By BART BARNES | The Washington Post | Published: January 22, 2021 Samuel L. Myers Sr., a Harvard-educated economist and leader in Black higher education who presided over momentous change at Bowie State College starting in the late 1960s after students occupied the Maryland State House to protest poor conditions at the school, died Jan. 8 at his home in Mitchellville, Md. He was 101 and was living at a residential community for seniors. He died after declining hospital treatment for an inability to swallow, said a son, Samuel L. Myers Jr. Now called Bowie State University, the historically Black institution in Maryland s Prince George s County was founded after the Civil War to train teachers for the children of newly freed enslaved people.
Samuel L. Myers Sr., leader in Black higher education who oversaw Bowie State protests, dies at 101 Bart Barnes Samuel L. Myers Sr., a Harvard-educated economist and leader in Black higher education who presided over momentous change at Bowie State College starting in the late 1960s after students occupied the Maryland State House to protest poor conditions at the school, died Jan. 8 at his home in Mitchellville, Md. He was 101 and living in a residential community for seniors. He died after declining hospital treatment for an inability to swallow, said a son, Samuel L. Myers Jr. Now called Bowie State University, the historically Black institution in Maryland’s Prince George’s County was founded after the Civil War to train teachers for the children of newly freed enslaved people.