; Whereas notable figures of the civil rights era attended and graduated from Alabama State University, including the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, attorney Fred Gray, and the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth; Whereas Barber-Scotia College— (1) in 1867, was founded as Scotia Seminary in Concord, North Carolina, by the Reverend Luke Dorland; and (2) in 1870, was chartered to educate newly freed female slaves; Whereas Scotia Seminary— (1) was the first historically Black institution of higher education for females established in the United States; (2) in 1916, was renamed as Scotia Women’s College; and (3) in 1930, merged with Barber Memorial College to become Barber-Scotia Junior College for women; Whereas Barber-Scotia College became a 4-year college for women in 1946 and a coeducational institution in 1954; Whereas one of the distinguished graduates of Barber-Scotia College was Mary McCleod Bethune, the founder of Bethune-Cookman College; Whereas Fayetteville State University was formed as the Howard School on November 29, 1867, by 7 African-American men who paid $136 for 2 lots on Gillespie Street in Fayetteville, North Carolina; Whereas the Howard School was formally renamed Fayetteville State University in 1969; Whereas Fayetteville State University holds the distinction of being the second oldest public school in North Carolina; Whereas Howard University— (1) was chartered by Congress on March 2, 1867, in Washington, District of Columbia; (2) stands today as the most comprehensive historically Black college and university in the United States, in terms of undergraduate and graduate programs of study; (3) has produced numerous Rhodes scholars, Truman scholars, Fulbright scholars, and Picking fellows and a Marshall scholar during the history of the university; and (4) has graduated some of the most accomplished African Americans in history, including Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Thurgood Marshall, author Toni Morrison, and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young