Funeral bulletin for Dr. James E. Shepard, founder of the North Carolina College at Durham.

James Edward Shepard was an African-American leader between 1900 and 1947. He was, however, more than a race leader. Shepard was a minister, politician, pharmacist, entrepreneur, world traveler, civil servant, businessman, one of the founders of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company (the world's largest African-American Life Insurance Company), president of the International Denominational Sunday School Convention, one of the founders of Mechanics and Farmers Bank of Durham, President of the North Carolina Teachers Association, and a visionary. Dr. Shepard was active in several social and fraternal organizations. He was Grand Mast of The Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina, Grand Patron of the Eastern Star of North Carolina, and Secretary of Finances for the Knights of Pythia. He was on the Board of Trustees of Lincoln Hospital of Durham, the Oxford (NC) Colored Orphanage, member of the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Agricultural Society, and Field Superintendent of Work Among Negros for the International Sunday School Association. He was also an educator, historian, and scholar. He was founder and president of North Carolina Central University, the first State-supported liberal arts college for African Americans in the United States.

Alexander McAllister Rivera Jr. was a prolific photojournalist and a foremost public relations specialist. Well-known for his long association with North Carolina Central University, his livelihood and professional career extended well beyond Durham, North Carolina. Rivera Jr. not only created a body of work that preserved critical aspects of African American and American history on the local, state, national, and international levels, he also personified the philosophies of confidentiality and anonymity essential in the field of public relations to maneuver and operate in the complex environment of national and state politics. His career allowed him to witness, report, and participate to some degree on key historical events in the early-to-mid twentieth century, provided him connections to black communities across the country, and access to some of most powerful and influential people in the United States. He had unparalleled breath concerning the emerging struggle for equality. This work will introduce Rivera Jr. - whose photojournalistic and public relations work has been ignored or underappreciated - to the historical record.

This is a letter written by Dr. James E. Shepard to Chas. G. Powell.

James Edward Shepard was an African-American leader between 1900 and 1947. He was, however, more than a race leader. Shepard was a minister, politician, pharmacist, entrepreneur, world traveler, civil servant, businessman, one of the founders of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company (the world's largest African-American Life Insurance Company), president of the International Denominational Sunday School Convention, one of the founders of Mechanics and Farmers Bank of Durham, President of the North Carolina Teachers Association, and a visionary. Dr. Shepard was active in several social and fraternal organizations. He was Grand Mast of The Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina, Grand Patron of the Eastern Star of North Carolina, and Secretary of Finances for the Knights of Pythia. He was on the Board of Trustees of Lincoln Hospital of Durham, the Oxford (NC) Colored Orphanage, member of the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Agricultural Society, and Field Superintendent of Work Among Negros for the International Sunday School Association. He was also an educator, historian, and scholar. He was founder and president of North Carolina Central University, the first State-supported Liberal Arts College for African Americans in the United States.