Bluefield State College

Bluefield State College began as a graded high school to train Negro teachers; established by an act of state legislation in 1895, Bluefield Colored Institute was founded to serve the segregated public schools of the West Virginia coal mine camps; opened 6 Dec. 1896 under the direction of Principal Hamilton Hack with ten female and ten male students; graduated its first college class in 1929; immediately following the 1954 Brown vs Topeka (Kansas) Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court decision, three white students enrolled; by the end of the 1954-1955 school year, one third of the student population was white; by 1967 the previously all black college had a white majority; now a predominately white institution; official names are Bluefield Colored Institute (1895-1929), Bluefield Institute (1929-1931), Bluefield State Teachers College (1931-1943), and Bluefield State College (1943- ).

From the description of General historical records, 1950-1994. (Bluefield State College). WorldCat record id: 70968864

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