5 things to know about Spelman College in Atlanta

Spelman College is observing its Founders’ Week.

Here are five things to know about the Atlanta college, which has educated generations of women of African descent.

1. The institution began in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary. It became Spelman College in 1924.
2. In 1889, Nora Gordon, the first student to become a missionary to Africa, leaves for the Congo.
3. Spelman has a 76 percent graduation rate (average over six years).
4. In 1987 , Johnnetta Betsch Cole was elected as the first Black woman president. She was affectionately known as the “sister president.”
5. The share of new Spelman graduates entering graduate or professional school makes it a leading producer of Black female medical students and post-graduate students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

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Since 1881, Spelman College has been one of the country's leading producers of outstanding black women, who have paved the way toward political, social, cultural and educational achievement around the world. Here are a few of Spelman's notable graduates.