Philanthropy in black higher education: a fateful hour creating the Atlanta University System

This work describes and analyzes the circumstances surrounding the creation and development of the Atlanta University System (later the Atlanta University Center). The affiliation in 1929 of Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College was a monumental event, and John Hope, the first black president of both Morehouse College and Atlanta University-and simultaneously president at both of them-was key to its taking place. In recounting the circumstances surrounding the affiliation, Vida L. Avery brings to the fore a little-told aspect of the affiliation: the relationships Hope cultivated with industrial philanthropists of his time. These relationships went beyond the simple categories of benefactor and recipient, playing a major role in creating a unique higher educational center for black Americans.