Duke University - EduCo

Duke University traces its origins to a small school that opened in 1838 in Randolph County, North Carolina. Originally a preparatory school for young men called the Union Institute Academy, it was then chartered as a teaching college named Normal College by the state of North Carolina in 1851. The school underwent another transformation in 1859 when it turned to the Methodist Church for financial support. Reflecting the new partnership, the school's name changed to Trinity College.

From 1842 to 1882, Braxton Craven served as the principal and then president of the institution, overseeing its transition from a tiny schoolhouse to a full-fledged college. Shortly before his death, he helped to establish the Cherokee Industrial School at Trinity College, one of numerous schools established in the United States to “westernize” indigenous students, in this case boys and young men from the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. The School at Trinity lasted only a few years. It is worth noting that Craven enslaved several Black people prior to the Civil War, and that a number of other faculty and trustees were also enslavers.

John F. Crowell, Trinity College's president from 1887-1894, suggested that moving the college to an urban setting would attract more students, faculty, and financial support. With Crowell's encouragement, the trustees agreed to move the college, and after a spirited competition among regional cities, Trinity opened in Durham in 1892. Local tobacco magnates Washington Duke and Julian S. Carr assisted in providing land and money to Trinity. In 1897, at Washington Duke's request, the school began admitting women as regular students, making it an early co-educational institution. Carr's support for Trinity College was recognized with a building named in his honor in 1930. His name was removed in 2018 in light of his virulent white supremacist beliefs and actions.