Wiley College history

So entrenched was their desire to succeed that in 1880, rather than moving Wiley College farther out of town, the founders of the College moved nearer to Marshall on 55 acres of wooded land where the College stands today.

Their labors were rewarded in 1888 when the first graduate of Wiley University (for so it was called at the time) was awarded the Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1893, Isaiah S. Scott, a former slave pereacher, became the first African American to preside over the college.

Twenty-three years had passed since the founding of Wiley College when Reverend Scott retired in 1896.

The President's Home built in 1902.

Although the buildings were in ashes, the foundations remained strong and in 1907, buildings of greater magnitude began to take shape on the campus.

The Willis King Administration Building was originally the Old Carnegie Library built in 1910.

In 1915, floods, cotton crop failures, and a reactivated Ku Klux Klan motivated Southern rural blacks to migrate to the North in search of employment opportunities in the expanding military industry.

Thirkield Hall, a magnificent three-story structure built with the grandeur befitting an institution of higher learning, was erected in 1918 and named for Bishop Wilbur P. Thirkield, a close friend of the College and former president of Howard University.

Thirkield Hall built in 1919.

The movie tells the true story of Professor Melvin Tolson who was a professor of English and Speech at Wiley College in 1924.

In 1925, Dogan Hall was built to accommodate women in dormitories.

Truly a pioneer in the educational arena, Wiley College took the leadership role in reorganizing Black schools of higher education and in 1929, renamed itself Wiley College, dropping the use of the word “University”. It was at this time the high school and trade school were discontinued.

In the 1930’s, Duke” Ellington wrote “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing” and George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess debuted before record crowds in New York.

He was a 1934 graduate of Wiley College and the first layman to hold the position.

The General Education Board of The Methodist Church provided funding in 1935 to refurnish and redecorate the Carnegie Library.

At a time when Jesse Owens was thundering to an unprecedented four gold medals in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Wiley College was introducing football to Black colleges and was a leader in forming the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), still in existence today.

The Endowment Drive was completed in 1938 and the College endowment grew to $6,000 (equivalent to over $200,000 in today’s value).

James L. Farmer, Jr. was a distinguished civil rights leader who was one of the founders of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1942.

During McLeod’s administration, the College joined the United Negro College Fund in 1944 as a charter member.

Wiley College students were getting their first taste of rock-n-roll in 1954 listening to the sounds of recording artists like Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

During this period, Smith-Nooks Hall of Music was built and dedicated and shortly thereafter, in 1958, Doctor Scott retired from the presidency.

In 1960, Wiley College was admitted to full membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (SACS). In addition, a new building program was established including a complete renovation of the Refectory together with its transformation into a modernized dining facility.

Doctor Haywood Strickland was elected the 16th president of Wiley College on September 12, 2000.

The College garnered rare, international visibility on December 25, 2007 with the release of the movie, The Great Debaters, directed by Mr.

The Tom Joyner Foundation named Wiley College the school of the month for June 2011.