Bishop College

A committee of Baptist ministers from East Texas, where most African Americans then lived, selected a location in Marshall, on land belonging to the Holcomb Plantation, Wyalucing.

The first African American appointed as president was Joseph J. Rhoads, who started in 1929 and served through the Great Depression and World War II.

[2] During his presidency, Bishop phased out the high school preparatory programs associated with the college, which had operated to help students compensate for failures in public education.

The Lacey Kirk Williams Institute evolved into a week-long seminar which attracted well-known preachers including Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King Sr. in 1975.

(source, Lloyd Thompson's dissertation for North Texas University, p 34–35) In 1961, after receiving a grant from the Hoblitzelle Foundation, Bishop moved to a 360-acre (1.5 km2) campus in Dallas.

Georgetown president William H. Crouch Jr. hopes the program will help the college reach its goal of increasing minority enrollment to 25% by 2012.