Atlanta University—now Clark Atlanta University—is the first HBCU in the Southern United States; and the nation's oldest graduate institution serving a predominantly African-American student body. It is the first HBCU to the founded, chartered and to conferee its first bachelor's degree in the South. Atlanta University chartered October 17, 1867;[16] offered first instruction at postsecondary level 1869; first graduating class 1873, (normal school for future teachers including women); and awarded its first six bachelor's degrees June 1876.[17] Atlanta University was the first to accept women; and the first HBCU to have a women's dormitory, North Hall built in 1869.