Bluford Library Archives: The Commencement Exercises of 1921
For 123 years, commencement has been the spring highlight for Aggie graduates, their families, and the community. In saluting the class of 1921, we can see how special commencement had already become 100 years ago. Then as now, faculty and staff were busy preparing for the 23rd annual commencement of the “Negro Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina.” Before the first Aggie homecomings took place, alumni reunions were held at commencement. Professor D. K. Cherry, chair of the entertainment committee, and Professor J. E. Reid worked to assist alumni in securing accommodation and entertainment in Greensboro.
The ceremonies were carried out as planned beginning Sunday, May 22, 1921. That afternoon, the first commencement for the former Sunday School Teachers Training Department was held. The speaker was the Rev. Charles Edwin Stewart, pastor of Ebenezer A. M. E. Church in Baltimore. Stewart, one of A&T’s greatest friends, had composed the music for “Dear A. & T.” That same afternoon, the annual baccalaureate sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. J. A. Cotton, principal of the Henderson Normal Institute in Henderson, North Carolina.
That same day, President James B. Dudley hosted a special reception for A&T’s senior class that included 100 guests. Dudley spoke proudly to the class and audience of the growth and achievements of A&T and the power of the will. It was a proud time for him as he was completing his 25th year as president of the college. Short addresses to the graduating class were also given by longtime Greensboro physician Dr. C. C. Stewart, Dr. S. P. Sebastian, (Sebastian Health Center) the A&T college physician, and George H. Mitchell.
The five members of the class of 1921 were class president Sylvester C. Robinson of Wade, North Carolina; James R. Walker of Henderson, Kentucky, who taught vocational agriculture in Ahoskie, North Carolina; Caswell P. Johnson of Greenville, North Carolina, who later became a research assistant for Harlem Laboratories in New York; John Sickler McIver of Cumnock, North Carolina, who also graduated from the Sunday School Teachers Training Department; and King Emmanuel Broadhurst of Seven Springs, North Carolina, who became a vocational agriculture teacher in Parmele, North Carolina. These five men used the class motto “Not Self but Others.” While the origin of their motto is unknown, it perfectly fits a class of Aggies who lived through a pandemic and World War I when 90 percent of A&T students were enlisted. Fifteen additional students earned industrial certificates in auto mechanics, broom-making, bricklaying, machine shop practice, and carpentry.
The bachelor’s degree commencement address was delivered Thursday, May 26, 1921, by the Rev. Dr. Plato T. Durham, dean of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. Durham spoke on the goals of the newly formed Commission on Interracial Cooperation and how the future of America depended upon cooperation between the races.
During that commencement week, more than 100 visitors witnessed these events on the historic Aggieland campus. All buildings from that time like the North Dormitory, South Dormitory (Old Vanstory Hall), and the first Dudley and Crosby Halls are long gone. In the Greensboro Daily News, it was claimed that those visitors said A&T had the most beautiful campus among all HBCUs in the nation.
This information in this article comes from our historic campus bulletins & catalogs, and historical newspaper accounts in the Greensboro Daily News (now the Greensboro News & Record), the Charlotte Observer, and the Raleigh News and Observer. Class photos of A&T graduates before 1931 are scarce, and no editions of the A&T Register campus newspapers from 1916 to 1926 are known to exist today. If you have more information about the class of 1921 or have questions about A&T history, please contact the F.D. Bluford Library Archives and Special Collections at libraryarchives@ncat.edu.
