Albany State University

A publicly funded and once all-black institution of higher education, Albany State University found in Albany, Georgia. In 2017, Darton State College and Albany State University merged to become a single institution of higher learning that is accredited by the University System of Georgia (USG). The main campus of Albany State University is located in Albany, Georgia, and the university also maintains a satellite campus in Cordele, Georgia (Cordele Center).

Joseph Winthrop Holley, who was born in 1874 to parents who had been enslaved and resided in Winnsboro, South Carolina, established the organisation in 1903 under the name Albany Bible and Manual Training Institute. Reverend Samuel Lane Loomis and his wife were both teachers, and they sponsored Holley's education at Brainerd Institute and afterwards at Revere Lay College (Massachusetts). While Holley was a student at Revere Lay, she became acquainted with New England entrepreneur Rowland Hazard, who serves on the board of trustees at the school. As a result of Hazard's developing feelings for Holley, the latter was able to continue his studies at Phillips Academy, which is located in Andover, Massachusetts. Holley pursued a career in the ministry and prepared himself by graduating from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. His goal was to become a preacher.