On April 8, 1873, black residents in Baltimore gathered to pay homage to Johns Hopkins, a man with just months of life remaining who planned to create an orphanage for black children and a hospital open to whites and blacks alike.
One speaker at the rally praised the businessman for distributing his fortune “for the relief of the colored man.” Another said Hopkins was guided by “the highest expression of the spirit of the age.” A third added, “Wherever the colored man may be, there will his name be known.”
A Johns Hopkins University investigation that labeled its own founder a slave owner has come under criticism.