HBCU Profile: Clark Atlanta University

Location: Atlanta, GA 

Founded: 1865; 1869; 1988

Motto: "I’ll Find a Way or Make One" (Atlanta University); "Culture for Service" (Clark College)

History: Clark Atlanta University was formed by the consolidation of Atlanta University, which offered only graduate degrees, and Clark College, a four-year undergraduate institution oriented to the liberal arts.

Founded in 1865, Atlanta University was the nation's oldest graduate institution serving a predominantly African-American student body. The universitt began granting bachelor's degrees and supplying black teachers and librarians to the public schools of the South. In 1929-30, it started offering graduate education exclusively in various liberal arts areas, and in the social and natural sciences. It gradually added professional programs in social work, library science, and business administration. At this same time, Atlanta University affiliated with Morehouse College and Spelman College in a university plan known as the Atlanta University Center.

Clark College was founded in 1869 by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which later became the United Methodist Church. It was named for Bishop Davis Wasgatt Clark, who was the first President of the Freedman's Aid Society and became Bishop in 1864. A sparsely furnished room in Clark Chapel, a Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta's Summerhill section, housed the first Clark College class.

The two institutions merged in 1988 and became Clark Atlanta University.

Famous Alumni: Ralph Abernathy, civil rights activist; Pearl Cleage, Author; James Weldon Johnson, Writer; Emmanuel Lewis, Acor; Jacque Reid, Journalist

*Clark Atlanta University was used during the filming of Spike Lee's "School Daze".