What Is Estey Hall?
Named for financial backer, Jacob Estey, this was the first building in the USA built explicitly for giving Black women a higher education!
What Makes It Historical?
Nine years after the founding of Shaw University and eight years before the opening of Leonard Medical School, the Italianate-style Estey Seminary, designed by G. S. H. Appleget, opened its doors to Black women seeking higher education! They had the choice to study traditional subjects like home economics, music, art, and religion, or dive into more conventionally male courses if they wanted to!
It was here at Estey Hall in 1960 that Shaw alumna and 1927 valedictorian, Ella Baker, returned in the wake of the Greensboro Sit-Ins and founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)! They would go on to organize more sit-ins, as well as voting rights campaigns and the Freedom Rides that ended interstate bus segregation! Fiercely independent from Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the SNCC would develop the offshoot Black Power movement under Stokely Carmichael, who inspired the Black Panther Party!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Volunteer with the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites!
- Donate to Shaw University!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
721 S Wilmington St
Raleigh, NC 27601
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
Estey Hall is only open to students of Shaw University, but you can enjoy the Italianate architecture at any time!