Academic Catalog - Concordia College

GENERAL INFORMATION
A History of Concordia College
Concordia College has grown much from its humble beginnings in 1922 as Alabama Luther
College. Today, Concordia boasts a student body representing a diversity of geographic, ethnic,
and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as the distinctive status as the nation’s only Lutheran
Historically Black College or University (HBCU).
Concordia’s beginning has its root in the desire of a woman named Rosa Young to provide good
Christian education to the rural African Americans of central Alabama. Through her tireless
efforts, her school in Wilcox County which began with seven students had grown to 215 in just
three terms. In 1914, however, the Mexican boll weevil devastated the cotton industry and
economy in the area, and many of the parents were then unable to continue sending their
children to Young’s school. In desperation to find financial help, Rosa Young wrote to the
famed founder of the Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington. About their correspondence,
Rosa Young said, “In this letter he told me he was unable to help me in the least; but he would
advise me to write to the Board of Colored Missions of the Lutheran Church. He said they were
doing more for the colored race than any other denomination he knew of. He liked them
because of the religious training which they were giving the colored people.” By the end of
1915, Young had followed Washington’s advice and written to the Lutheran Synodical
Conference of North America for help.
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, a member of the Lutheran Synodical Conference,
responded favorably to Young’s letter and sent the Rev. Nils J. Bakke to assess the situation and
report back. Reverend Bakke arrived on December 17, 1915 and on December 21, he returned
to St. Louis, MO with his report. Bakke’s report was a plea for assistance in establishing a
mission to the area. In January 1916, Bakke returned to Alabama, and by Easter 1916, had
performed a total of 61 baptisms and 70 confirmations in Rosebud, including that of Rosa
Young herself. Within just a few years there were almost 30 new congregations, and plans
were begun for a school. A conference held in Midway, near Miller’s Ferry in 1919 adopted a
resolution petitioning the Synodical Conference for funds to begin a school for the purpose of
training church workers. On November 13, 1922, in a rented cottage at 521 First Avenue, the
first classes of Rosa Young’s new school were held in Selma. As the student body continued to
grow, the need for space became more pressing. On September 20, 1925, the first buildings on
the present campus were dedicated to the glory of God. The next year, four women made up
the school’s first graduating class.
Under God’s watchful eye, Alabama Luther College survived the Great Depression, but it had
lost its college and been renamed Alabama Lutheran Academy. It was not long though before
the necessity of bringing a college education to African Americans was again realized, and a
program of modernization was initiated which resulted in the formation of Alabama Lutheran
Academy and College. On July 1, 1981, the name of the Alabama Lutheran Academy and
College was officially changed to Concordia College. Two years later, Concordia received
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