Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a historically black university

Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....

 founded in 1877 in Natchez

Natchez, Mississippi

Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...

, MS by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York. The Society moved the school to Jackson in 1882, renaming it Jackson College, and developed its present campus in 1902. It became a state supported public institution in 1940. A member of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund

Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund , named for the U.S. Supreme Court's first African-American Justice, was established in 1987. TMCF supports and represents nearly 300,000 students attending 47-member schools, which include public Historically Black Colleges & Universities and Predominantly Black...

, JSU holds an important place in the history of US civil rights.
Jackson State University started as Natchez Seminary, a private school, under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York, to educate Mississippi’s newly freed and underprivileged blacks.

• 1877: Operated for 63 years as a private church school beginning with only twenty students.