Jackson State University

Jackson State University (Jackson State, or JSU) is a historically black university in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1877 in Natchez, Mississippi as Natchez Seminary by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York, the Society moved the school to Jackson in 1882, renaming it Jackson College, and developed its present campus in 1902. It became a state-supported public institution in 1940, and it is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Jackson State University is a research university with high research activity. In the fall of 2015, Jackson State University reached a student population of nearly 10,000 students, an increase of 11% since fall 2012 which placed the university as the fourth largest HBCU in the nation.