would be able to help the institution to advance to greater heights. Paterson, along with a few students, showed his aggressiveness by partaking in gunfight with the Klu Klux Klan when they were trying to set the school buildings on fire. Paterson’s aggressive attitude brought social turmoil to the Marion community. Therefore, to protect the safety of the students attending Lincoln Normal School, Paterson relocated the institution. The school was relocated to Montgomery, Alabama in 1887, and renamed Alabama Colored People’s University. Unfortunately, the school loss its state financial support the same year. In 1889, the school was renamed Normal School for Colored Students, and re-gained financial assistance from the state. The school ran thirty-three years on its original plan as a high school teachers-training institution. The school had its first graduating class in 1890. Sadly, William Burn Paterson died in 1915. The first African American teacher, John William Beverly, became the third president in 1915. Beverly organized and established the school as a four-year institution with the same plan of being a high school teachers-training institution. Beverly also advanced the state of the institution by purchasing additional land to expand the campus. The first dormitory and faculty-dining hall was constructed in 1918. John William Beverly tenure as president ended in 1920. George W. Trenholm seceded Beverly as president.1920 was George W. Trenholm’s first year as president, and Alabama State College Laboratory High School had its first graduating class. Trenholm’s most important contribution to the institution was in that same year. Trenholm’s addition of the Junior College Program, which comprised two years beyond high school, made the institution a standard “Normal School”. After serving a five-year term, Trenholm’s son, Harper Council Trenholm took over the position as president. At...
