J.Y. Joyner

Source: University Archives, Call # ECU/03/J

Staff Person: Brian Johnson

Description:

The image below is from pages eight and nine of the 1949 Techoan, which was dedicated to J.Y. Joyner. J.Y. Joyner Library at East Carolina University and the J.Y. Joyner elementary school in Raleigh are his namesakes.

J. Y. Joyner

Written on page eight is the following:

Dr. J.Y. Joyner, who as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, served as ex officio chairman of the Board of Trustees of this college from 1907 to 1919, and who during the construction of the first five buildings on this campus served as a member of the Executive Committee, is probably East Carolina’s oldest friend.

It was through his influence, wisdom, and council that East Carolina is a co-educational college. We feel that it is altogether fitting that this annual be dedicated to Dr Joyner because, last but far from least, he united the friends of the State High School bill with the friends of the East Carolina Teachers Training bill to establish what we feel is one of the best teachers colleges in the United States.

James Yadkin Joyner (1862-1954), a North Carolina native, graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1881 with a Ph.B. degree (bachelor of philosophy) at age 19, the youngest member of the class. He taught in the Winston Graded Schools (1884-1885) and served as superintendent of the Goldsboro Graded Schools (1889-1893). During the intervening period, he studied at Greensboro Law School (1885-1886) and practiced law in the firm of Faircloth, Allen, and Joyner (1886-1889), in Goldsboro. In 1902 Governor Charles Brantley Aycock appointed Joyner superintendent of public instruction. Joyner held his position until 1919. During his term, he instituted many reforms in the state’s system of public education. He was also the first ex-officio chairman of the East Carolina Teachers Training School Board of Trustees (1907-1918) and later a member of the board (1922-1925).

Joyner also served as superintendent of the Lenoir County schools, chairman of the board of education of Wayne County schools, head of the English department of the State Normal and Industrial School for Women in Greensboro, member of board of directors at Meredith College and the University of North Carolina, and the first southerner elected president of the National Education Association.

Click on the image itself to see an enlarged version.

More information about Dr. Joyner can be found in University Archives, the Manuscript Collection in the Special Collections Department at Joyner Library, and at the following links:

http://specialcollections.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/0345/

http://www.jstor.org/sici?sici=0161-956X(196711)45%3A3%3C148%3ATDWSHD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-