A Brief History of Tennessee State University

    Historical Marker commemorating the establishment of Tennessee State University.
Tennessee State University is a comprehensive urban coeducational land-grant university founded in 1912 in Nashville, Tenn. The 500-acre main campus, with more than 65 buildings, is located in a residential setting; the Avon Williams Campus is located downtown, near the center of the Nashville business and government district.

    Through successive stages, TSU has developed from a normal school for Negroes to its current status as a national university with students from 42 states and 45 countries. The present-day Tennessee State University exists as a result of the merger on July 1, 1979, of Tennessee State University and the former University of Tennessee at Nashville.

    By virtue of a 1909 Act of the General Assembly, the Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School was created, along with two other normal schools in the State of Tennessee, and began serving students on June 19, 1912. William Jasper Hale was appointed as head of the school. The original 247 students, along with the faculty and staff, operated as a family. Everyone worked to keep the institution running in its early years, from clearing rocks to harvesting crops to carrying chairs from class to class. 
In 1922, the institution was raised to the status of four-year teachers'' college and was empowered to grant the bachelor''s degree. The first degrees were granted in June 1924. During the same year, the institution became known as the Agricultural and Industrial State Normal College. In 1927, "Normal" was dropped from the name of the college.

    As the college grew in scope and stature throughout the 1920s and 1930s, so too did its impressive roster of alumni who embodied the school''s charge: "Enter to learn; go forth to serve." In 1943, when William Hale retired after more than 30 years at the school''s helm, an alumnus was chosen to succeed him. From 1943 until his retirement in 1968, Walter S. Davis led the institution through an era of tremendous growth, in areas as multifaceted as academics, facilities, and worldwide recognition.
 

    Pictures from the 1949 yearbook highlight the university''s historical mission for agricultural and industrial training.
The General Assembly of 1941 authorized the State Board of Education to upgrade substantially the educational program of the college, which included the establishment of graduate studies leading to the master''s degree. Graduate curricula were first offered in several branches of teacher education. The first master''s degree was awarded by the college in June 1944.

    Accreditation of the institution by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools was first obtained in 1946. In August 1951, the institution was granted univers