Margaret Moore Photographic Album of Atlanta University Student Life

Atlanta University began as a school to educate African American children in 1862 by two formerly enslaved men, James Tate and Grandison B. Daniels. The classes met at the original location of the First Baptist Church—a white congregation consisting of Atlanta’s elite that allowed Black parishioners to hold services Sunday afternoons—at the corner of Walton Street and Forsyth Street. When Frederick Ayers arrived in the city in 1865 as the superintendent of schools for the American Missionary Association—one of many philanthropic groups from the North that came to the South to help formerly enslaved people—he took over the classes that James Tate and Grandison B. Daniels taught in that space. In March of the following year, Reverend Frank Quarles of the African Church submitted a petition to formally separate from the First Baptist Church to create their own congregation. The elders at First Baptist agreed and the African Church was renamed Friendship Baptist Church, becoming the first all-Black Baptist congregation in Atlanta. In need of space for both the congregation and the school, Mr. Ayers arranged for a boxcar from Chattanooga, Tennessee, through the Ninth Street Baptist Church of Cincinnati, placing it on land owned by First Baptist. In the same year, Edmund Asa Ware arrived in Atlanta to replace Mr. Ayers as the superintendent of schools for the American Missionary Association. The two men arranged the purchase of the old Confederate Commissary for a new school building. The new building and the boxcar school were renamed the Storrs School and Mr. Ware was made principal. Due to overcrowding, a third School—the Ayer School—was created at a different location. In 1867, Mr. Ware persuaded the American Missionary Association to combine all the schools in one location, and the organization secured land and funding for the endeavor with the help of the Freeman’s Bureau. Mr. Ware then petitioned the Fulton County superior court for a charter to incorporate the institution as Atlanta University. The new Atlanta University would function as a normal school, a college, and a university, and was open to all people regardless of race, sex, or creed with Mr. Ware as president. In 1929, Atlanta University combined with Spellman College and Morehouse College to form the Atlanta University Affiliation. In 1988, Atlanta University combined with Clark College to become Clark Atlanta University.