24

urging the Freedmen's Aid Society of his church to establish the school in Greensboro.8 The local supporters were successful, for approximate— ly one month later, a newspaper article reported that

A Normal College for the edycation of colored teachers,

under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church,

North, will be established at Greensboroo It will be put

in course of construction this year°9

Several reasons, have been suggested to explain the choice of

Greensboro as the site for the school. First, the geographical loca- tion of Greensboro, being in the central portion of the state and on a direct railroad line with Richmond, Virginia, and Atlanta, Georgia, was

a distinct advantage.10

Second, the people of Greensboro and the sur- rounding area were reteptive to education for both whites and blacks° ‘Several institutions of learning, including the "Female Seminary" of the North Carblina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, were located in Greensborooll In addition, Greensboro established a

12 Pre-

graded school in l870, the first North Carolina city to do so° Civil War restrictions upon education of Negroes were opposed in Guil-

ford County. One instance occurred in 1830 when Judge John M. Dick

8Atkins, 33., _c_i_t., p. 16].

9Greensboro New North State, July 23, 1873;

10Freedmen's Aid Society,EighthAnnual Report, 1875, p. 87° l l ‘

Ibid°

12Hugh Victor Brown, E—qual—ity Education in North Carolina Among Negroes (Raleigh: Irving-Swain Press, l96h): Po 3—.