Name-a-Day Calendar, May 23: North Carolina Central Eagles
Page 198 of 365
Chosen in: Probably c. 1922, but possibly as early as 1910
Chosen by: School founder Dr. James E. Shepard
In 1910, in the historically Black Hayti District that is now a part of Durham, Dr. James E. Shepard founded a private religious school to serve Black people nationwide; he called it the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race.1
This school began playing football in 1922 and men’s basketball in 1927, and their teams have always been called the Eagles: a nickname bestowed by Dr. Shepard himself. It’s unclear whether this nickname came when the school started playing sports or whether Dr. Shepard had it in mind from the day he founded the school, but he often explained its selection thusly: “The Eagle is no common, ordinary barnyard fowl, and while a Sparrow clings to its flock, an Eagle soars alone.” I’m still not sure what he had against sparrows.
The school was purchased by the General Assembly of North Carolina in 1923, at which point it became a public institution. It then underwent a bunch of name changes2 before settling on North Carolina Central University in 1969.
North Carolina Central now employs a costumed mascot named Eddie the Eagle. This is also the nickname of very white English ski jumper Michael Edwards, as well as the title of his 2016 biopic.
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A Chautauqua was a traveling band of cultural educators. The movement began in upstate New York just after the Civil War and traditionally included lectures, music/dance, theatre, science, and other forms of what we would now call edutainment. By the end of the 1920s, television and especially radio had boomed and the Chautauqua had gradually faded into obscurity.
National Training School (1915–1923), Durham State Normal School for Negroes (1923–1925), North Carolina College for Negroes (1925–1947), North Carolina College at Durham (1947–1969)