Their charter in 1785. But unc was forced to open and how to redo couple of classes. The university and the city first and hadened already graduated a couple of classes. The university and the city were opened at the same time. When this area was selected, there was no town or village here. There was an anglican chapel on the side of the carolina in. They had an auction of town lots. They understood that if the university was going to succeed, they are to be a town around it to provide businesses, places live, and the town of chapel hill and the university were in essence born on the same day. The university was chartered in 1789. The ground broke for the first building in 1793, and a year and a half later, 1795, the university opened. They held an Opening Ceremony in january of 1795. They had events on campus here. No student showed up. It took a few weeks before the student arrived. Firsthe came over 100 miles from off the coast of north carolina. He was the entire student body for about two weeks before more students arrived on campus. For the First Century it was a school for white men only. It was only until the 1890s that women were first admitted into the university. The university did not integrate into admitting africanamericans and other students of color until the 1950s. Its really impossible to talk about the University Without talking about slavery. Enslaved people were involved in the building of the university and all this buildings. Earliest building, the one behind me, the construction, the subsequent renovations. We also know that slavery played a role in the financing of the university and this was due to the fact that the state legislature did not originally allot funding for the university. Instead they provided funds through escheats, which meant if someone died without a legal a heir, the property would revert to the university. The university would sell it and take the proceeds. There were a number of cases where the university inherited enslaved people and immediately ordered them to be sold to finance the university. So leading up to the civil war, slavery was an integral part of life in the town of chapel hill, and at the university of north carolina, and students and faculty were overwhelmingly on the side of the confederacy. Dwindleds life kind of in the years after the civil war, a lot of students left to enlist. The university stayed open but barely. Not until the end of the war did troops make it into chapel hill. The University Administrators and other leaders managed to negotiate to prevent the university from being destroyed, but there were soldiers from many of the United States regiments housed on campus and nearby towns. So, things really began to change for the university and the town in the 1880s and 1890s. In the 1880s, a branch of the railroad came to town, just west of chapel hill. There were a couple of textile mills developed their. The town and nearby communities began to develop the outside community. In the 1890s, the university really began a drive to the coming in modern research university. This meant expanding enrollment building a graduate school, making a more concerted effort to be involved in a positive way in the life of the entire state of north carolina. So the university began to grow in prestige and national reputation. I would say in the 1920s and 30s. This was what it was embarking on really ambitious building and growth campaign. In some extent, inspired by state universities in the midwest and other parts of the country. But the university really began to engage with not just the state of north carolina, also the region, and those kinds of academic programs attracted students from all over the country, and they also brought dust also brought a lot of attention to the University Faculty and began to develop its reputation as a regional leader, certainly, but also nationally. The university today is a different from when it was founded. Some of the buildings are still here, but it is hard to imagine this kind of rustic, isolated place from 200 years ago, the bustling Public University it is now. What it is now is a modern, global Public University deeply committed to the state of north toolina, but also has ties programs and Research Facilities all over the world. It is still located in the heart of the state and it is still at the center of public life in north carolina, and a thing that is really important. You can watch this and other programs on the history of communities across the country on a website. Tv. Is American History watch the full program sunday. Patrick good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the National Archives foundations Virtual Program series. I am patrick madden, the director of this foundation. We are going to open the treasures of the past virtually. I hope that you are receiving our American Experience emails. And the history emails. If not, you can go to our website at archivesfoundation. Org. Before we began, i want to make sure that everyone knows our