July 1 …

Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private historically Black university located in southwest Atlanta, GA within the historic West End area just west of downtown.

Established on July 1, 1988, the institution was formed through the consolidation of Atlanta University and Clark College, whose campuses had long stood adjacent to one another along Fair Street (now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) within the Atlanta University Center. This merger united two of the most historically significant centers of African American higher education in the United States.

Atlanta University was founded on September 19, 1865 by the American Missionary Association with critical support from the Freedmen’s Bureau. Among its early founders was missionary educator Frederick Ayer, and its first principal and later president, Edmund Asa Ware, provided formative leadership.

The school opened with approximately 25 to 40 students, many of them formerly enslaved individuals seeking basic literacy. Its early curriculum emphasized elementary education and teacher training before expanding into a classical liberal arts program that included Latin, Greek, mathematics, philosophy, and the sciences. By 1876, Atlanta University awarded its first bachelor’s degrees, becoming the first institution in the South to confer degrees upon African Americans.

A defining era in its development came with the appointment of W.E.B. Du Bois, who served as professor of economics and history from 1897 to 1910. During his tenure, Du Bois organized the annual Atlanta University Conferences (1897–1914), which brought together scholars and leaders to examine the social conditions affecting Black Americans.

Du Bois also directed the “Atlanta University Studies” (1896–1924), a groundbreaking series of empirical sociological investigations on education, health, labor, and urban life. These studies established Atlanta University as a national center for early social science research and played a foundational role in the development of modern sociology in the United States.

Clark College originated on September 18, 1869, when the Methodist Episcopal Church founded Clark University to educate freed people. Named in honor of Bishop Davis Wasgatt Clark, the institution also benefited from early Black leadership and educators who helped shape its mission. Its first classes consisted largely of formerly enslaved men and women and young students in need of basic education. The early curriculum combined literacy training, teacher preparation, and religious instruction, reflecting the church’s commitment to developing ministers and educators.

By the 1880s, the school had evolved into one of the first four-year liberal arts colleges for African Americans. Its relocation in 1883 to a site near Atlanta University physically and intellectually linked the two institutions, laying the groundwork for what would become a major educational hub.

Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, Atlanta University and Clark College developed complementary strengths. Atlanta University became widely recognized for its graduate programs and research, particularly in the social sciences, while Clark College distinguished itself in undergraduate liberal arts education and teacher training. Both institutions were central to the founding of the Atlanta University Center in 1929, fostering collaboration among Black colleges in Atlanta and amplifying their collective academic influence during segregation.

The schools’ alumni reflect an enduring legacy.

• James Weldon Johnson graduated from AU in 1894 and went on to become a prominent writer, diplomat, NAACP leader, and co-author of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” — the Black National Anthem.
• Ralph David Abernathy graduated from Clark College in 1950 and later became a leading figure in the Civil Rights Movement alongside Martin Luther King Jr.
• Kenya Barris graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 1996 and became an influential creator in American television, known for the series Black-ish.

Clark Atlanta University today stands as a continuation of these intertwined histories, preserving a legacy rooted in post–Civil War educational uplift, pioneering social science research, and the sustained development of African American intellectual and cultural life.

Footnotes:

• Clark Atlanta University. “History of Clark Atlanta University.” Atlanta, GA: Clark Atlanta University. Accessed April 2026.
• Clark Atlanta University. “About Clark Atlanta University.” Atlanta, GA: Clark Atlanta University. Accessed April 2026.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Clark Atlanta University.” Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Accessed April 2026.
• American Missionary Association. Annual Reports of the American Missionary Association, 1865–1870. New York: AMA Publications, 1865–1870.
• U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen’s Bureau). Records of the Education Division for the State of Georgia, 1865–1872. National Archives Microfilm Publications.
• Du Bois, W.E.B., ed. Atlanta University Studies. Atlanta: Atlanta University Press, 1896–1924.
• Lewis, David Levering. W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868–1919. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993.
• Methodist Episcopal Church. Freedmen’s Aid Society Annual Reports, 1869–1885. Cincinnati: Methodist Episcopal Church Publishing House.
• Atlanta University Center Consortium. Historical Overview of Member Institutions. Atlanta, GA: AUC Consortium Publications.