Running head: Higher Education in the State of Georgia

Historiography Narrative
Higher Education in the State of Georgia

Kirstie Harsha
EDLD 7432 History of Higher Education
Georgia Southern University
July 14, 2015

Historiography Narrative: Higher Education in the State of Georgia

Higher Education in the State of Georgia

The state of Georgia has a long and wide history of higher education dating back to the 18 th
century with the founding of the University of Georgia in 1785 as the first institution of higher learning in
the state. Governance of the institutions have changed from church to church as well as new governing
bodies have been created to hold the institutions to a high standard of accountability. Georgia has a wide
array of technical colleges, colleges, and universities to meet the needs of all types of students. While the
institutions have changed names countless times, the tradition and history of the schools are ever evolving
to fit the students.

Agricultural Schools
In 1906, the General Assembly of Georgia passed Public Law 448, better known as the Perry Act.
The Perry Act divided the state of Georgia into twelve districts that would create an agricultural and
mechanical school for each district. The agricultural and mechanical schools were secondary schools
designed to prepare rural life for farm life (A Century of Success, 1906). The districts were as followed:
First District A & M School in Statesboro, Ga
Second District A & M School in Tifton, Ga
Third District A & M School in Americus, Ga
Fourth District A & M School in Carrollton, Ga
Fifth District A & M School in Monroe, Ga
Sixth District A & M School in Barnesville, Ga
Seventh District A & M School in Powder Springs, Ga
Eight District A & M School in Madison, Ga
Ninth District A & M School in Clarkesville, Ga
Tenth District A & M School in Granite Hill, Ga
Eleventh District A & M School in Douglas, Ga
Twelfth District A & M School in Cochran, Ga

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Higher Education in the State of Georgia

Seven of the twelve A & M schools would go be converted into different schools with the creation of the
University System of Georgia.

Civil War and Reconstruction Era

The Civil War brought about great destruction to the state of Georgia. Shermans March to the
Sea brought destruction from Atlanta to Savannah General Sherman did not spare colleges (Shermans
March, para. 3). The University of Georgia closed in October of 1863 and reopened in January of 1866.
When the university reopened the Morrill Act (Land Grant College Act) had been enacted funding the
College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts that opened in 1872 (Dendy, L., para. 9). The grant was
originally set up to establish institutions is each state that would educate people in agriculture, home
economics, mechanical arts, and other professions that were practical at the time (Lightcap, B., para. 1).
Oglethorpe University was also affected by the Civil War. The students of Oglethorpe University became
soldiers, its endowment was lost in Confederate bonds, and its buildings were used as barracks and
hospitals. The school closed its doors in 1862. Oglethorpe University temporarily relocated to Atlanta,
Ga. The change of location during the Reconstruction era proved to be too much for the school, and again
in 1872, Oglethorpe University closed its doors (In Depth History, para. 4).

Womens Colleges
The state of Georgia has a long history of colleges specifically for female students. Many of these
female institutions provided the state of Georgia and the United States of America with firsts in higher
education. A charter for LaGrange Female Academy (LaGrange, Ga, para. 3) was signed at the state
capitol in 1831. LaGrange Female Academy was governed and owned by the United Methodist Church
and is the second college to be founded in Georgia (University of Georgia being the first), and the oldest
private college in the state. The academy gained the power to confer degrees to its female students in
1847. In 1851, LaGrange Female Academy moved locations for a large white house to its present location
on the Hill, the highest point in LaGrange, Ga, and changed its name to LaGrange Female Institute. The

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Higher Education in the State of Georgia

Methodist Episcopal Church South became the owners of the institute in 1856 (LaGrange College
Mission, History para. 2). Georgia Female College was charted in 1836, but officially opened in 1839, in
Macon, Ga. By virtue of being alphabetically the first in line, Catherine (Brewer) Benson was the first
woman to receive her degree from the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women,
Georgia Female College - Class of 1840. With the changing of hands from the Methodist Episcopal
Church to the Church of the South in 1843, Georgia Female College became Wesleyan Female College
(History of the College, para. 3). Wesleyan Female College students are responsible for founding the first
and second female-only societies the Adelphean Society (Alpha Delta Pi Fraternity) and the
Philomathean Society (Phi Mu Fraternity) (Highlights in Alpha Delta Pi History, 1851 and 1852). The
school shortened its name to Wesleyan College in 1917. Wesleyan College is still a female only, private
college and is the oldest member of the prestigious Seven Sisters of the South colleges (Montgomery,
2006, pp. 23-26). In 1889, the Decatur Female Seminary opened in a rented three-story house, with a
class of 60 female students. Col. George Scott funded the first permanent building for the seminary and in
1891 the Presbyterian Synod of Georgia renamed the school Agnes Scott Institute in honor of his
mother (Decatur Female Seminary, para. 1). Agnes Scott Institute obtained a charter in 1906 and became
Agnes Scott College. Agnes Scott College was the first institute of higher education in the state of
Georgia to obtain regional accreditation (History & Traditions, para. 3). Cherokee Baptist Female College
was founded in 1873. The schools name changed in 1877 to Shorter Female College because of a large
financial contribution from Alfred and Martha Shorter. The school moved to its current location in 1910
outside of Rome, Ga (About Shorter University, para. 5). In 1922 Georgia Normal and Industrial College
in Milledgeville, Ga changed its name to reflect its new school Georgia State College for Women. After
World War II, the school suffers from a significant drop in enrollment because women now want to attend
a co-educational institution. Georgia State College for Women began its first graduate program, a Mast of
Education degree, in 1957 (About Georgia College, para. 5).

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Higher Education in the State of Georgia

Co-Educational Universities
Co-educational universities did not exist before World War I. Georgia had a long history of
strictly all female and all male institutions until this time. Most institutions went from having all male
students to admitting female students, while some went from all female students to admitting male
students. Discussion of co-education happened at the University of Georgia in the late 1890s. Female
students could enroll in summer classes for teacher training in 1903, but this did not grant them regular
admission. In September of 1918, the Board of Trustees at the University of Georgia agreed to admit
female students. These students were not given the same quality of housing as the male students and
many female students were forced to live in boarding houses and private homes (Chambers, L., para. 2).
Georgia Institute of Technology began admitting female students in 1952 (Georgia Tech History and
Traditions, para. 4). The next three institutions were all female institutions that decided to become coeducational and admit male students to its school. LaGrange Female College began discussing admitting
male students to the school in 1934. The Board of Trustees did not officially admit male students until
1953 (LaGrange College Mission, History para. 2). In 1950, the Board of Regents declared that Georgia
State Womens College in Valdosta, Ga would become co-educational and would be renamed Valdosta
State College (History, para. 7). Short College officially became co-educational in 1957, although the
school had already graduated its first male student in 1953 (Bell, D., Fun and little-known facts about
Shorter para. 2).

University System of Georgia

The Reorganization Act of 1931 was passed by the Georgia General Assembly and called for the
Board of Regents to oversee the higher education in the state of Georgia consisting of twenty-six colleges
and universities. Over the next three years, the Board of Regents closed numerous colleges, opened two
new institutions, and eventually contained eighteen colleges and universities to govern. The twelve
district agriculture and mechanical schools closed, with seven of the twelve being converted into other
institutions - First District to South Georgia Teachers College, Second District to South Georgia

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Higher Education in the State of Georgia

Agriculture and Mechanical College, Third District to State Agriculture and Normal College, Fifth
District to Georgia Vocational and Trades School, Sixth District to Georgia Institute College, Eleventh
District to South Georgia State College, and Twelfth District to Middle Georgia College. A crisis occurred
with the dismissal of Walter Cocking, the dean of the University of Georgias College of Education in
1941. As a result of the ongoing crisis, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools withdrew is
accreditation of all Georgia state-supported college for white students. In January of 1943, accreditation
was resorted to the white colleges. A period of growth for the University System of Georgia occurred after
World War II when the GI Bill was passed. In 1947, 25,000 students, 12,500 of them GIs, enrolled in an
institution (Fincher, C., History para. 4).

Integration of Georgia
The fight for racial equality began long before the official admission of African-American
students to a higher education institution in the 1960s. The University of Georgia was the first institution
that was court ordered by Judge Bootle to admit two African-American students in 1961. With the court
order, this ended 160 years of desegregation at the university (Hatfield, E., Breakthrough at the University
of Georgia para. 1). That same year, Georgia Institute of Technology granted admission to three AfricanAmerican students (Georgia Tech History and Traditions, para. 4). Mercer Universitys Board of Trustees
created a special committee to study desegregation at its school. The committee found "neither Mercer,
nor any other Georgia Baptist institution should adopt such a policy [of desegregation] at this time". In
1963, Mercer University admitted Sam Jerry Oni of Ghana, Africa. The universitys trustees voted to
admit qualified students regardless of race (Mercer History, Mercer in the Twentieth Century, 1963). That
same year (1963), Emory University admitted its first African-American undergraduate student Mercer
University had previously admitted an African American student into its dental school in 1962
(Chambers, L., Integration at Emory University para. 1). West Georgia College was the first institution to
integrate its school without a court order by university president, James Boyd. President James Boyd
invited Lillian Williams to attend West Georgia College in 1964 (University of West Georgia, Senior

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Higher Education in the State of Georgia

College para. 3). Berry College announced it would admit three African-American students that same
year - Evelyn Hamilton, Marisue Harrison, and Frank Twyman Jr. The three students did not live in the
dormitories because the college did not want to start a conflict with shared-housing (Berrys First Black
Students). The Womens College of Georgia admitted Celestine Hill, its first African-American Student,
in 1964 (About Georgia College, 1964). Integration of higher education institutions in Georgia took an
unexpected turn in 1972. Twenty-nine white students filed a law suit against Fort Valley State College.
The school allegedly discriminated against admission and hiring to the white students as it is historical
an African-American school. Judge Wilbur Owens ordered the Board of Regents to submit a plan for the
desegregation. Several white students enrolled at the institution the following year.

Technical Schools
The origin of technical school can be traced back to the days of agriculture and mechanical
schools of 1906. 1948 was the first year in which a school was officially named a technical school, the
Technical Institute (Bennett, 1998, p. 4). In the following years, technical schools began to be seen across
the state of Georgia. House Bill 1187, known as the A+ Education Reform Act, was passed and enacted in
2000. The A+ Education Reform Act changed the names of technical institutes in the state of Georgia to
technical colleges (A Brief History, para. 7). This bill effect ten technical institutions listed as follows:
Albany Technical Institute became Albany Technical College
Altamaha Technical Institute became Altamaha Technical College
Athens Area Technical Institute became Athens Technical College
Atlanta Technical Institute became Atlanta Technical College
Columbus Area Vocational Technical School became Columbus Technical College
DeKalb Technical Institute became DeKalb Technical College
Gwinnett Technical Institute became DeKalb Technical College
North Georgia Technical Institute became North Georgia Technical College

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Ogeechee Technical Institute became Ogeechee Technical College

South Georgia Vocational School became South Georgia Technical College
Governor Perdue signed a bill in 2008 that officially changed the governing body for technical school
from the Department of Technical and Adult Education to the Technical College System of Georgia (A
Brief History, para. 10).
The state of Georgia helped to pave the way for higher education not only for the southern states,
but for the entire country. Having different types of higher education in the state of Georgia allows for a
diverse learning environment. Each institution is full of history and traditions that will no doubt expand
and change over the next decade and century. With higher education history dating back to the 18 th
century, the state of Georgia has come far from its beginnings and will continue to evolve in future wars,
events, and eras.

References
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