Morehouse College


Morehouse College is a private historically black men's college in Atlanta, Georgia. Anchored by its main campus of near downtown Atlanta, the college has a variety of residential dorms and academic buildings east of Ashview Heights. Along with Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine, the college is a member of the Atlanta University Center consortium. Founded by William Jefferson White in 1867 in response to the liberation of enslaved African-Americans following the American Civil War, Morehouse adopted a seminary university model and stressed religious instruction, in the Baptist tradition. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, the college experienced rapid albeit financially unstable institutional growth by establishing a liberal arts curriculum. The three-decade tenure of Benjamin Mays during the mid-20th century led to strengthened finances, an enrollment boom, and increased academic competitiveness. The college has played a key role in the development of the civil rights movement and racial equality in the United States.
As the largest men's liberal arts college in the U.S., Morehouse is one of two historically black colleges in the country to produce Rhodes Scholars, and is the alma mater of many African-American civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., Julian Bond, and Donn Clendenon. Among Morehouse alumni – traditionally known as "Morehouse Men" – the college has graduated numerous "African American firsts" in local, state and federal government as well as in science, academia, business, and entertainment.

History

Establishment

Just two years after the American Civil War, the Augusta Institute was founded by the William Jefferson White, an Atlanta Baptist minister and cabinetmaker, with the support of the Rev. Richard C. Coulter, a former slave from Atlanta, Georgia, and the Rev. Edmund Turney, organizer of the National Theological Institute for educating freedmen in Washington, D.C. The institution was founded to educate African American men in theology and education and was located in Springfield Baptist Church, the oldest independent black church in the United States. The institution moved from Augusta, Georgia, to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1879. The school received sponsorship from the American Baptist Home Mission Society, an organization that helped establish several historically black colleges. The Institute's first president was Rev. Joseph T. Robert . An anti-slavery Baptist minister from South Carolina and 1828 graduate of Brown University, Robert raised funds, taught the classes, and stabilized the institution.
1867Augusta Institute established
1879Institute moved to Atlanta and name changed to Atlanta Baptist Seminary
1885The seminary moved to its present location
1897The school was renamed Atlanta Baptist College
1913School renamed to Morehouse College
1929Morehouse entered into a cooperative agreement with Clark College and Spelman College
1975The Morehouse School of Medicine established
1981The Morehouse School of Medicine became independent from Morehouse College

Early years

In 1879, the institute moved to Atlanta and changed its name to the Atlanta Baptist Seminary. It later acquired a campus in downtown Atlanta. In 1885, Samuel T. Graves became the second president. That year the seminary moved to its present location, on land donated by prominent Baptist and industrialist, John D. Rockefeller. In 1890, George Sale became the seminary's third president.
In 1906 John Hope became the first African-American president and led the institution's growth in enrollment and academic stature. He envisioned an academically rigorous college that would be the antithesis to Booker T. Washington's view of agricultural and trade-focused education for African-Americans. In 1913, the college was renamed Morehouse College, in honor of Henry L. Morehouse, corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. Morehouse entered into a cooperative agreement with Clark College and Spelman College in 1929 and later expanded the association to form the Atlanta University Center.
Samuel H. Archer became the fifth president of the college in 1931 and selected the school colors, maroon and white, to reflect his own alma mater, Colgate University. Benjamin Mays became president in 1940. Mays, who would be a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., presided over the growth in international enrollment and reputation. During the 1960s, Morehouse students were actively involved in the civil rights movement in Atlanta. Mays' speeches were instrumental in shaping the personal development of Morehouse students during his tenure.
In 1967, Hugh M. Gloster became the seventh president. The following year, the college's Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society was founded. In 1975, Gloster established the Morehouse School of Medicine, which became independent from Morehouse College in 1981. Gloster also established a dual-degree program in engineering with the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan and Boston University.

Modern history

Leroy Keith Jr., was named president in 1987. In 1995, alumnus Walter E. Massey, became Morehouse's ninth president. His successor, Robert Michael Franklin Jr. was the tenth president of the College. In November 2012, John Silvanus Wilson, an alumnus of Morehouse College, was announced as the institution's 11th president. In January 2018, David A. Thomas took office as the college's 12th president.
In 2007, Morehouse graduated 540 men, one of the largest classes in its history. On May 16, 2008, Joshua Packwood became the first white valedictorian to graduate in the school's 141-year history. In August 2008, Morehouse welcomed a total of 920 new students to its campus, one of the largest entering classes in the history of the school.
Morehouse celebrated several historic milestones in 2013. One century prior, in 1913, Atlanta Baptist College was renamed Morehouse College after Henry Lyman Morehouse, corresponding secretary for the American Baptist Home Mission Society. 2013 was also the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, when Morehouse graduate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., class of 1948, delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C. The year also marked the 50th anniversary of King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." The College also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the "A Candle in the Dark" Gala, which honors some of the world's leaders and raises scholarship funds for Morehouse students.
In May 2013, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president in three-quarters of a century to deliver a commencement address in Georgia when he took part in Morehouse College's 129th Commencement ceremony. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had given a summer commencement address at the University of Georgia in 1938. President Obama received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Morehouse.
In April 2019, Morehouse announced that they will begin admitting transgender men for the first time in the year 2020. In May 2019, Robert F. Smith who received an honorary degree at Morehouse College's 135th commencement ceremony, promised to pay the educational loan debt for every spring 2019 graduate which totaled about $34 million. Smith's gift is the second largest single donation from a living donor to a HBCU in history.
In June 2020, Reed Hastings and his wife Patty Quillin donated $40 million to Morehouse College to be used as scholarship funds for students enrolled at Morehouse. Their single donation is the largest in Morehouse and HBCU history. In July 2020, Morehouse received a $20 million donation from MacKenzie Scott.

Administration and organization

Morehouse's governing body is its Board of Trustees. The Morehouse Board of Trustees has 37 members, including three student trustees and three faculty trustees. As of December 2014, five of the six executive board members and seven of the 31 general trustees are Morehouse alumni.
The president of the college is the senior executive officer, appointed officially by the Board of Trustees. The current President of Morehouse is David A. Thomas. The President's Office has several leaders within its Executive Leadership Team including Academic Affairs, General Counsel, Business and Finance, Marketing and Communications, Information Technology, Institutional Advancement, External Relations, and Student Affairs.
Morehouse's majors and programs are divided into three divisions: the Division of Business Administration & Economics; the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Division of Science & Mathematics. Each division is headed by a dean.
Morehouse's students are represented by two main bodies. The Morehouse Student Government Association is an executive board with 13 members who are elected annually. There is also the Campus Alliance for Student Activities, a 17-member board responsible for co-curricular planning across campus.
Morehouse is also a member of the Atlanta University Center, a consortium of the historically black colleges and universities Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, and Morehouse School of Medicine. The AUC campuses are co-located in the city of Atlanta, which provides an opportunity for cross-registration and social intermingling amongst the students there, particularly the undergraduate population.

Campus

Morehouse is located on campus near downtown Atlanta. The campus operates recycling programs for paper, toner and ink jet printer cartridges to promote environmental responsibility.

Buildings

Shirley A. Massey Executive Conference Center is named after the first lady of the ninth president of the college. It houses several large conference rooms and the Bank of America Auditorium. The building has hosted human rights film festivals, moving screenings, and panel discussions featuring international figures.
A bronze statue of Martin Luther King Jr. stands at the eastern portion of the main entrance plaza of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. Inscribed in the base of the statue are the words of King.
An obelisk named in honor of Howard Thurman stands at the western end of the main entrance plaza of King Chapel. The base of the Thurman Obelisk contains the remains of Thurman and his wife. The obelisk also houses a carillon.
The grave sites of two presidents of Morehouse College are located on campus:
Morehouse College is accredited by the Commission and Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. Students may choose from over 26 majors and may participate in the Morehouse College Honors Program which is a four-year comprehensive program providing special learning opportunities for select students of outstanding intellectual ability, high motivation, and broad interests.
Morehouse College has received considerable attention as an outstanding national leader among liberal arts colleges from an array of media and ranking agencies. CNN quoted Sterling Hudson, the former dean of admissions, as saying, "Like every other college, we're interested in diversity. So, if a white student becomes interested in Morehouse - of course we are going to treat him like any other student."
Morehouse sponsors "Project Identity", a federally funded program to stimulate interest among high school students to attend college. Project Identity conducts Saturday and summer programs for high school students to give minority students exposure to college academic life.
High School juniors in the Atlanta area may gain admission into Morehouse's Joint Enrollment program which allows a high school senior to enroll in Morehouse classes and earn credits toward both a Morehouse degree as well as a high school diploma.
Historically, Morehouse has conferred more bachelor's degrees on black men than any other institution in the nation.

Rankings

Morehouse College, along with other members of the Atlanta University Center, share the Robert W. Woodruff Library.
Morehouse College is home to a 10,000-piece collection of original documents written by Martin Luther King Jr.. The set was valued by the Library of Congress as being worth between $28 to $30 million and was originally scheduled by his family to be auctioned off to the general public in 2006, but private donors in Atlanta intervened and offered a pre-auction bid at $32 million. On June 29, it was announced by Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, a key catalyst in the buyout, that a new civil rights museum would be built in the city to make the documents available for research, public access and exhibits. Coca-Cola donated a land parcel valued at $10 million in order to assist with the development of the project. The collection includes King's 1964 Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

Student life

New Student Orientation

Morehouse's New Student Orientation is an eight-day experience that culminates with new students ceremoniously initiated as Men of Morehouse. New students learn about the legacy of the college, traditions, academic divisions, the brotherhood, and the "Morehouse Mystique". These components complement academic success strategies designed to help students successfully matriculate to Morehouse Men. NSO is led by student orientation leaders, staff and alumni; all new students are placed on midnight curfew during NSO.

Residence halls

Morehouse has 12 residence halls on campus. Approximately 60% of Morehouse students live on campus. Six residence halls are for first-year students only and five for upperclassmen. It is a tradition for students living in first-year only residence halls to compete in various friendly competitions during the academic school year. Seniors are the only group automatically allowed to live off campus, non-seniors must get approval by the college.

Regulation of campus attire

In October 2009, Morehouse College initiated a campus wide attire policy that prohibits students from wearing women's clothes, jewelry on their teeth, pajamas as classroom attire, tight fitting caps or bandannas on their heads, or pants which hang below the waist at official college-sponsored events. This dress code is part of the Five Wells which holds that "Morehouse Men are Renaissance Men with a social conscience and global perspective who are Well-Read, Well-Spoken, Well-Traveled, Well-Dressed and Well-Balanced." William Bynum, vice president for Student Services was quoted by CNN as saying, "We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men." These remarks and the attire policy itself have been the source of great controversy both on and off the campus. President Franklin personally sent out an email to the schools' alumni, clarifying that the university's attire policy is not intended as an affront to effeminate or gay men.

Activities

Morehouse College offers organized and informal co-curricular activities including over 80 student organizations, varsity, club, and intramural sports, and student publications.
Morehouse is a NCAA Division II school and competes in numerous sports, including football, baseball, basketball, cross country, and track & field.

Morehouse Marching Band (House of Funk)

The Morehouse College Marching Band, better known as the House of Funk, is known for their halftime performances which combine dance and marching with music from various genres, including rap, traditional marching band music, and pop music. They have performed at Super Bowl XXVIII, the Today Show, at Atlanta Falcons home games, and in a national commercial with Morehouse alumnus Samuel Jackson. They gave the halftime show during the 2013 NCAA Men's National Championship basketball game. Affectionately known as the "House of Funk" they march alongside Spelman's Maroon Mystique Color guard squad and Mahogany-N-Motion danceline.

Debate team

Morehouse's debate team was formed in 1906 and has won many accolades since its founding. In 2005, Morehouse College became a member of the American Mock Trial Association. The school is one of only four competing teams to come from a historically black college and is also the only all-male team in the AMTA. From 2006 to 2010, Morehouse consecutively won their regional championship competitions, and thus received direct trips to the AMTA national championship competitions in Iowa, Florida, and Minnesota.
In 2016, Morehouse became the only HBCU, Georgia institution, and men's college chosen to host the annual U.S. Universities Debating Championship which had nearly 200 teams from across the nation participate.
In 2017, the Morehouse College Debate Team won an international first place title and a trip to Paris, France after defeating Vanderbilt University in the final round at the Lafayette Debates North American Championship in Washington D.C.

Glee Club

Founded in 1911, the Morehouse College Glee Club has a long and impressive history. The Glee Club performed at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, President Jimmy Carter's inauguration, Super Bowl XXVIII, and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The Glee Club's international performances include tours in Africa, Russia, Poland and the Caribbean. The group also appeared on the soundtrack for the movie School Daze, directed by notable Morehouse alum, Spike Lee. Most recently, the Morehouse College Glee Club was invited to perform at the ABCUSA 2011 Conference in Puerto Rico. Also, the glee club studio-recorded a song for Spike Lee's "Red Hook Summer" entitled Zachary and the Scaly-Bark Tree.

''The Maroon Tiger''

The college's weekly student-run newspaper is 'The Maroon Tiger. Founded in 1898 as The Athenaeum, it was renamed in 1925. American poet and writer Thomas Dent was a contributor while he attended from 1948 to 1952, as was Martin Luther King Jr. The 2008–2009 staff sought to expand the newspaper into a news organization by creating Morehouse's first television news program, Tiger TV, and advancing online news coverage.

Miss Maroon & White

Several Spelman and Clark Atlanta juniors that advance pass preliminary interviews, vie for the prestigious title of Miss Maroon & White through a formal campaign and beauty pageant process during the spring semester. Only Morehouse students can vote to determine the winner which is the contestant that best represents the ideal counterpart for a "Morehouse Man". Miss Maroon & White and her royal court collectively serve as official Morehouse ambassadors and represents the womanly embodiment of the institution for a year.
The tradition of crowning a young woman as Miss Maroon & White began in 1936 with Miss Juanita Maxie Ponder of Spelman College winning the first crown. Miss Maroon & White is the longest active pageant title in the Atlanta University Center.

National fraternities and honor societies

Morehouse College has chapters of several national fraternities and honor societies on campus. Three percent of students are active in Morehouse's NPHC and Non-NPHC organizations.

NPHC

Campus religious organizations include the Atlanta University Center Catholic Student Coalition, King International Chapel Ministry, Martin Luther King International Chapel Assistants, King Chapel Choir, Muslim Students Association, New Life Inspirational Fellowship Church Campus Ministry, and The Outlet.

Athletics

In sports, the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers are affiliated with the NCAA Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Morehouse College competes in football, baseball, basketball, cross country, tennis, track & field, volleyball, polo, and golf.
In 2019, a $1 million grant enabled Morehouse and five other SIAC institutions to sponsor an intercollegiate men's volleyball team. Collectively, the six institutions are the first HBCUs to sponsor a men's volleyball team. In 2020, Morehouse became the first HBCU to establish an intercollegiate polo team as a member of the United States Polo Association. In June 2020, Morehouse cancelled their football and cross country seasons, citing concerns over COVID-19.

Notable alumni

Morehouse alumni include notable African-Americans such as: Martin Luther King Jr., theologian Howard Thurman, filmmaker Spike Lee, filmmaker Robert G. Christie, actor Samuel L. Jackson, civil rights leader Julian Bond, businessman and former 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, Secretary of Homeland Security in 2013 Jeh Johnson, University president and health care executive Albert W. Dent, NFL Referee Jerome Boger, celebrity physician Corey Hébert, U.S. Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Gang Starr rapper Guru, Four-time 400 meter hurdles world record holder and twice Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses, U.S. District Court Judge George J. Hazel, Lloyd McNeill, Jazz flutist, USPS Kwanza Stamp designer, the first recipient of Howard University's MFA Degree, former Bank of America Chairman Walter E. Massey, the first African-American mayor of Atlanta Maynard Jackson, Major League Baseball first baseman and 1969 World Series MVP Donn Clendenon, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan, former United States Surgeon General David Satcher, entrepreneur and award-winning technologist Paul Q. Judge, musician PJ Morton, author Jared Andre Sawyer Jr., Metro Boomin,rap producer, Sunday Best season 7 winner Geoffrey Golden, Montgomery County Alabama Circuit Court Judge Greg Griffin and the US Centers for Disease Control scientist that attempted to stop the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Bill Jenkins.
According to Morehouse's own "About Us" page, Morehouse was the first historically black college to produce a Rhodes Scholar. The school's first Rhodes Scholar, Nima Warfield, was named in 1994, the second, Christopher Elders, in 2001. A third, Oluwabusayo "Topé" Folarin, was named in 2004, the fourth, Prince Abudu, was named in 2015. Morehouse has been home to eleven Fulbright Scholars. Since 1999, Morehouse has produced five Marshall Scholars, one Schwarzman Scholar, five Luce Scholars, four Watson Fellows and 2010 White House Fellow, Erich Caulfield. Previous Watson Fellows include, Craig Marberry '81, Kenneth Flowers '83 and Lynn P. Harrison III '79.
Presidents Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter hold honorary doctorates of laws from Morehouse, after giving commencement speeches.

Oprah Winfrey Scholars

In 1990, Oprah Winfrey pledged to put 100 deserving young men through Morehouse. She made a donation to establish the "Oprah Winfrey Endowed Scholarship Fund". The school uses the fund to select deserving students based on academic achievement and financial need. Selected students are deemed "Oprah Scholars" or "Sons of Oprah". Their financial support covers most of the costs of their education including prior student debt. Recipients must maintain their grade point average and provide additional volunteer support to the community.
In 2004 Winfrey increased her donation by $5 million for a total donation of $12 million. The fund has since supported over 400 students. In 2011, several hundred Oprah Scholars surprised Winfrey by showing up at her final TV show carrying candles to thank her for her generosity. They, in turn, pledged $300,000 to help educate future Morehouse students.
In 2019, Winfrey added $13 million to the scholarship program bringing her grand total donations to $25 million.

Gandhi King Ikeda Awards

, Professor of Religion and Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, founded the MLK Chapel Assistants Pre-seminarians Program. He commissioned the Gandhi Ikeda King Hassan Institute for Ethics and Reconciliation in 1999, and created the Gandhi–King–Ikeda Community Builder's Prize of the Morehouse Chapel in 2001. Named after Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Daisaku Ikeda, Morehouse's MLK Chapel awards the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Community Builders Prizes as well as the Gandhi King Ikeda Awards for Peace. Recipients include