By Kenneth Mullinax/ASU
Alabama State University’s 125th Founders' Day Convocation will be held in-person on February 7 at 10 a.m. in the ASU Dunn-Oliver Acadome. The event is free and open to the public.
The speaker is Brandon Hurst (Class of 2010), who is an entrepreneur and Chick-Fil-A owner in Brooklyn, New York.
ASU is the global entity of higher education that it is today due in part to the fortitude of a group of formerly enslaved men, known as the Marion Nine, who founded what is now Alabama State University on July 18, 1867 in Marion, Alabama.
On Feb. 7, ASU's Founders' Day will commemorate the co-founders and original trustees of this great institution, which includes:
Joey P. Pinch,
Thomas Speed,
Nicholas Dale,
James Childs,
Thomas Lee,
John Freeman,
Nathan Levert,
David Harris and
Alexander H. Curtis.
First incorporated as the Lincoln Normal School, ASU became America’s first state-sponsored liberal arts institution for the higher education of Black citizens, beginning ASU’s rich history first as a teacher’s college. William Burns Paterson, ASU’s longest-serving president, was appointed to the position in 1878 and held the office for 37 of its first 48 years.
Founders’ Day is traditionally held on or near Paterson’s birthday in honor of his being recognized as the “architect” of the modern Alabama State University and because he was instrumental in its move from Marion to Montgomery in 1887, explained Cromwell Handy, director of ASU's Office of Alumni Relations.
"The legacy set forth by the Marion Nine, William Burns Paterson and other key founders and developers of the University endures even now," Handy stated. "Today, ASU is a comprehensive institution of higher education with high-demand graduate and undergraduate programs in multiple academic disciplines and is proud to be the University ‘Where History is Made,' " he added.
A bell-ringing ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. in front of the Levi Watkins Learning Center.