UNC Pembroke marked Founders’ Day with a ceremony celebrating its remarkable history, sharing stories of the institution’s founders and their commitment to providing access to education.
“Founders’ Day is about bringing our community together––to remember our story and the promise this place represents,” said the university’s sixth chancellor Robin Gary Cummings.
Established on March 7, 1887, as the Croatan Normal School to train American Indian teachers, UNCP has transformed into the most diverse regional university in the South. It is the only four-year public institution in the nation founded by American Indians for American Indians.
On Wednesday, more than 100 people gathered in front of the steps of historic Old Main to honor the seven founders whose vision transformed a people and a region.
Establishing a school for Indians in the era of Jim Crow segregation when the government was at war with the Indigenous peoples was a “radical, yet visionary idea,” according to Dr. Lawrence Locklear, university historian and director of the Office of Student Inclusion and Diversity.
“The founding of the normal school and its mission was radical and ran counter to the political trends of the 1880s in many ways,” Locklear said. “However, Lumbees believed an educational system they controlled would maintain their survival as a distinct community and provide Indian children with better choices in a world that otherwise constrained their opportunities.”
During the event, students narrated a special tribute to the seven founders–– Isaac Brayboy, James E. Dial Sr., Preston Locklear, Rev. W.L. Moore, James “Big Jim” Oxendine, John J. Oxendine and Olin Oxendine.
David Locklear, a fourth-generation graduate, was among the founders’ descendants recognized at the event.
“It’s amazing to see the growth of the university,” said Locklear, a retired educator and 1972 graduate. “This university has provided so many educational opportunities for the community. It is a sense of pride for us as Lumbee people.”
Some of the oldest living graduates were recognized, including Catherine Locklear, Bernice Brooks Lowry, Dorothy Blue, Mable Moore Cummings, Rosa Dial Woods and Lillian Harris.
Chancellor Cummings ended his remarks with a quote from a philosopher who once said, “Talent hits the target, no one else can hit. Vision hits the target no one else can see.
“Our founders had big dreams as they set out to establish a school for their children, and the next seven generations, to have access to education and 136 years later, UNC Pembroke stands as a testament to their vision––the target they could only see,” he said.
