Paine College

Paine College is a private Historically Black college located in Augusta, Georgia. Paine College is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mission

The mission of Paine College is "to provide a liberal arts education of the highest quality that emphasizes academic excellence, ethical and spiritual values, social responsibility, and personal development." Paine College prepares men and women for positions of leadership and encourages them to serve the African American community, the nation, and the world. Paine College strives to develop self-sufficient and productive citizens, committed to intellectual pursuits and aesthetic appreciation in a global society.

History

Paine College was founded by the leadership of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, now United Methodist Church, and the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, now Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Paine was the brainchild of Bishop Lucius Henry Holsey, who first expressed the idea for the College in 1869. Bishop Holsey asked leaders in the ME Church South to help establish a school to train Negro teachers and preachers so that they might in turn appropriately address the educational and spiritual needs of the people newly freed from the evils of slavery. Leaders in the ME Church South agreed, and Paine Institute came into being.

On November 1, 1882, the Paine College Board of Trustees, consisting of six members, three from each Church, met for the first time. They agreed to name the school in honor of the late Bishop Robert Paine of the MECS who had helped to organize the CME Church. In December, the Trustees selected Dr. Morgan Callaway as the first President of the College and enlarged the Board from six to 19 members, drawing its new membership from communities outside of Georgia so that the enterprise might not be viewed as exclusively local.

Bishop Holsey traveled throughout the Southeast seeking funds for the new school. On December 12, 1882, he presented the Trustees of Paine Institute with $7.15 from the Virginia Conference and $8.85 from the South Georgia Conference. In that same month, Bishop Atticus Haygood, a minister of the ME Church South, gave $2,000 to support President Callaway through the first year. Thus, a $2,000 gift from a white minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and $16 raised by a CME minister – penny by penny from former slaves - became the financial basis for the founding of Paine College.

Paine College is a private Historically Black college located in Augusta, Georgia. Paine College is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mission

The mission of Paine College is "to provide a liberal arts education of the highest quality that emphasizes academic excellence, ethical and spiritual values, social responsibility, and personal development." Paine College prepares men and women for positions of leadership and encourages them to serve the African American community, the nation, and the world. Paine College strives to develop self-sufficient and productive citizens, committed to intellectual pursuits and aesthetic appreciation in a global society.