I Am... James E. Shepard, who was a pharmacist, civil servant, educator and founder of what became North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. I was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on November 3, 1875. I attended and received my undergraduate and professional training at Shaw University.

I worked as a pharmacist in the community; and later as a civil servant and religious educator. I first established it as a private school for religious training in 1910 but later adapted it as a school for teachers. I than renamed it to National Training School; it was supported by the philanthropy of my numerous black and white friends in both the North and the South. I also had a network of private supporters, including northern white philanthropists such as Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage of New York.

The school provided professional development for black teachers of the Jim Crow era. I served as the school's first president for nearly 40 years. In 1923, North Carolina legislature approved state funding and the institution's name was changed to Durham State Normal School. In 1925, the program was expanded to a four-year curriculum, and the institution became North Carolina College for Negroes, the first state-supported liberal arts college in North Carolina and in the United States.

Its first four-year college class graduated in 1929. In  1947, the named became North Carolina College at Durham. The 1969 General Assembly established the institution as one of the State's regional universities, and the name was changed to North Carolina Central University. Since 1927, NCCU has been constituent institution of the University of North Carolina. On October 6, 1947, I died and I was succeeded in 1948 by Alfonso Elder.

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