” said Nelms.
 
In a filled B.N. Duke Auditorium, guest speaker and alumnus, Dr. Dudley E. Flood offered a humorous look at life on campus in the 1950s and particularly, the “Spirit of NCC.”  He said the “Spirit” was about the students relying on one other to get through and learning how to comport themselves to succeed in the wider world.  He said they were also instilled with the sense that “life would be about service to humanity.”
 
Intermingled with the speeches and the proclamations of Charter Day from Bill Bell, mayor of Durham, and Rev. Michael Page, chair of the Durham County Commission, were wonderful solos performed by NCCU music major Jasmyn Cooper and Richard Banks, assistant professor in the music department.
 
In a dramatic moment, descendants and family members of the original signatories of the Charter of Incorporation of the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race, the precursor of North Carolina Central University, rose and signed a replica of the document on stage.
 
The original incorporators included Dr. James E. Shepard, founder; Professor William G. Pearson, principal of Hillside Park High School; physicians Charles H. Shepard and Aaron M. Moore; and Mr. John Merrick, president, and Mr. Charles C. Spaulding, general manager and secretary, of the North Carolina Mutual & Provident Association. 
 
The descendants and family members on stage included Mr. Isaac Hughes Green, Sr., great grandson of James E. Shepard; Mr. Charles Watts, Jr., and Mr. Joseph M. Sansom, great grandsons of Dr. Aaron Moore and Mr. John Merrick; Mr. Aaron L. Spaulding, namesake and relative of Dr. Aaron Moore and Mr. C.C. Spaulding; Mr. Clinton A. Shearin, Sr., grandson of Mr. Charles C. Spaulding; Mr. Samuel A. Shepard, Jr., a relative of Dr. Charles H. Shepard; and Mr. Eugene Turner, grandnephew of Mr. William G. Pearson.
 
Erskine Bowles, president of The University of North Carolina said “I think today’s re-enactment is a fitting kickoff to what will be a yearlong celebration of the Centennial.”

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