Shaw University, founded as Raleigh Institute, is a private liberal arts institution and historically black university (HBCU) in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Shaw University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the Council on Social Work Education, and the American Psychological Association. Founded in 1865, our University has a rich history steeped in tradition, activism and service. We were the first college in North Carolina to offer a four-year medical school; the first institution of higher learning established for freedmen after the Civil War and the first historically Black College in the nation to open its doors to women.