May 30, 1901, 125 years ago, three students were awarded bachelors’ degrees from the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the Colored Race (now North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University). This ceremony featured the smallest graduating class in A&T history, and yet they still have profound meaning in our modern prestigious university. Their class motto was “Fortune Favors The Brave”.  To understand the class’s size and significance, some background history is needed. A&T was established by an act of the NC General Assembly that was ratified on March 09, 1891. By 1893 an established Board of Trustees had elected our first president, and a bid was won by the city of Greensboro to locate the college close to the city’s railroad depot. The first…

There is great excitement in 2026 with news that a Netflix reboot sequel of A Different World is going into production with A&T alum Joshua Suitor among the new cast. This is tremendous news in the 70+ years Aggies have appeared on TV. With this news let’s revisit the original A Different World a landmark in representation of HBCUs, budding African American professionals with a strong memory of one Aggieland’s greatest alumni.   For those who don’t know, A Different World (1987 – 1993) was the sitcom spin-off of the hit television series The Cosby Show (1984-1992) that initially followed daughter Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) as a freshman at Hillman College, a fictional HBCU. The new program was a hit in the ratings in its first season but received mixed reviews. It was felt that A Different World needed a more connected portrayal of HBCU life.   The show received a lot of retooling in its second season under producer & director Debbie Allen, a Howard University graduate. Add a revamped version…

When Tanya Y. Mitchell introduced More Than a Dean to the Aggie community, she did more than release a book. She honored a man who helped shape her future and generations of North Carolina A&T students; Dean Quiester Craig. She arrived at North Carolina A&T in 1975 from Roper, North Carolina, with a clear goal and a strong work ethic. Once she reached A&T, upperclassmen warned her that accounting under Dean Craig would be tough. She stayed committed, embraced the challenge, and graduated magna cum laude in accounting during an important period of the business school’s growth. Mitchell said her connection to North Carolina A&T reinforced the values she had…

In Aggieland, if you just say the name “Elreta” generations know who you are talking about. Those who do not know are always amazed when they learn about her. Elreta Melton Alexander-Ralston (1919–1998) was a barrier breaking African American attorney and jurist who was not only the first African American judge elected in North Carolina but also the first Black woman to be elected a judge from a popular election in the nation.   Her birth and homegoing were both within Women’s History Month, and her story is being retold with emphasis on her connections to North Carolina A&T State University.   A historic moment: Elreta Melton Alexander takes the oath as district judge in Guilford County, becoming the first Black woman to serve as a judge in North Carolina. Elreta Narcissus…

Over the course of two consecutive weekends, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University elevated its national profile as its documentary, “Our Blues Make Us Gold,” earned a Nashville/Midsouth Regional Emmy Award nomination and was later featured during a special screening at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. What began as a project to chronicle the university’s institutional history unfolded into a series of milestones that shared the Aggie story across respected cultural and professional platforms. On Feb. 14, the film was recognized in the Documentary Historical category during the Nashville/Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards ceremony at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts…

Black History has a long and deep legacy at A&T and unknown to many Aggies until recent years, our university directly inspired the creation of “Negro History Week, or what is now called Black History Month.   A&T has a full heritage of being a proud HBCU land grant college and efforts to teach the history of Black Americans are rooted from our earliest faculty. Mrs. Susie B. Dudley (c.1852-1933) the matriarch of theatre arts at A&T composed plays on Black History and uplift like “The Evolution of the Negro” (1902) “The Negro’s Quota To His Commonwealth” (1905) that were presented at “Industrial Night” during commencement. President James B. Dudley (1859-1925) was active in many campaigns to teach and monumentalize Black History and the services of Black veterans.  Beginning in 1907, the A&M College began including a celebration of the birthdays of Frederick Douglas and…

Alumni chapters of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University have proudly organized the February One Reading Project for a number of years, creating an initiative designed to educate and inspire children across the United States about the powerful legacy of the A&T Four.  Each February, alumni chapter members share the book “Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down” by Andrea Davis Pinkney with young readers in schools, libraries, and community spaces. The book tells the compelling true story of four college freshmen who peacefully protested segregation by sitting at a “whites-only” lunch counter, demonstrating how determination, unity, and nonviolent action can spark meaningful and lasting change. Through this annual reading experience,…

When Gov. Josh Stein appointed North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University alumna Alicia Marks Flowers to Superior Court for Judicial District 14B in Cumberland County, North Carolina, it brought her back to the community that shaped her earliest understanding of justice. “This moment represents coming full circle,” she said. “I am returning home to serve the people and the court system that helped shape who I am. It is both humbling and deeply meaningful.” Flowers ‘05 began her legal career nearly two decades ago as an assistant district attorney in Cumberland County, where she prosecuted misdemeanor and felony cases, worked closely with law enforcement and stood before juries in…

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Jan. 28, 2026) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University paid tribute to alumnus, physicist and astronaut Ronald E. McNair, Ph.D., Wednesday, Jan. 28, on the 40th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger disaster that took the lives of him and his six fellow crew members. But McNair himself, his life and legacy is what the community celebrated above all else during the university’s annual commemoration in the Deese Ballroom of the Student Center. McNair’s widow, Cheryl McNair, offered a personal reflection on her husband’s life and enduring influence in a prerecorded message during the program, which also featured remarks from university and local officials, TRIO McNair…

January 28, 1986, is a date that anyone old enough will remember where they were and what they were doing. Tragically, that morning, only 73 seconds into liftoff, the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, killing all seven astronauts on board. The first fatal shuttle mission in American history, millions worldwide watched this event unfold, a number amplified by extensive live coverage for schoolchildren and everyday citizens who planned to follow Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian and “Teacher in Space.” While Aggies grieved the loss of all seven astronauts, we were especially in mourning for our hero, Dr. Ronald E. McNair, PhD (1950–1986). Ronald McNair’s official NASA portrait, taken July 1985…