Alabama State University will hold its 124th Founders Day Convocation on Friday, with Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin serving as the keynote speaker.

Formerly enslaved men founded Lincoln Normal School in Marion on July 18, 1867, during the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War.

Known as the Marion Nine, they were Joey P. Pinch, Thomas Speed, Nicholas Dale, James Childs, Thomas Lee, John Freeman, Nathan Levert, David Harris, and Alexander H. Curtis.

Lincoln Normal School was the first state-sponsored liberal arts institution for the higher education of Black citizens, according to ASU. The college moved to Montgomery in 1887 and grew to become what is now ASU.

ASU holds its annual Founders Day near the time of the birthday of William Burns Paterson, who was appointed president of the school in 1878, served 37 years in that position, was instrumental in the move to Montgomery, and is considered the “architect” of the modern ASU.

Friday’s program will include songs by students in ASU’s Zelia Stephens Early Childhood Learning Center, the Trebled Soul Singers, and a performance by the Praise Dancers. ASU’s Spirit Awards for 2024 will be presented. ASU President Quinton Ross will speak.

The event is free and open to the public and begins at 10 a.m. at ASU’s Dunn-Oliver Acadome.