The first AME pastor in the state, Rev. William G. Steward, originally named the college Brown Theological Institute. The school went through some financial difficulties and closed for much of the 1870s. It reopened in 1883 with an extended educational program and its current name.
The original Edward Waters College was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1901, but by 1904 new land was obtained and work was started on the new college. Edward Waters was accredited as a junior college in 1955 under President William B. Stewart and 5 years later had a restored four year curriculum. Beginning in 1979 the school was accredited as a four-year institution by Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and started awarding bachelor's degrees. The college's accreditation was last reaffirmed in 2006.
The 28th and current president of the school is Claudette Williams. She has served as a vice president of Bennett College for Woman in Greensboro NC, which is one of only two historically black women’s colleges. The Double E principle Excellence and Ethics (E2) is what promises to lead the school into an even greater future.
Centennial Hall, which contains the Obi-Scott-Umunna Collection of African Art, is the oldest building on campus. Built in 1916, it was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places on May 4, 1976. [1]
