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Atlanta University and Clark College merge as a result of financial and other resource problems.
1989 (Jun 26)
Two of the nation's oldest Black institutions of higher education, Atlanta University and Clark College, merged. The new institution, Clark-Atlanta University, was created in response to severe financial problems at Atlanta University and a shortage of classroom space and research facilities at Clark College. Atlanta University was founded in 1867; Clark College was founded two years later. The new university was expected to focus its activities on science and technology, foreign service careers, and teachers for rural areas, according to Thomas W. Cole, Jr., Clark Atlanta University's new president. The university also hoped to offer six doctoral programs to "assist in curbing the shortage of Blacks" holding doctorate degrees. In 1989, Clark Atlanta University and Howard University in Washington, D.C., were the only two comprehensive historically Black institutions in the nation that offered academic studies from undergraduate through graduate levels.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.