Where It All Began

The First A&T Homecoming in 1926

Every great tradition has a beginning.

For North Carolina A&T Homecoming, that beginning was 1926.

A&T's archival research traces the university's Homecoming tradition to a football game against Hampton. At the time, A&T was still a relatively young institution with a much smaller alumni population than it has today.

The historical record of that first celebration isn't complete. University archivists acknowledge that many details about how the first Homecoming was organized and what activities surrounded it remain unknown.

But something important had started.

By the following year, entertainment was already becoming part of the celebration. The 1927 festivities advertised Winston-Salem's Twin City Brass Band as part of the day's entertainment.

Football, music, alumni and community were beginning to come together.

A century later, those same ingredients remain at the heart of the Homecoming experience.

The crowds have become dramatically larger. The entertainment has expanded. The celebration now reaches throughout Greensboro.

But the central idea hasn't changed:

Come back to Aggieland. Reconnect. Celebrate. Come home.

Part of 100 Years of Aggie Stories on GHOEGuide. GHOEGuide.com is an independent, unofficial guide and is not affiliated with North Carolina A&T State University.