Joseph Charles Price, a Black educator and civil rights activist, began his education at St. Andrew’s School in 1863. It was a learning center founded by James Walker Hood, the first Black missionary to the South.
His mother played an important role in his early education. Price was identified by school officials as one of the most gifted students among his peers. He was appointed principal of a black school in Wilson in 1871. He was a teacher there until 1873.
He returned to school in order to further his education. According to The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, he attended Shaw University in Raleigh with the intention of becoming a lawyer. Along the way, his academic interests shifted, and he transferred to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania to study for the ministry in the A.M.E. Zion Church. He graduated in 1879 and spent two years at theological seminary to further his education.
When the A.M.E church chose him for an Ecumenical Conference in London in 1881, his vision of establishing a black college became a reality. There he met Bishop Hood, who persuaded him to go on a speaking tour of England and other parts of Europe to raise awareness of the struggles of black education in the South.
While doing so, Price was able to raise $10,000 for the establishment of a black college in North Carolina. He also received donations from white Salisbury residents, which boosted his dream even further. His college, Zion Wesley College, was later renamed Livingstone College after explorer David Livingstone. At the age of 28, Price was elected president of the company in October 1882. He began the school in a single two-story building with five students and three teachers. It rose to become one of the most influential liberal arts colleges for Blacks in the South.
Despite the support of whites in the South such as Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, and Josephus Daniels, he believed that Blacks should take the first step in educating themselves. In 1888, he stated that Livingstone College demonstrated the success that the African-American community could achieve if they worked together to uplift themselves. He rose to national prominence as a result of his college leadership and gift for public speaking.