Campus Highlights

Bluford Library Archives: The President and The First Lady - When Eleanor Roosevelt Toured the Campus with Dr. F. D. Bluford

On Tuesday, March 20, 1945, a man and a woman toured the North Carolina A&T College campus. He was African American, in his early sixties, and to this day a legendary HBCU president. She was white, about the same age, and one of the most respected women of the 20th century. He was Dr. F. D. Bluford, 3rd president of the “Negro Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina”, and she was Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States.

After 75 years, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt remains one of Aggieland’s most famous visitors. From our archival collections, materials from other Greensboro institutions, and resources around the country we have pulled together a story of how Mrs. Roosevelt came to A&T.

Eleanor Roosevelt was famous for her support of civil rights and education for African Americans. Defying convention, she had famously flown with Tuskegee Institute army air pilot Charles Anderson in 1941 to promote the Tuskegee Army Flying School. She traveled frequently to promote many causes and initiatives. In March 1945, she was scheduled to be in Greensboro, North Carolina for a two-day visit at several venues including the Women’s College (now UNCG), Greensboro College, Bennet College For Women, and the Overseas Replacement Depot (ORD) to discuss services by women for soon to be returning servicemen.

Mrs. Roosevelt and her mother-in-law arrived by train from New York City the morning of March 20. They were scheduled to meet Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown at the famous Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia but arrived too late for that visit. Her Greensboro hostess was Mrs. Laura Cone, widow of Greensboro industrialist Julius Cone. Most of her day was arranged around events at the Bennett College For Women, the city’s first and oldest HBCU, where Dr. David Dallas Jones was president.

It was Dr. Jones and his wife who took Eleanor Roosevelt to the A&T College around midday. At A&T, President F.D. Bluford gave her a tour around the campus. This tour would have been on the historical district of campus with some still surviving buildings like Harrison Auditorium, Noble Hall, and Murphy Hall, but also many long gone historic buildings like the North Dormitory, South Dormitory (Old Vanstory Hall), and Old Crosby Hall. For her “My Day” syndicated newspaper column, she noted that the A&T College was “where some thousand young colored people are getting a very good education in home economics, farming, horticulture, engineering and other fields.” In his presidential reports, Dr. Bluford noted her as one of the “outstanding visitors” of the year, along with singer, Marian Anderson.

The joy of this visit was short-lived for Mrs. Roosevelt, A&T, and the nation. Nearly a month later her husband President F. D. Roosevelt died at the age of 63. His death was mourned on the A&T campus with a memorial service. When First Lady Michelle Obama was our commencement speaker in May 2012, it was the first visit by a First Lady in 67 years. Our first presidential visit was from her husband, President Barack Obama in 2016.

To read Eleanor Roosevelt’s “My Day” syndicated newspaper column about her trip to Greensboro please visit the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project and select the March 22, 1945 edition.

The F. D. Bluford Library Archives and Special Collections houses the F. D. Bluford Collections. Our archival collections are currently missing all but one edition of the “A&T Register” student newspapers from March 1945 through April 1947. These issues would have covered Mrs. Roosevelt’s visit, A&T’s response to the death of President Roosevelt, and early post-war life on the A&T campus. If you have any information on this story or want to know more about A&T history, please contact us at libraryarchives@ncat.edu.