sesquicentennial, 150 years, founded in 1867, a university that originally started with nine students in the basement of the sharp street methodist piscopo church, now celebrating 150 years and has nearly 8000 students. it is a history and a legacy that is tied to historically black colleges and universities. in 2017, there are nine historically black colleges and universities that will celebrate their 150th anniversary, and these are morgan state university in baltimore maryland , howard university in d.c., johnson c smith in north carolina, barber scotia in north carolina, talladega alabama, saint augustine in return line of, alabama state university in alabama, fayetteville state university in north carolina, and morehouse college in georgia. in 1867, these nine historically black colleges and universities formed the largest concentration of any historically black college and university established in any single year. 1965, the higher education act 105965 formally recognize historically black colleges and universities, and so these 105 hbcu's are an important legacy to the education of african-americans in this country. morgan's founding and morgan's journey began with the right reverend samuel green, who was born in dorchester county as a slave and purchased his freedom along with that of his wife by 1840. he also assisted his son, samuel green junior, in a seat -- escaping the underground railroad. he was assisted by harriet tubman. reverend green was a conductor on the underground railroad and also assisted many others to freedom and was caught with a pamphlet of the uncle tom's cabin. when he was arrested and sent to prison here in the city of baltimore for 10 years before being pardoned by the governor of the state of maryland on the condition that he would leave the state where he went to visit his son sam junior who was resigning -- residing in canada, he came back to maryland in the year they signed the emancipation proclamation, 1864. he met with several african-american preachers and those of the clergy who found what is now morgan state university, what was then the centenary biblical institute of 1867. theber 31st in 1864 was year that marked the first african-american conference in the methodist at this cable church. it is known as the washington conference. these original founders and visionaries along with the right reverend samuel green decided to start what is now morgan state university, and their single purpose was the intellectual and moral elevation of young men of color. they were to train these young men in the ministry. these men would go off and preach not only the gospel but preach liberation. this is happening just after the emancipation proclamation has been signed here in the state of maryland, after president abraham lincoln had signed the emancipation proclamation on the united states of america. 1866, theas day founders met, and they met to organize what would then become the centenary of little institute of 1867. on april 30, the first class of students, nine students, met at the sharp street united methodist church in the basement of that location, democrat and search street -- down at pratt and sharp street. and the articles of incorporation for the centenary biblical institute was founded. so the journey of morgan has been a long illustrious journey, one that has taken it from the centenary biblical institute to morgan college of 1890 to morgan state college of 1839 to morgan state university of 1975. a remarkable journey that began with these brave students, nine of which met in the basement of this building here at the corner baltimore's pratt, inner harbor today, and at this site, there is a days inn hotel. but the nine students informed this university convened at the lower level of this basement. the reverend james h brown delivered what is referred to as a systematic course of lectures to these young african-american men who were being trained to enter the gospel. in 1869, the centenary biblical institute purchased a patent property which is this building here. they purchased it in a noted african-american community called yellow hills in downtown baltimore. this would become the first independent building, campus will day for the centenary biblical institute. it is at this location they ,reated the sitting economy founded in 1886. it would later be known as the market academy. -- morgan academy. that would run from 1860 -- 29027. john79, the reverend gaucher donated property at the corner of edmondson and fulton for the establishment of a larger campus building, which is the building that you see here designed by frankie davis. and that location, the institute then became the morgan college morgan, reverend little donated property to the university and also in -- also in doubt the institution. they renamed the institution morgan college. in 1986, the centenary biblical the apprenticeed and academy on maryland's eastern shore's. it was known as the teleconference academy. it is today the university of maryland eastern shore, which was birthed out of morgan state. the original building as you can see off to the side, this hall and several other buildings that form today the academic oval on maryland's eastern shore, this branch of morgan was in 1935,ion from 1886 until when it was sold to the state of maryland. the last building that was standing on the site was still standing in 1959, a significant year, when the building was actually demolish. it was fire induced. the whole, the liza smith hall building. this building here, it is the building they fire induced. it is a significant and important building that was erected on that campus, one that no longer stands. all other former buildings related to the practice and academy are no longer there. in 1899, they went further with establishing other branches. in lynchburg, virginia, they had the collegiate and industrial college. it was a branch of morgan from 1891 to 1917. on that site, it was a 12 acre site that have a single building. you will notice this is the same building at edmondson and fulton. they hired the same market to create a brand for the university. they were going to build the signature campus buildings have these different branches. -- at these different branches. this was the collegiate site. in 1917, this building was destroyed by fire. it was the only building on that site, and the students who were at that location were rescued by harriet wilford, a faculty member at that location. she saved all the persons from that fire and later died from pneumonia. on the campus today, if you visited the wilford in vermont in honor of harry at wilford for her heroic efforts of the lynchburg campus. in 1917, the university purchased the current site where the university is presently located. on this site we have morgan to 1949 when the state purchased the campus. from morgan state college 1939 to 1975, and morgan state university from 1975 to the present. so this at coldspring and helen, which was the iv mill and farm, a 65 acre tract of land that they purchased in 1917 100 years ago. purchased it from walter thorne, a german immigrant. he was very sensitive to the needs of african americans, and this was important that they are related to acquisition during the 1970's. a farm. was it was the iv mill and farm, and baltimorecrop was the nice, the stone that many buildings are erected in. the washington hall building is an early building that was on this campus. it was home to walter thorne. 1920.s a picture from all of the original campus buildings were actually farm buildings that walter thorne had already on this campus that the university immediately reused for the purposes of education. they renamed this building washington hall in honor of the washington conference, which gave rise to the centenary biblical institute, the washington conference where the colored numbers founded the institution. bellevue hall was a part of the morgan or the morton state acquisition. so the original purchase was 65 acres of land. an additional 12 acres of land was purchased to increase the size of the campus. this bellevue hall became a dormitory -- an early dormitory for men on the campus. has significance of the development of morgan college and morgan park is one that is quite significant within our american history. there are six key milestones that relate to this, but one of importance is in 1913, when the morgan college company was established to relocate the campus. dr. john spencer, who was the president of the university, had organized a group of colored men who would establish an organization that would set out to find a larger plot of land for the university has it related to a carnegie, andrew carnegie gift, to the university. he donated $50,000 on the condition that it would build a building in his honor, that it would find larger land to erect this building because when the university was at edmondson and fulton, his architect from new york edward tilden came down to visit that site and told andrew carnegie that if he gave morgan the $50,000, that they would soon outgrow that location, that it would not be as good but use of the resources. so they set out to find a different site. what was unique and very tumultuous about the search as you can see in the headlines is that the university could have in park heights. but protesters happened. they said the coloeds will -- area.ds will invade the they look at mount washington. there were several letters written from high chief executives who also wrote to dr. gaucher and dr. spencer, roofing such as we have homes that we own in this community. we have spent thousands of dollars to improve our properties. please be considerate of what it would mean to bring these negroes into our community. so they looked at more than 21 sites across maryland, trying to relocate this university. in 1917, they were able to andect with walter thorne, the iv middle and farm, and purchased the site where we currently are. what was important was that 25 acres of land would be set aside community.ential community. this is the negro colony that was then referenced in the 1913 to 1917 documents areas adjacent to the campus, the main campus is here with the quad, is the community called morgan park. this morgan park community is a historic african-american community. it was one of the first city suburbs at the time that the campus moved here. it was still baltimore county and became baltimore city in 1918. this very significant community 1913 to developed from the 1960's has three very strong periods of significance in which houses were built and movers and shakers occupied the community itself. the first home that was erected bythe community was built dr. o'connell. he was one of the first principles of the princess and academy located on maryland path eastern shore -- maryland's eastern shore. he built a house that still stands in the community. the proximity of this as it relates to the overall westrsity is as such, just of the campus is another very important community called wilson park committee, developed by harriet wilson, also african-american. areas surrounding the campus would have been whites who had protested the african-american community. it went as high as the supreme court level. the first building that morgan constructed on the campus was the carnegie hall building. there were other buildings that predated carnegie hall. but carnegie hall is the oldest building that morgan state university erected on the campus. this building was designed by edward tilden, the architect from new york. theent edward tilden to university to design three other buildings in addition to carnegie. this building on coldspring lane was the old power plant building , one that has been decommissioned but is a historic building built of the stones quarried from the site. and the oldest continuously occupied dormitory on the campus that houses young man, it was finished in the 1920's. all of the buildings that form what we call the morgan academic farmare on the iv mill proper. this quite a report historically housed farm buildings. the carnegie hall building being the first that was erected, then being flanked by annexations recognizing dr. john spencer, milton calloway, who was one of the first and early black scientists, dr. charles key, the banneker hall named in honor of benjamin banneker, originally the sober library and the first whole for campus, the the first african-american president, the harper tubman building, named in honor of harriet tubman, the jenkins hall, the second african-american president, dr. martin jenkins, and carter grant wilson, these individuals were the three horsemen within morgan's history here at carter, james carter was born on this site. it was the iv mill and farm. his family with the colored family who worked for the iv mill and farm. so we believe he actually introduced this property to john spencer when it came on the market. that is how they were able to purchase it. then dean grant and edward ,ilson, who was the registrar longtime registrar of morgan state university and wrote the history from 1867 to 1967. then truth hall, originally a for generalmed ,ruth, then mcelveen center named in honor of theater mcelveen, former governor, and megan hall, named in honor of the first graduate george mcmackin. the science center, which is named in honor of the graduate who was the first african-american treasurer of the state of maryland. these two very important individuals in the history of morgan state university, dr. martin d jenkins, the second african-american president, and dr. oliver wendell holmes, who was the first. so what you see is one of the first models for the campus. dr. holmes passing the baton to dr. jenkins, and they had laid out a 20 year physical campus plan for morgan, much of which reflected the history of morgan today in terms of the physical environment. the direction of the homes, the -- first tire building clocktower building was planned and directed to be one of the sort of guiding principles in terms of the environment on the campus as far as direction. it is a significant addition to the campus that helps to orient what market history referred to as a long walk. this is the campus by 1967 where they celebrated its centennial anniversary. there are several very important leaders who have led this institution. it is important to note it reflects the american story while the students were always african-american, the leadership was always white. dr. john spencer, who was one of the early presidents of the university, also white, was a longtime president of morgan 1902 to 1937 and let it through its many establishments of branches, the princess and him of the american academy, the lynchburg, and relocating to this site. dr. dwight oliver with a holmes in 1937 "first african-american president. from 1867 to 1937, the university was under white leadership. martin jenkins in 1948 became the second african-american president and really helped to shape what became then the morgan state college, positioning it to become university. dr. earl richardson who died on two 2010,, from 2004 certainly grew, expanded and developed morgan state university into what many of you and i see on the campus today. and our current president, dr. david wilson, who was thegurated in 2010, became 12th president of morgan state university and is leading this institution under the banner of growing the future and leading the world. littleton at morgan was one of the most significant trustees of this institution. in 1990, he gave property personally. he personally endowed the institution, which is why they renamed the institution work in college, in honor of this reverend littleton morgan. colonel james murphy, the former president of the baltimore afro, was our early chartered member of the board of trustees. he joined in 1939 and was becoming the first african-american board of trustees member, and then became the first chair of the board of trustees in 1953. enoliay a mcmillan -- mcmillan, she was known as the matriarch of the naacp, she was the first and only chair woman chair and african-american chair of the board of trustees. kweisi mfume became the chair in 1930 -- 2013. morgan has had a prolific leadership both at the trustee level as well as the presidential level. morgan has had a significant group of alumni beginning with its first, ashley hawkins, who graduated from the centenary institute in 1981, became a very noted african-american attorney, and helped to bring down racial segregation laws, the very laws that would have excluded morgan from coming to this area. his partner was george w mcmackin, who became morgan college's first graduate of 1895. he also is an attorney and went to yield university. these student were early african-american students are the students who came after the generation of those young men who were originally being trend -- trained to enter the ministry. our first female graduate, suzy inlyle, visit -- graduated 1878. it was an institution purposed for young men in the ministry. at our academy, morgan academy, one of our noted alumni of that academy in 1890 was no other than zoran milanovic and -- the torah neil hurston, one of the most significant principles was bishop edgar amos love, the son of our first people graduate, suzy carlyle, and he was principal from 1919 to 1927 when the morgan academy closed. the very versus hurston case from 1935 to 1937 was a significant milestone legislation that assisted in the transfer of morgan college to morgan state college. there are three very important legislative dates that relate to morgan, 1867 the centenary biblical institute tech 1939 when the state purchased morgan college, and it becomes oregon state college. state 1975, would morgan university is awarded its university status. that case that i just showed you was a state -- with the case of ,hurgood marshall's first case separate but equal. the working knowledge students protest in maryland in 1927 when they protested in the nation's capital to increase the support for morgan state university was one of the early civil rights movement of the students of morgan. morgan students have participated in numerous civil rights activities from citizens to demonstrations to protest -- sit-ins to demonstrations to protest. sit-ingstore citizen -- was the first in the country when the morgan students in 1955 sat in downtown at the rate drugstore to desegregate the once counters that would have excluded persons of color from sitting and eating and being able to order food. other noted faculty members of this institution included dr. howard heard it, a morgan andege graduate of 1937 became professor from 1927 to 1957. he was the director of the morgan christian center from 1944 to 1976. james carter, who was born on this site, to a family that was employed by the ivy mill, was assistant to the president until his death in 1959. he was a long serving individual here at the campus and was considered one of the three horsemen. the second would have been george grant, one of the principles of the morgan academy, sheridan of the education department here, and dean of the morgan college and assisted students with that civil rights activity. edward wilson, who wrote the history of morgan state college from 1867 to 1967 and was the registrar for this institution, and was one of the noted university historians. morgan has had a prolific and legendary sports history among the institution. a group of students here in the carnegie hall, these student of the basketball team, the early basketball team. as you look off to the right here, you will see a very noted and significant african-american individual. that is dr. charles drew, who was on morgan's campus during the early 20's. and his first job was that of the first athletic coach on this campus. even though he became a noted dr. and invented -- had several noted medical advances, he hailed his experiences here at morgan as some of his most remarkable contributions. and then the legendary football team here at morgan, who has played numerous games on the w hughes stadium, is also of significance. dr. scroggs was the founder of african-american fraternity that was founded in the state of maryland, the five sigmaigma -- phi theta gamma chapter. it was founded when we were still working college. the history of fraternity that have been founded on this campus this institution are also significant to the maryland history and the nations history. iota phi theta fraternity 1963, to thember noted commencements and exercises that have been on the hughes stadium where the students continue to graduate today, and the many honorary doctorates that had been conferred to very significant individuals at that location. dr. martin luther king junior in 1958 was a commencements speaker on that same field, and excerpts from what would become the "i have a dream" speech were delivered at that commencement exercise. the university also conferred an honorary doctorate upon him. murphy auditorium, which was a significant building on the campus, was also the site of numerous other guests and visitors who were brought to the campus. malcolm x. held debates at the murphy auditorium. you see a picture of him here with students in 1962 under the direction of the market morgan's history has been very pronounced. the first individual off to my site here was thomas henry kia, the printed dust president of this academy on maryland's eastern shore, who during the last lynching in maryland, which happened in 1933, spoke out and was unafraid to speak out against those activities happening on the eastern shore, and led and guided that institution accordingly. thesenator, on which welcome bridges named in honor of, was america's first american , andrican-american senator maryland's alum. she was a maryland state senator. lived in thebois neighboring community. he had a home designed by perdue and lived there for nearly 30 conferred ant honorary doctorate upon him as well. dr. regina gault was a noted faculty member here. she was instrumental in bringing international students early to the campus. she became the first african-american woman and first woman in the nation to be head of the u.s. department of education, and she served under president lyndon b. johnson. these two individuals, edward -- gymhich the hurt jim thenamed after, was one of famous coaches here. dr. drew, started in the 20th of a famous act let a code, left morgan and became one of the legendary medical scientist than this nation. ida r cummings was one of the first african-american female kindergarten teachers here in the city of baltimore, and also along with the coming emily was very instrumental and philanthropic with efforts to her university. frank our trade was our first principle of the lynchburg gg was our first principle of the lynchburg he was born a slave and his family being enslaved to the governor of virginia, and then he goes off to hampton inn hampton where he that -- hampton institute, and then joined the faculty at the campus and a soup the presidency they're becoming the college president of the bennett college. morgan continues to produce noted alumni, including grades, a noted 1950's graduate who is in the graduating class, who is in the exercises that dr. martin junior delivered from the "i have a dream" speech. judge robert m bell, graduated in 1966, is the first african-american to come that become chief judge of the american court of appeals. he had an impressive rotc program. mr. william ward is a morgan see college graduate in 1971, and became a four-star army general. morgan e talbert has become a distinguished playwright, and his movies are aired today. april ryan, class of 1989, is the white house press correspondent and among our distinguished alumni as well. morgan's esteemed and significant world-renowned choir has performed locally, nationally, and globally, and remains an important choir among the hbcus. and then there are the campus resources of morgan state university, that speak to the rich, illustrious heritage of that university. the civil rights activities from 1947 through the 1970's. the lilly carol jackson house and museum, which the university acquired, redeveloped, and rededicated as a civil rights museum in honor of the pioneering civil rights activist lowly carol jackson. the hill wall, along in, wall being billed wreck to practically wall of the campus during the jim crow arrow when -- era when all of the protest about the negro college being billed is part of our -- built is part of our heritage. and numerous others have also sat behind -- easy dr. jenkins ,ere -- to the douglas statue which i will show you. the negro college mural, which you will see shortly. this is a carla chappell, the chapel which is named in honor of our worst female graduate, and the mcmackin building -- first female graduate, and the mcmackin building. in 1964, when the welcome bridge was being elected -- erected was a hillen road, it bridge being erected in honor of the first african-american welcome senator berger -- burda welcome. statue,erick douglas which was erected in 1956, is the first -- you erected to frederick douglas in his native land. in the was born a slave state of maryland in 1818, and a professor on this campus, at james the lewis, hand sculpted this statue in 1956. memorial serves -- at the top you will see a very long, .egro college mural a very important mural to this campus. the campus buildings, both old and new, that are on this campus, that are contributing, historic, and also significant. they were designed by some of the nation's most influential african-american architects, who was born in maryland, not far from this campus, and became one of the nation's foremost african-american architects, to hillyard robinson, who is trained by albert to sell and became one of the nations most prominent public housing architects, to louis fry, who is the first african-american to graduate from the university for masters ofa architecture, and became one of ,he first hbc you professors who was also designing buildings and to fill 31, 1 of the nations most premiered current african-american architects to design the current school architecture building as well as be nation -- the nation's last and newest smithsonian mall museum building, the national african-american history and culture museum on the nations mall. these buildings and this heritage respect -- reflect an -- history of morgan state university, deemed a national treasure by the trust of historic preservation on may third, 2016. it is the only college to be a national treasure in the united states of america, so we celebratethis as we our 150 years. traverss now a national -- treasure. its purpose, progress, promise, and our inheritance is tied to this rich legacy of a morgan thee university, formally seminary double institute of 1867, and our responsibility of stewarding this legacy and these resources is something that the university takes very areas the, and all of this rich, illustrious history that you have need and heard today just underscores that morgan has always mattered, and with that, i thank you for this lecture and i will entertain any questions that you have at this time. yes? >> one thing i found very that ining, i noticed the past, a lot of buildings were being burned. was there any significant to that, because i understand back burningstimes, the were just assign to -- i want to say pushing the gross -- negroes away in terms of culture. was there anything significant in actually burning buildings? >> there are two things to note about the two burnings in our history. one, the earliest at the lynchburg campus, a fire broke out in december. you have to put december in context, as well as a 12 acre site that sat somewhat up on a valley that went around the campus. there was a train track that went around, and the rest of the lynchburg environment that on another plateau, so we understand about the fire at that location is as the campus burned, the fire department was not able to get to the campus. cold, the ground is soft and wet, and there is a fire they have to get down a bill to and come up a hill to get to that building. that fire was actually a -- intic fire and not in deuce, and could not be put out. so the heroic efforts of harriet fard, who was wol able to save faculty and students from that fire, is an important aspect of her legacy as well as that of the campus. students relocated to the present day campus on the where the fire induced building you saw was a wood frame building that was built, and during that time, contextually, in the 1930's the wca was earmarking federal dollars to institutions, largely to build masonry buildings. what many campuses and institutions were doing at the time was demolishing and/or setting fire to various campus structures in order to advance construction on the campus by .he way capital development they are building masonry buildings. --t will they fire induced was a fire induced activity. it wasn't tied to any racial tension, if you will. --er questions that go question? > do you believe morgan still retains the ability to influence the black community today? >> yes. university is now carnegie classified doctoral research university. as of 1975, we are the public and university, so with a bachelors, masters, and doctoral and verythat we have displayed students today, along with faculty who are engaged in addressing some of the issues that confront cities across the american landscape as well as cities all across the globe. students like yourself, coupled with those that graduated from this institution from the still making an impact in this nation, and indeed in the world. what other questions do we have from the florio dust floor? -- floor? >> i know you were only talking about the president. and it ended in 1970 restarted 1984. i was wondering how long it took so hard to death long to find another president? there were two presidents in between dr. jenkins and dr. richardson, and what i did in the presentation was cold out only a few, if you will, dennis pull out -- pull out a few, if mention, as i could not all of our illustrious faculty. other questions you go -- questions? yes. >> i notice you were saying happy immigration started in the mainstream. do you think they demented themselves because of the racial tension at the time, or do you think that -- what i'm trying to ask is how did it move from being biblical to more education , having majors and professions? >> a very good question. as i shared with you originally, one of our founders and visionaries, reverend samuel green, prior to the civil war and the emancipation proclamation, within the african-american community religion played a very serious and important role. when you look at morgan civil rights legacy and its activities you may think it begins in 1947. toreally can be traced back 1787, nearly 230 years ago, when the early clergy, young african-american men who were breaking away, protesting from the methodist episcopal church environment, they were relegated to pews, relegated to strict forms of worship. these early individuals broke away from that church and started a school by 1795, which owes -- was to train younger african-americans on the same site where a centenary biblical biblical -- seminary institute would be started. so those after the civil war and emancipation automation, both white and black, believed very heavily on the importance of education of those who are newly to be important members of the society. the clergy were among the earliest of our individuals, however the school transformed into a college in 1890, when reverend littleton morgan donated the property and a doubt the institution. he saw the bigger picture as the university route from 18 to 7-18 66, to ensure it would move from being training young men only, and even in the clergy, to becoming a full college. this was the work of both the white community and the black community, who believed in the of whatce and the value the founders set in 1864. moral and intellectual elevation. other questions? yes? >> morgan's accomplishments have lain that spanned a long time. why do you think is a compliment have been unnoticed for such a long time? >> were consistory, along with the nine other hbcus founded in 1967 is an important history that reflects the american story. it is a history much like the national treasures status is affording us now, to promote this history, documents this history, and to tell this important history. it is an ongoing history, not a history just of our past, but one of our present and it will indeed be a history of our future. we have an obligation, as you do, to be ambassadors of the university's legacy and of the university's missions, so wherever you go and wherever you are, this history is if you. it is with those that come into contact with you, so be mindful of that. i wasve a question? >> just wondering -- i know morgan alle started as a young african-american school, and winded morgan state decide to transition into having young --rican men women -- women what was the decision to have that transition in terms of african-american schools? aroundtransition started 1872, and when i showed you the building that was at the patent property of 1869, they started the academy during that time as well, and they opened the institution beyond its male to thatort of capacity including young women, and that is when susie carla, who graduate in 1878, becomes the first female graduate of the institution. questions? we are wrapping up. but we are dismissed. >> join us every saturday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern as we join students and college classrooms to hear lectures on topics ranging from the american revolution to 9/11 here lectures and history are also available as podcasts. visit our website, c-span.org/history/podcast, or download them from itunes. >> pulitzer prize-winning historian joseph as a best ellis ar -