In 1871 Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn recommended that the state legislature support the formation of Alcorn University. The campus of Oakland
College, a school founded by the Presbyterian Church in 1830, had been abandoned after the Civil War and was purchased for forty thousand dollars and designated for the education of black youth. The school became Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1878, and Alcorn State University in 1974. In this unique pictorial retrospective, over one hundred years of growth and change at Alcorn are explored and celebrated. Included within these pages are vintage photographs of the students and faculty that have shaped the schoolas history. From early classes and sporting events to distinguished alumni and prominent leaders, the images depict a university continually striving to educate, train, and inspire young African Americans. Alcornas picturesque campus, with moss-draped trees and scenic
lakes, provides a setting where, for over a century, students have been given a multitude of opportunities to grow. The first land-grant institution for blacks in the United States, Alcorn is a public university committed to academic
excellence. The challenges faced by its students and faculty in its earliest days brought forth an unyielding determination to succeed, which is still evident today among its diverse student body.

Alcorn State University was founded in 1871 making it the oldest public historically black land-grant institution in the United States. Alcorn State has undergone numerous changes and expansions over the years, and it continues to produce notable alumni and scholars in more than fifty fields. Succeeding against Great Oddscovers nearly a quarter of a century since Josephine McCann Posey's first institutional history of Alcorn, Against Great Odds: The History of Alcorn State University. This new book briefly summarizes the first 123 years of Alcorn's history. The volume then explores the tenure of three interim and/or acting presidents, Drs. Rudolph E. Waters Sr., Malvin A. Williams Sr., and Norris A. Edney Sr. (with Edney serving twice), and permanent presidents, Drs. Clinton Bristow Jr., George E. Ross, M. ChristopherBrown II, and Alfred Rankins Jr., who have all served since Against Great Odds was published in 1994. This comprehensive narrative shows the university confidently advancing in the twenty-first century, proud of its distinctive heritage and intent on overcoming obstacles to continue a long tradition of excellence. Succeeding against Great Odds includes numerous appendices to document the illustrious history of Alcorn, its accomplishments,and particularly the people who have shaped the institution.

For more than a century, the institution of higher learning now known as Alcorn State University has been devoted to the education of black students. Historically established for this purpose, Alcorn has struggled against great odds. This new history of Alcorn reveals the unrelenting hove and support of its community and alumni as they face the challenges of streamlining programs and making modifications to century-old traditions. The roots of Alcorn extend back to 1830 and the antebellum Oakland College, a Presbyterian institution which closed during the Reconstruction era. In 1871 Mississippi's first black senator, Hiram R. Revels, returned to Mississippi to head the new institution on the Oakland campus, to be known as Alcorn. This history updates the centennial history of Alcorn published in 1971 by showing how in the face of new challenges the university persists with its mission of educating citizens for the modern world. One of the chief struggles has been to maintain its distinctive identity as social and interracial changes confront long-established traditions and wide-scale community support of the system. Here Alcorn State University is shown not only in its rich heritage of public education as the first land-grant institution for black students but also in its struggles through the years to reach peaks of excellence in academic programs, in faculty development, in the enrichment of student life, and in its nationally renowned athletic programs that consistently bring Alcorn acclaim. Struggling against great odds has remained one of Alcorn's hallmarks. This comprehensive history shows the university moving confidently into the twenty-first century proud of its distinctive heritage and intent on removing obstacles that threaten to check a long-established tradition for excellence.