(From the Laurinburg Exchange)
U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell honored the history of the Laurinburg Normal Industrial Institute this week on the floor of U.S. House of Representatives.
A resolution, authored by Kissell, received overwhelming bipartisan support with a vote of 418-0.
The Laurinburg Institute was founded on Sept. 15, 1904, by Emmanuel McDuffie and his wife Tinny Etheridge McDuffie at the request of Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute and William Edwards of the Snow Hill Institute
Four generations of the McDuffie family have operated the Institute.
“This is a proud day for the Eighth District as we honor the contributions of the Laurinburg Institute to our area. We celebrate the Institute’s commitment to the education of African-American youth and the people of North Carolina,” Kissell said. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the McDuffie family for their dedication to producing educators, humanitarians, athletes and civil rights leaders. I commend the commitment of four generations of the McDuffies to the people of Scotland County and North Carolina.”
A sponsor of the resolution, Congressman G. K. Butterfield also applauded passage of the resolution.
“Following the Tuskegee and Snow Hill Institutes model of developing pride, being self-sufficient and encouraging the black community to buy land, build homes and start businesses, Laurinburg Institute quickly became a pillar of the black community,” Butterfield said. “It also holds the great distinction of being one of being one of the first area schools where blacks could receive a quality education in the face of segregation.”
The Laurinburg Institute is the oldest of only four historically African-American boarding schools still remaining in the United States.
Laurinburg Institute was founded to help provide suitable education and training in common pursuits of life for African-Americans in the area of Laurinburg.
Since 1904, the Laurinburg Institute has graduated more than 50,000 students. Distinguished alumni include Sir John Swann, the former Premiere of Bermuda and first person of color to be a head of state in the Western Hemisphere; Joy Johnson, one of the first African-American elected to the North Carolina General Assembly after the Reconstruction era; John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, an internationally renowned jazz trumpeter; and Charles “Charlie” Scott, the first African-American scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Scott was an NBA and ABA All-Star during a professional career that spanned nine seasons, split between the Virginia Squires, Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns. Scott was a member of the 1976 NBA champion Celtics and also won a gold medal as part of the USA basketball team at 1968 Summer Olympics.