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A look back in time

Grambling State University celebrated its annual Founders Week, Sept. 21-27.

The highlight of the week – as it always was – was the Founder’s Day Convocation. The speaker at the virtual convocation, held Tuesday, Sept. 22, was alumnus Lawrence Weekly, who is the vice-chair of the Clark County (Nevada) Commission Board and the first African American to head the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors’ Authority.

The Gramblinite is commemorating Founder’s Week with scenes from Grambling’s past. The following photos are from the days of Charles P. Adams, the founder of the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School in 1901, which was renamed the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School in 1905, which became Grambling College in 1946 and then Grambling State University in 1974. Included in the photos are some significant milestones as well as just scenes from everyday life through the years.

An early classroom.

Student working at the campus dairy.

Eddie Robinson oversees a football practice in the 1940s.

Image from a tailoring class.

1983 graduation accompanied by snow.

The band performs in Tokyo, Japan, at the first Pioneer Bowl in 1976 as Japanese photographers crowd the sidelines.

The band in the 1950s.

First Bayou Classic in 1932.

What dorm life was like at Grambling College for young women in the 1950s.

Band members board buses in 1960 to travel to a performance.

The railroad’s Grambling stop.

President Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones was also Grambling’s baseball coach, serving in both capacities from 1936 until his retirement in 1977.

A very early shot of what campus looked like.

Scene from a class in the 1950s.

Snow on campus was just as rare in the 1950s as it is today.

Faculty in the 1940s behind the Administration Building (now Long-Jones Hall) and Jewitt Hall.

President Charles P. Adams (left) and wife Martha were honored by “Prez” R.W.E. Jones.

Charles P. Adams visiting students.