Bishop College

Bishop College was a historically black college, founded in Marshall, Texas, United States, and later moved to Dallas, Texas, that operated from 1881 to 1988.

History
The college was founded by the Baptist Home Mission Society in 1881 as the result of a movement to build a college for African-American Baptists. The movement was started by Nathan Bishop, who had been the superintendent of several major school systems in New England. Baylor University President Rufus C. Burleson secured a pledge of $25,000 from Judge Bishop during a meeting of the National Baptist Education Society meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to start the college. A committee of Baptist ministers from East Texas selected a location in Marshall, on land belonging to the Holcomb Plantation, Wyalucing.

For its first several decades, Bishop's faculty and administration largely consisted of white people. The first African-American to be president was Joseph J. Rhoads, who assumed the leadership role in 1929 and remained through the Great Depression and World War II. During his presidency, Bishop phased out its high school programs and placed emphasis on its new two-year ministerial program. During the 1930s and 1940s the ministerial program evolved into the Lacy Kirk Williams Institute, which attracted national attention; its attendants included the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Jesse Jackson.

In 1961, after receiving a grant from the Hoblitzelle Foundation, Bishop moved to a 360 acre campus in Dallas. In Dallas, enrollments increased, peaking at almost 2,000 students around 1970.

The college closed in 1988 after a financial scandal led to the revocation of its accreditation, as well as its eligibility to receive funds from charities such as the United Negro College Fund. The campus, purchased in 1990 by Comer S. Cottrell, is now the site of Paul Quinn College.

In 2006, the president of Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky proposed a plan to Bishop College alumni to make Georgetown their adopted alma mater. Georgetown offers scholarships to children or grandchildren of Bishop alumni or students nominated by Bishop alumni. Upon graduation, these students receive diplomas with the name and insignia of Bishop College. Georgetown president William H. Crouch Jr. hopes the program will help the college reach its goal of increasing minority enrollment to 25% by 2012.

Notable alumni
Dr. Manuel L. Scott, Sr. Pastor of St John Missionary Baptist Church, One America's 15 Greatest Black Preachers. He was a alumni and trustee of Bishop College and while in its financial hardships in an attempt Dr. Scott and his congregation of St. John made a donation of 100,000 dollars to help save the college.