A.M.E. Zion Colleges
Livingstone College
Livingstone College was founded as Zion Wesley Institute by a group of A.M.E. Zion ministers for the purpose of training ministers in the Cabarrus County town of Concord, North Carolina in 1879.
After three brief sessions, directed by principals Bishop C. R. Harris and Professor A.S. Richardson, the Institute ultimately closed in Concord. In 1881, Dr. Joseph Charles Price and Bishop J. W. Hood changed their roles as delegates to the Ecumenical Conference and became fund-raisers with the mission to re-establish Zion Wesley Institute.
The Rowan County town of Salisbury, just 20 miles northeast of Concord, gave the Trustees a generous donation of $1,000 and an invitation to relocate the school in Salisbury. They accepted both gifts, and the College re-opened in Salisbury in 1882 with Dr. Price as President. The new site was J. M. Gray’s farm called Delta Grove, which consisted of one building and 40 acres of land.
Clinton College
Clinton College was one of many schools established by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church during Reconstruction years, to help eradicate illiteracy among freedmen. This made Clinton one of the first historically black colleges in SC. The College has operated continuously for over 130 years, being among the longest-running historically black colleges in South Carolina.
In 1894, Presiding Elder Nero A. Crockett and Rev. W.M. Robinson founded Clinton Institute and named it for Bishop Isom Caleb Clinton, the Palmetto Conference presiding bishop at the time.
Hood Theological Seminary
Hood Theological Seminary is a graduate and professional school sponsored by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (A.M.E. Zion), approved by the University Senate of The United Methodist Church, and dedicated to the education and preparation of men and women for leadership in the various ministries and vocations of the Christian church.
The Seminary bears the name of a renowned bishop of the denomination, James Walker Hood, who inspired others in the denomination to join with him in creating an institution for the training of Negro youths for the Christian ministry. In 1879 those pioneers created the Zion Wesley Institute in Concord, NC. Three years later, by invitation of the citizens of Salisbury, they relocated the Institute to this city. Under the leadership of its first president, Dr. Joseph Charles Price, the Institute was chartered by the State of North Carolina in 1887 and renamed Livingstone College in honor of Scottish physician and explorer of central and southern Africa, Dr. David Livingstone.
Hood obtained independence from Livingstone College in 2001 and became a free-standing seminary with its own Board of Trustees. Dean Albert J. D. Aymer was appointed and inaugurated as its first President.
