John Crosby

John Oliver Crosby (December 22, 1850 – August 22, 1929) was an American educator and the first President of what is now North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Early life and education John O. Crosby was born a slave in Crosbyville, Fairfield County, South Carolina, on December 22, 1850, to Sylvian and her master, Thomas Crosby. His mother was from Richmond, Virginia. He was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade. In 1860, Thomas Crosby died and his estate was sold. Mary Q. Crosby purchased Crosby for $1,260. In 1864, Mary Crosby married William Stanton, and Crosby's apprenticeship ended and he moved to Shelton's Depot. Stanton was drafted into the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War in 1864, and John went along. Stanton was assigned duty as a guard of a prison for Federal soldiers in Florence, South Carolina, near Columbia. Stanton was friends with Robert Stark Means, commander of the prison, and Stanton was made suttler to the prisoners. Crosby's proximity to headquarters gave him the chance to occasionally act as drummer. Crosby was well liked, and used his privileges to occasionally help Federal prisoners escape and to give to the prisoners reports about Confederate movements.

After the war, Crosby endeavored to gain an education. He joined the Union League and became involved with county politics. In 1869, he was appointed by governor Robert Kingston Scott as census taker. He entered Biddle University in the fall of 1869 and Shaw University in 1870, graduating in 1874 He later became the first African-American man to graduate from the National School of Elocution and Oratory. Under Crosby's leadership, the college established itself in its new location. The college's first administration building, which was destroyed by fire in 1930, was designed by Crosby.

In addition to the administration building, Crosby planned the construction of the North Dormitory in 1894 and Crosby Hall which at the time was known as the "finest structure of its kind throughout the southern states."

Legacy Crosby Hall on the campus of North Carolina A&T bears Crosby's name. The second building on the campus named for him was constructed in 1970. The original Crosby Hall, constructed in 1895, was also known as the Mechanical Building.