{"id":2202,"date":"2021-11-19T17:06:29","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T21:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/?p=2202"},"modified":"2022-02-23T16:44:46","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T20:44:46","slug":"evolution-of-the-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/evolution-of-the-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolution of the Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The
The university seal is inspired by the one used by the state of Maryland<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When the Civil War ended in 1865, Blacks recognized education was the path to providing for one\u2019s family and to bettering one\u2019s condition in society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newfound freedoms notwithstanding, former slaves and freedmen had few options to pursue elementary, much less higher education.\u00a0 Access to formal education was an exceptionally rare in rural communities. In small towns, Black education often fell to the church, where students learned their earliest lessons from local clergy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with other schools established with heavy influence from the church,\u00a0the Delaware Conference Academy in Princess Anne, Md.,\u00a0focused on developing skills in reading, writing and arithmetic as well as instilling a foundation of good Christian values in its students.\u00a0 The intellectual and spiritual development of students, who did not have the opportunity to receive an education, was paramount and seen as the North Star to future success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal Morrill Act of 1862, also known as the Land Grant College Act, was adopted\u00a0to establish institutions in each state to educate people in agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts and related professions of that era. The law allocated large tracts of federal land for states to sell and then\u00a0plow proceeds into supporting public colleges. Those institutions, however,\u00a0refused to\u00a0enroll Blacks.\u00a0 It was not until Aug. 30, 1890, when Congress passed the Second Morrill Act, that the federal government formally recognized its obligation to support historically Black institutions of higher education.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Academy\u2019s embrace of land-grant instruction and the meager funding that\u00a0accompanied it added another dynamic to its mission, one with which the institution grappled well into the 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century. \u00a0It meant an emphasis on industrial or vocational education, where students learned trades and skills that could help rebuild the country and their lives. This sparked the emergence of programs in industrial and mechanical arts, animal husbandry and domestic science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The institution not only was developing the mind and spirit, but the hands as well. As the Academy matured and control passed from the church to the state of Maryland, the Christian emphasis became less important, though it remains\u00a0a foundation of the institution\u2019s tradition and rich history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore of the 21st century emphasizes baccalaureate and graduate programs in the liberal arts, health professions, sciences and teacher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In keeping with its land-grant mandate, the University\u2019s purpose and uniqueness are grounded in distinctive learning, discovery and engagement opportunities in agriculture, marine and environmental sciences, technology, engineering and aviation sciences, health professions and the hospitality industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Degrees are offered at the bachelor\u2019s, master\u2019s and doctoral levels — a far cry from primary and secondary school lessons that greeted the first nine students who enrolled in 1886.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Civil War ended in 1865, Blacks recognized education was the path to providing for one\u2019s family and to bettering one\u2019s condition in society. Newfound freedoms notwithstanding, former slaves and freedmen had few options to pursue elementary, much less higher education.\u00a0 Access to formal education was an exceptionally rare in rural communities. In small…Read more Evolution of the Mission<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/125\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}