Morehouse College
Encyclopedia
Morehouse College is a private
, all-male
, liberal arts, historically black
college located in Atlanta, Georgia
. Along with Hampden-Sydney College
and Wabash College
, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States.
Morehouse has a 61 acres (246,858.5 m²) campus and an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students. The student-faculty ratio is 16:1 and 100% of the school's tenure-track faculty hold tertiary degrees. Along with Clark Atlanta University
, Interdenominational Theological Center
, Morehouse School of Medicine
and nearby women's college Spelman College
, Morehouse is part of the Atlanta University Center
.
Morehouse is one of two black colleges in the country to produce Rhodes Scholars, and it is the alma mater of many African-American leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., theologian Howard Thurman
, businessman and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain
, filmmaker Spike Lee
, actor Samuel L. Jackson
, Olympic
gold medalist Edwin Moses
, former Bank of America
Chairman Walter E. Massey
, the first African-American mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson
, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan, and former United States Surgeon General David Satcher
, among others.
, the Augusta Institute was founded by 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 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. Dr. Joseph T. Robert (father of Brigadier General Henry Martyn Robert
, author of Robert's Rules of Order
).
. In 1890, Dr. George Sale became the seminary's third president, and in 1897 the school was renamed Atlanta Baptist College.
In 1906 Dr. 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 Dr. Henry L. Morehouse, corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society
(whom had long organized Rockefeller and the Society's support for the College). 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
.
Dr. 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
. Dr. Benjamin Elijah 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, Dr. Hugh M. Gloster became the seventh president. The following year, the college's Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society was founded. In 1975, Dr. 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.
, became Morehouse's ninth president. His successor, Dr. Robert Michael Franklin
is the tenth president of the college.
In 2006, 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 (770 freshmen and 150 transfer students) to its campus, one of the largest entering classes in the history of the school.
, is located in Greensboro, North Carolina
, the institution is physically located and socially intertwined closest with Spelman College
, often considered the sister school. Morehouse and Spelman colleges have strong historical ties to each other: many Morehouse Men and Spelman Women intermarry by tradition.
A bronze statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.
stands to the left of King Chapel. Inscribed in the base of the statue are the words of Dr. King. Several previous presidents of the college have grave sites on-campus to honor their legacies.
In 2008, the student body consisted of 2,500 black-non-Hispanic, 66 non-resident aliens, 9 Hispanics, 7 white-non-Hispanics, 4 native Americans, and 21 unidentified race or ethnicity. On average, at graduation, 97% of graduates are offered two or more jobs by Fortune 500 companies, private companies, or attend post-graduate education. 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 dean of admissions, as saying, "We're not aggressively pursuing white students, but 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.
Morehouse was named the nation's # 1 Liberal Arts College
in 2010 by The Washington Monthly
in an annual ranking of America's Best Liberal Arts Colleges.
Morehouse is also one of only four historically black colleges ranked in the Top tier among the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges according to the U.S. News and World Reports 2011 rankings.
Also in 2010, according to the Huffington Post, Morehouse ranks among America's Most Grueling Colleges.
Morehouse was ranked # 1 three times in a row (2002–2004) as the best school for African Americans for undergraduate study by Black Enterprise
magazine.
In a 2003 study, Morehouse was ranked # 29 by The Wall Street Journal
as being one of the "Top 50 Feeder Schools" for elite graduate and professional schools .
According to a 2007 joint publication by Newsweek
and Kaplan, Inc.
, Morehouse College was one of the "25 Hottest Schools in America" and the "Hottest Men's College".
Newsweek
ranks Morehouse among the nation's Best Colleges for the Service Minded.
In addition to the above rankings, in 2009 and 2010, the U.S. News reported that America's high school College Counselors ranked Morehouse College # 68 among the Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the Nation for their students.
In 2008, Morehouse College was listed among 10 Great Schools for Networking by Forbes
magazine.
, share the Robert W. Woodruff
Library.
Morehouse College is home to a 7,000-piece collection of original documents written by Martin Luther King, Jr. (referred to as the King Collection). The set was valued by the Library of Congress
as being worth between $28 to $30 million dollars 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.
, pajamas as classroom attire, tight fitting caps or bandannas on their head
s, 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." Dr. 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 [in] a way we do not expect in Morehouse men." These remarks and the dress code itself have been the source of great controversy both on and off the campus. They eventually led to President Franklin having to personally send out an email to the schools' alumni, clarifying and stressing that the university's new dress policy is not intended as an affront to gays.
, traditional marching band
music, and pop music
. They have performed at Super Bowl XVIII
, the Today Show, and at Atlanta Falcons
home games. Affectionately known as the "House of Funk" they march alongside the Maroon Mystique Color guard (flag spinning) squad and Mahogany-N-Motion dance team.
In 2005, Morehouse College became a member of the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA). 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.
has a long and impressive history. The Glee Club performed at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, President Jimmy Carter
's inauguration, the 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 (c/o 1979), Spike Lee
.
was a contributor while he attended from 1948-1952, as was Dr. 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.
In sports, Morehouse College is affiliated with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
(SIAC) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) Division II. The mascot is the Maroon Tiger. Morehouse College competes in football
, baseball
, basketball
, cross country
, tennis
, track & field and golf
.
The Morehouse swim team is called the Tigersharks. From 1958 till 1976 the swim team had 255 wins and only 25 losses, with over 15 SIAC championships, making it the most winning sports team in Morehouse history. It beat Emory University and Georgia Tech in dual meets in different seasons. The team also appeared in Jet
and Ebony
magazines, Black Sports, and Sports Illustrated
throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and is presently being considered as honorary inductees into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Actor Samuel L. Jackson
was once the team statistician and apprentice swimmer. Some of the swimmers had competed in NCAA and NAIA competition at various times throughout the team's history. The team was disestablished in 1976, and the funds were transferred to build the Morehouse School of Medicine, which separated from Morehouse in 1981. During the years of 1966 to 1970, their star butterfly swimmer was Bobby Garcia, now filmmaker Robert G. Christie (IMBD.com). His film, The Sobbing Stone, was nominated Best Feature Drama at the Sabaoth International Film Festival in Milan, Italy in 2006. He is now writing a screenplay of his years at Morehouse, soon to be made into a major motion picture.
Morehouse alumni include notable African-Americans such as: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
, businessman and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain
, Theologian Howard Thurman
, filmmaker Spike Lee
, filmmaker Robert G. Christie (a.k.a. Bobby Garcia), actor Samuel L. Jackson
, Olympic
gold medalist Edwin Moses
, former Bank of America
Chairman Walter E. Massey
, the first African-American mayor of Atlanta Maynard Jackson
, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan, former United States Surgeon General David Satcher
, and also include: United States Court of Appeals
judges, United States Ambassadors, university presidents, Ivy League
professors and Wall Street
executives, among others.
Morehouse is also one of two historically black colleges in the country 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. Morehouse has been home to seven Fulbright Scholars
, Damon M. Lombard (1995), John Thomas (2004), Jason T. Garrett (2006), Morgan C. Williams, Jr. (2006), Lasean Brown (2008), Eric R. Baylor (2008) and Wendell H. Marsh (2009).
Since 1999, Morehouse has produced five Marshall Scholars, 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.
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
, all-male
Men's colleges in the United States
Men's colleges in the United States are primarily undergraduate, Bachelor's degree-granting single-sex institutions that admit men exclusively. The most noted men's colleges are traditional liberal arts colleges, though the majority are institutions of learning for those preparing for religious...
, liberal arts, historically black
Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....
college located in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. Along with Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden–Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1775, Hampden–Sydney is the oldest private charter college in the Southern U.S., the last college founded before the American Revolution, and one of only three four-year,...
and Wabash College
Wabash College
Wabash College is a small, private, liberal arts college for men, located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Morehouse College, Wabash is one of only three remaining traditional all-men's liberal arts colleges in the United States.-History:Wabash College was founded...
, Morehouse is one of three remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States.
Morehouse has a 61 acres (246,858.5 m²) campus and an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students. The student-faculty ratio is 16:1 and 100% of the school's tenure-track faculty hold tertiary degrees. Along with Clark Atlanta University
Clark Atlanta University
Clark Atlanta University is a private, historically black university in Atlanta, Georgia. It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University...
, Interdenominational Theological Center
Interdenominational Theological Center
The Interdenominational Theological Center is a consortium of denominational seminaries located in Atlanta, Georgia. Today ITC educates and nurtures women and men who commit to and practice a liberating and transforming spirituality; academic discipline; religious, gender, and cultural diversity;...
, Morehouse School of Medicine
Morehouse School of Medicine
Morehouse School of Medicine is a medical school in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.-Establishment:Founded originally as a part of Morehouse College in 1975 during the tenure of college president Hugh M. Gloster, with Louis W. Sullivan, M.D. as dean, The School of Medicine at Morehouse College began as a two...
and nearby women's college Spelman College
Spelman College
Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the first historically black female...
, Morehouse is part of the Atlanta University Center
Atlanta University Center
The Atlanta University Center Consortium is the largest contiguous consortium of African Americans in higher education in the United States. The center consists of four historically black colleges and universities in southwest Atlanta, Georgia...
.
Morehouse is one of two black colleges in the country to produce Rhodes Scholars, and it is the alma mater of many African-American leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., theologian Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman was an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard University and Boston University for more than two decades, wrote 21 books, and in 1944 helped found a multicultural church.-Early life...
, businessman and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain
Herman Cain
Herman Cain is a candidate for the 2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination.Cain has a background as a business executive, syndicated columnist, and radio host from Georgia. He served as chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza from 1986 to 1996...
, filmmaker Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
, actor Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
, Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
gold medalist Edwin Moses
Edwin Moses
Edwin Corley Moses is an American track and field athlete who won gold medals in the 400 metre hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals and set the world record in his event four times...
, former Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
Chairman Walter E. Massey
Walter E. Massey
Walter Eugene Massey is an educator, physicist, and business executive. He is the current President of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the former Chairman of Bank of America, replacing Ken Lewis on April 29, 2009...
, the first African-American mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson
Maynard Jackson
Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. was an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and the first African American mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. He served three terms, two consecutive terms from 1974 until 1982 and a third term from 1990 to 1994...
, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan, and former United States Surgeon General David Satcher
David Satcher
David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D. FAAFP, FACPM, FACP is an American physician, and public health administrator. He was a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health, and the 16th Surgeon General of the United...
, among others.
Establishment
On February 14, 1867, just two years after the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the Augusta Institute was founded by William Jefferson White, an Atlanta Baptist minister and cabinetmaker, with the support of the Rev. Richard C. Coulter, a former slave from Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, and the Rev. Edmund Turney, organizer of the National Theological Institute
Wayland Seminary
Wayland Seminary was the Washington, D.C. school of the National Theological Institute. The Institute was established beginning in 1865 by the American Baptist Home Mission Society, designed primarily for providing education and training for African-American freedmen to enter into the ministry...
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 school received sponsorship from the American Baptist Home Mission Society
Home mission society
The American Baptist Home Mission Societies is a Christian missionary society. It was established in New York City in 1832 to operate in the American frontier, with the stated mission "to preach the Gospel, establish churches and give support and ministry to the unchurched and destitute." In the...
, an organization that helped establish several historically black colleges. The Institute's first president was Rev. Dr. Joseph T. Robert (father of Brigadier General Henry Martyn Robert
Henry Martyn Robert
Henry Martyn Robert was the author of Robert's Rules of Order, which became the most widely used manual of parliamentary procedure and remains today the most common parliamentary authority in the United States....
, author of Robert's Rules of Order
Robert's Rules of Order
Robert's Rules of Order is the short title of a book containing rules of order intended to be adopted as a parliamentary authority for use by a deliberative assembly written by Brig. Gen...
).
| 1867 | Augusta Institute established |
| 1879 | Institute moved to Atlanta and name changed to Atlanta Baptist Seminary |
| 1885 | The seminary moved to its present location |
| 1897 | The school was renamed Atlanta Baptist College |
| 1913 | School renamed to Morehouse College |
| 1929 | Morehouse entered into a cooperative agreement with Clark College and Spelman College (later expanded to form the Atlanta University Center Atlanta University Center The Atlanta University Center Consortium is the largest contiguous consortium of African Americans in higher education in the United States. The center consists of four historically black colleges and universities in southwest Atlanta, Georgia... ) |
| 1975 | The Morehouse School of Medicine Morehouse School of Medicine Morehouse School of Medicine is a medical school in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.-Establishment:Founded originally as a part of Morehouse College in 1975 during the tenure of college president Hugh M. Gloster, with Louis W. Sullivan, M.D. as dean, The School of Medicine at Morehouse College began as a two... established |
| 1981 | The Morehouse School of Medicine Morehouse School of Medicine Morehouse School of Medicine is a medical school in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.-Establishment:Founded originally as a part of Morehouse College in 1975 during the tenure of college president Hugh M. Gloster, with Louis W. Sullivan, M.D. as dean, The School of Medicine at Morehouse College began as a two... became independent from Morehouse College |
Early years
In 1879, the institute moved to its own location and changed its name to the Atlanta Baptist Seminary. It later acquired a 4 acres (1.6 ha) campus in downtown Atlanta. In 1885, Dr. 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. RockefellerJohn D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
. In 1890, Dr. George Sale became the seminary's third president, and in 1897 the school was renamed Atlanta Baptist College.
John Hope (educator)
John Hope , born in Augusta, Georgia, was an African-American educator and political activist. He was the son of James Hope, a white Scottish merchant, born in Langholm, Scotland in 1805. Arriving in New York City in 1817, he was a successful grocer in Manhattan before moving south to Augusta in...
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
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
's view of agricultural and trade-focused education for African-Americans. In 1913, the college was renamed Morehouse College, in honor of Dr. Henry L. Morehouse, corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society
Home mission society
The American Baptist Home Mission Societies is a Christian missionary society. It was established in New York City in 1832 to operate in the American frontier, with the stated mission "to preach the Gospel, establish churches and give support and ministry to the unchurched and destitute." In the...
(whom had long organized Rockefeller and the Society's support for the College). 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
Atlanta University Center
The Atlanta University Center Consortium is the largest contiguous consortium of African Americans in higher education in the United States. The center consists of four historically black colleges and universities in southwest Atlanta, Georgia...
.
Dr. 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
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
. Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays
Benjamin Mays
Benjamin Elijah Mays was an American minister, educator, scholar, social activist and the president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia from 1940 to 1967. Mays was also a significant mentor to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr...
became president in 1940. Mays, who would be a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, 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, Dr. Hugh M. Gloster became the seventh president. The following year, the college's Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society was founded. In 1975, Dr. Gloster established the Morehouse School of Medicine
Morehouse School of Medicine
Morehouse School of Medicine is a medical school in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.-Establishment:Founded originally as a part of Morehouse College in 1975 during the tenure of college president Hugh M. Gloster, with Louis W. Sullivan, M.D. as dean, The School of Medicine at Morehouse College began as a two...
, 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
Dr. Leroy Keith, Jr., was named president in 1987. In 1995, alumnus Dr. Walter E. MasseyWalter E. Massey
Walter Eugene Massey is an educator, physicist, and business executive. He is the current President of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the former Chairman of Bank of America, replacing Ken Lewis on April 29, 2009...
, became Morehouse's ninth president. His successor, Dr. Robert Michael Franklin
Robert Michael Franklin, Jr.
Dr. Robert Michael Franklin, Jr. is an African-American educator, author, and the tenth president of Morehouse College, the nation's only historically black liberal arts college for men, located in Atlanta, Georgia...
is the tenth president of the college.
In 2006, Morehouse graduated 540 men, one of the largest classes in its history. On May 16, 2008, Joshua Packwood
Joshua Packwood
Joshua Packwood, at the age of 22, became the first white valedictorian of Morehouse College, a historically black college, in 2008.Packwood held a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and graduated with a degree in economics...
became the first white valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
to graduate in the school's 141-year history. In August 2008, Morehouse welcomed a total of 920 new students (770 freshmen and 150 transfer students) to its campus, one of the largest entering classes in the history of the school.
Administration and organization
Although Morehouse's official sister school, Bennett CollegeBennett College
Bennett College is a four-year liberal arts women's college in Greensboro, North Carolina. Founded in 1873, this historically black institution began as a normal school to provide education to newly emancipated slaves. It became a women's college in 1926 and currently serves roughly 780...
, is located in Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
, the institution is physically located and socially intertwined closest with Spelman College
Spelman College
Spelman College is a four-year liberal arts women's college located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The college is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman was the first historically black female...
, often considered the sister school. Morehouse and Spelman colleges have strong historical ties to each other: many Morehouse Men and Spelman Women intermarry by tradition.
Campus
Morehouse is located on a 61 acres (24.7 ha) campus near downtown Atlanta. The campus does not have a comprehensive sustainability program, but does operate recycling programs for paper, toner and ink jet printer cartridges.Buildings
- Archer Hall, named after the fifth president of Morehouse College, holds the college's recreational facilities such as its gymnasium, swimming pool, and game room. The gymnasium seats 1000 people and was used by the college's basketball team before the Forbes Arena was built.
- B.T Harvey Stadium/Edwin Moses Track is a 9000 capacity seat stadium built in 1983. At the time of its completion, it was the largest on-campus black private stadium in the nation
- Brawley Hall, named after Benjamin Griffith BrawleyBenjamin Griffith BrawleyBenjamin Griffith Brawley was a prominent African American author and educator. He studied at Atlanta Baptist College graduating in 1901, the University of Chicago, and received his Master's degree from Harvard University in 1908...
, houses the college's History, English, Language, Music, and Art departments. - Brazeal Hall is a dormitory built in 1991. It housed athletes during the time of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Brazeal Hall originally housed upperclassmen, though it currently serves as a freshmen dorm.
- Ray Charles Performing Arts Center and Music Academic Building. A $20-million, 76000 square feet (7,060.6 m²) facility—located at the edge of the historic West End district at the corner of Joseph P. Lowery and West End Avenue dedicated on September 29, 2010.
- Chivers Hall/Lane Hall is the cafeteria of the college. It seats 600 people and is attached to Mays Hall. The Sadie Mays lounge, named for the wife of Dr. Mays, connects Mays Hall and Chivers Hall.
- Dansby Hall houses the school's Physics, Psychology, and Mathematics departments.
- Douglass Hall (also known as LRC (Learning Resource Center)) was originally built as the school's student center but today houses the college archives and a computer lab.
- DuBois Hall is a freshman dorm erected in 1973, named after philosopher W. E. B. Du Bois.
- Forbes ArenaForbes ArenaThe Forbes Arena is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It is home to the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers basketball team. It also hosted basketball preliminaries during the 1996 Summer Olympics and was the home arena to the Atlanta Glory. It was opened in 1996 at a cost of...
is a 5,700 capacity seat arena, built for the 1996 Olympic Games. It is now the main gymnasium for the college's basketball team and holds many events year round. - Graves Hall, named after the second president of Morehouse College, is an honors dormitory. When constructed in the 1880s, it was the tallest building in Atlanta. When the college relocated to the West End areaWest End (Atlanta)The West End neighborhood of Atlanta is on the National Register of Historic Places and can be found southwest of Castleberry Hill, east of Westview, west of Adair Park Historic District, and just north of Oakland City...
, student housing, classrooms, and administration offices were all contained within the building.
- Hope Hall was named after John HopeJohn Hope (educator)John Hope , born in Augusta, Georgia, was an African-American educator and political activist. He was the son of James Hope, a white Scottish merchant, born in Langholm, Scotland in 1805. Arriving in New York City in 1817, he was a successful grocer in Manhattan before moving south to Augusta in...
, the fourth president of Morehouse College. When erected, it was known as the Science Building, then later the Biology Building. Through the years, the building became too small for classroom use and now holds laboratories for departments that are in other buildings. Hope Hall includes the offices of the Public Health Sciences Institute. - Hubert Hall is a freshman dorm named after Charles D. Hubert, who was an acting president from 1938 to 1940.
- Kilgore Campus Center houses administrative offices, as well as several seminar rooms and lounges. A separate area of the building serves as a dormitory. Archer Hall, B.T. Harvey Stadium, and the exterior of Graves Hall are featured in the Spike LeeSpike LeeShelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
film School DazeSchool DazeSchool Daze is a 1988 American musical-drama film, written and directed by Spike Lee, and starring Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell-Martin...
. - Leadership Center houses the Business Administration and Economics departments as well as other offices. It also has a 500-seat auditorium. The building was completed in 2005.
- Living Learning Center (LLC) was formerly known as ThurmanHoward ThurmanHoward Thurman was an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard University and Boston University for more than two decades, wrote 21 books, and in 1944 helped found a multicultural church.-Early life...
Hall). It is one of the school's freshman dorms. - Martin Luther King International Chapel/Gloster Hall was built in 1978 as the new auditorium and administration building for Morehouse College, replacing Sale and Harkness halls (Harkness is now a Clark Atlanta UniversityClark Atlanta UniversityClark Atlanta University is a private, historically black university in Atlanta, Georgia. It was formed in 1988 with the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University...
structure). It is home to the Gandhi–KingMartin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
–IkedaDaisaku Ikedais president of Sōka Gakkai International , a Nichiren Buddhist lay association which claims 12 million members in 192 countries and territories, and founder of several educational, cultural and peace research institutions.-Life and establishment of SGI:...
Reconciliation Institute.
- Mays Hall was named after the sixth president of Morehouse College, Benjamin MaysBenjamin MaysBenjamin Elijah Mays was an American minister, educator, scholar, social activist and the president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia from 1940 to 1967. Mays was also a significant mentor to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr...
. It houses dorm rooms and is the headquarters for residence life for the college. - Merrill Hall, named after Charles E. Merrill Jr.Charles E. Merrill Jr.Charles E. Merrill Jr. , is an American educator, author and philanthropist, best-known for supporting historically black colleges and founding the Commonwealth School in Boston.-Early life:...
, a chairman of the college's Board of Trustees, became the Chemistry building. The 2000s saw Merrill Hall undergo a renovation that doubled its size. Its new corridor is called John HoppsJohn HoppsJohn H. Hopps was an African-American physicist and politician. A native of Dallas, Texas, Hopps was a Ford Scholar to Morehouse College, also receiving degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University...
Technology Tower, which houses the Computer Science department. - Nabrit-Mapp-McBay Hall was erected in 1987. The building is also known as Bio-Chem from a plaque at the corridor stating that the building was built to house the Biology and Chemistry classrooms. It now holds the Biology department. It was named for distinguished science professors Samuel M. NabritSamuel M. NabritSamuel M. Nabrit, became the first African-American to be awarded a doctoral degree from Brown University, the first Morehouse College graduate to earn a Ph.D. and the first African-American appointed to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission...
, Frederick Mapp, and Henry McBayHenry Cecil McBay-Birth/Family Background:McBay was born "Henry Ransom McBay" in 1914 in Mexia, Texas. His father, William Cecil McBay, was a barber who eventually became an embalmer and funeral director; his mother, Roberta Ransom , was a seamstress.-Early Education and Employment:McBay was able to receive a good...
. - Otis Moss Jr. Residential Suites are apartment, studio, and suite dwellings built in 2003. The Suites were renamed in spring 2006, after Otis Moss Jr. (class of 1956), former chair of Morehouse's Board of Trustees.
- Perdue Hall is a dormitory built around the time of the 1996 Summer Olympics1996 Summer OlympicsThe 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
. It housed athletes during the 1996 Olympic events. - Robert Hall, named after Joseph T. Robert, the first president of the college, was erected to be the first dormitory of the college. When built, there was a cafeteria in its basement. Today the basement houses a post office.
- Sale Hall, named after the third president, was built to contain classrooms. Today, it is the department building for religion and philosophy courses. On the second floor, a small auditorium, called the Chapel of the Inward Journey, was used for religious and commencement proceedings. Today, the chapel is still used for recitals, pageants, and student government association election debates.
- Wheeler Hall is a building used primarily by the Political Science and Sociology departments.
- White Hall is a freshman dorm, named after the college's founder.
Monuments
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
stands to the left of King Chapel. Inscribed in the base of the statue are the words of Dr. King. Several previous presidents of the college have grave sites on-campus to honor their legacies.
- A statue of Benjamin MaysBenjamin MaysBenjamin Elijah Mays was an American minister, educator, scholar, social activist and the president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia from 1940 to 1967. Mays was also a significant mentor to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr...
stands atop a marble monument sited in front of Graves Hall. This monument marks the graves of President Mays and his wife, Sadie Mays. Behind the graves are memoirs and a time capsule set to be opened in May 2095. - Former president Hugh Gloster is buried in the eastern lawn of the building named after him.
- An obeliskObeliskAn obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
named in honor of Howard ThurmanHoward ThurmanHoward Thurman was an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard University and Boston University for more than two decades, wrote 21 books, and in 1944 helped found a multicultural church.-Early life...
stands to the right of King Chapel. The base of the Thurman Obelisk contains the ashes of Dr. Thurman and his wife. The obelisk also houses a bell which chimes every hour to the tune of "Dear Old Morehouse", the school's alma mater.
Academics
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 students of outstanding intellectual ability, high motivation, and broad interests.In 2008, the student body consisted of 2,500 black-non-Hispanic, 66 non-resident aliens, 9 Hispanics, 7 white-non-Hispanics, 4 native Americans, and 21 unidentified race or ethnicity. On average, at graduation, 97% of graduates are offered two or more jobs by Fortune 500 companies, private companies, or attend post-graduate education. 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 dean of admissions, as saying, "We're not aggressively pursuing white students, but 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.
Rankings
Morehouse was ranked #127 of the best National Liberal Arts Colleges in the U.S. News 2011 Report.Morehouse was named the nation's # 1 Liberal Arts College
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
in 2010 by The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly is a bimonthly nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C.The magazine's founder is Charles Peters, who started the magazine in 1969 and continues to write the "Tilting at Windmills" column in each issue. Paul Glastris, former...
in an annual ranking of America's Best Liberal Arts Colleges.
Morehouse is also one of only four historically black colleges ranked in the Top tier among the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges according to the U.S. News and World Reports 2011 rankings.
Also in 2010, according to the Huffington Post, Morehouse ranks among America's Most Grueling Colleges.
Morehouse was ranked # 1 three times in a row (2002–2004) as the best school for African Americans for undergraduate study by Black Enterprise
Black Enterprise
Black Enterprise is a monthly U.S. magazine which describes itself as "the premier business news and investment resource for African Americans" and claims a readership of 3.7 million. It was founded in 1970 by Earl G. Graves, Sr.. The publication is known for its annual listing of the largest...
magazine.
In a 2003 study, Morehouse was ranked # 29 by The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
as being one of the "Top 50 Feeder Schools" for elite graduate and professional schools .
According to a 2007 joint publication by Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
and Kaplan, Inc.
Kaplan, Inc.
Kaplan, Inc. is a for-profit corporation headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan. Kaplan provides higher education programs, professional training courses, test preparation materials and other services for various levels of education...
, Morehouse College was one of the "25 Hottest Schools in America" and the "Hottest Men's College".
Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
ranks Morehouse among the nation's Best Colleges for the Service Minded.
In addition to the above rankings, in 2009 and 2010, the U.S. News reported that America's high school College Counselors ranked Morehouse College # 68 among the Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the Nation for their students.
In 2008, Morehouse College was listed among 10 Great Schools for Networking by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine.
Library and collections
Morehouse College, along with other members of the Atlanta University CenterAtlanta University Center
The Atlanta University Center Consortium is the largest contiguous consortium of African Americans in higher education in the United States. The center consists of four historically black colleges and universities in southwest Atlanta, Georgia...
, share the Robert W. Woodruff
Robert W. Woodruff
Robert Winship Woodruff was the president of The Coca-Cola Company from 1923 until 1954. With his enormous Coke fortune, he was also a major philanthropist, and many educational and cultural landmarks in the U.S...
Library.
Morehouse College is home to a 7,000-piece collection of original documents written by Martin Luther King, Jr. (referred to as the King Collection). The set was valued by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being worth between $28 to $30 million dollars 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
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
acceptance speech.
Regulation of student conduct
In October 2009, Morehouse College initiated a student dress code that prohibits wearing women's clothes, jewelry on their teethGrill (jewelry)
thumb|A gold dental grillIn hip hop culture, a grill is a type of jewelry worn over the teeth. Grills are made of metal and are generally removable. They began to be worn by hip hop artists in the early 1980s, but they became widely popular during the mid-2000s due to the rise of Dirty South rap...
, pajamas as classroom attire, tight fitting caps or bandannas on their head
Do-rag
A do-rag, also spelled doo-rag, du-rag, durag, is a piece of cloth used to cover the head. According to the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster the term derives from do as in hairdo.- History :...
s, or pants which hang below the waist
Sagging (fashion)
Sagging is a manner of wearing trousers below the waist, hanging below the waist area and therefore revealing much of the underwear. Sagging is predominantly a male fashion...
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." Dr. 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 [in] a way we do not expect in Morehouse men." These remarks and the dress code itself have been the source of great controversy both on and off the campus. They eventually led to President Franklin having to personally send out an email to the schools' alumni, clarifying and stressing that the university's new dress policy is not intended as an affront to gays.
Activities
Morehouse College offers organized and informal co-curricular activities including 78 student organizations, varsity, club, and intramural sports, and student publications. Perhaps among the most notable of Morehouse's current students is Stephen Stafford II, a home-schooled student who matriculated at age 11 and is scheduled to graduate when he turns 16 in 2012.Morehouse Marching Band
The Morehouse College Marching Band is known for their halftime performances which combine dance and marching with music from various genres, including rapHip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, traditional marching band
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
music, and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. They have performed at Super Bowl XVIII
Super Bowl XVIII
Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida, deciding the National Football League champion following the 1983 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Los Angeles Raiders defeated the National Football Conference...
, the Today Show, and at Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
home games. Affectionately known as the "House of Funk" they march alongside the Maroon Mystique Color guard (flag spinning) squad and Mahogany-N-Motion dance team.
Mock Trial Association
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.
Glee Club
Founded in 1911, the Morehouse College Glee ClubMorehouse College Glee Club
The Morehouse College Glee Club, founded in 1911, is the official choral group at Morehouse College. The Glee Club has a long tradition of significant public appearances, having performed at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, President Jimmy Carter's inauguration, Super Bowl XXVIII, and the 1996...
has a long and impressive history. The Glee Club performed at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
's inauguration, the Super Bowl XXVIII, and the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
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
School Daze
School Daze is a 1988 American musical-drama film, written and directed by Spike Lee, and starring Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell-Martin...
, directed by notable Morehouse alum (c/o 1979), Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
.
Debate Team
Recently, the Morehouse debate team won the 2011 Georgia Parliamentary Debate Association state tournament. Four of the members (Austin Williams, Chris Fortson-Gaines, Kevin Porter, and Franklin Kwame Weldon) participated in an exhibition with Howard University for the Nation's classic in 2011.The Maroon Tiger
The college's weekly student-run newspaper is The Maroon Tiger. Originally founded in 1898 as The Athenaeum, it was renamed in 1925. American poet and writer Thomas DentThomas Dent (writer)
Thomas Covington Dent was an African American poet and writer.-Early Life and Education:Thomas Dent was born on March, 20 1932, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Albert Dent, president of Dillard University and Ernestine Jessie Covington Dent, a concert pianist. He was the oldest of three sons. Thomas...
was a contributor while he attended from 1948-1952, as was Dr. 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.
National fraternities and honor societies
Morehouse College has chapters of several national fraternities and honor societies:NPHC
- Alpha Phi AlphaAlpha Phi AlphaAlpha Phi Alpha is the first Inter-Collegiate Black Greek Letter fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations ...
fraternity (Alpha Rho chapter) - Kappa Alpha PsiKappa Alpha PsiKappa Alpha Psi is a collegiate Greek-letter fraternity with a predominantly African American membership. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never limited membership based on color, creed or national origin...
fraternity (Pi chapter) - Omega Psi PhiOmega Psi PhiOmega Psi Phi is a fraternity and is the first African-American national fraternal organization to be founded at a historically black college. Omega Psi Phi was founded on November 17, 1911, at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. The founders were three Howard University juniors, Edgar Amos...
fraternity (Psi chapter) - Phi Beta SigmaPhi Beta SigmaPhi Beta Sigma is a predominantly African-American fraternity which was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The founders A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse, and Charles I...
fraternity (Chi Chapter) - Iota Phi Theta Fraternity (Alpha Pi chapter)
Fellowship
- The Tiger 6 Chapter of Groove Phi Groove Social Fellowship,Inc.Groove Phi GrooveGroove Phi Groove is a social fellowship founded at Morgan State College as an alternative to mainstream Black fraternities...
Honor Societies
- Phi Beta Kappa (Delta of Georgia chapter)
- Phi Mu Alpha SinfoniaPhi Mu Alpha SinfoniaPhi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music...
- Phi Alpha DeltaPhi Alpha DeltaΦAΔ , or P.A.D., is the largest co-ed professional law fraternity in the United States of America. Phi Alpha Delta has members who are university students, law school students, lawyers, judges, senators, and even presidents. It was founded in 1902 and today has over 300,000 initiated members...
- Kappa Kappa PsiKappa Kappa PsiKappa Kappa Psi is a fraternity for college and university band members. It was founded on November 27, 1919 at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College in Stillwater, Oklahoma. William Scroggs, now regarded as the "Founder," together with "Mr. Kappa Kappa Psi" A...
- Alpha Kappa DeltaAlpha Kappa DeltaAlpha Kappa Delta is an international sociology honor society.Founded in 1920 by Emory S. Bogardus, of the University of Southern California sociology department, the name is derived from the Greek anthrôpos meaning mankind, katamanthanô, meaning to examine closely or acquire knowledge, and...
- Beta Gamma SigmaBeta Gamma SigmaBeta Gamma Sigma or ΒΓΣ is an honor society for business students and scholars. Founded in 1913 at the University of Wisconsin, it has over 650,000 members, selected from over 500 chapters in AACSB-accredited business schools...
- Beta Kappa Chi
- Omicron Delta EpsilonOmicron Delta EpsilonOmicron Delta Epsilon is an international honor society in the field of economics. Resulting from the merger of Omicron Delta Gamma and Omicron Chi Epsilon, ODE was founded in 1963 . Its board of trustees includes well-known economists such as Robert Lucas, Kenneth Arrow, and Robert Solow...
(Iota of Georgia) - Omicron Delta KappaOmicron Delta KappaOmicron Delta Kappa, or ΟΔΚ, also known as The Circle, or more commonly ODK, is a national leadership honor society. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, by 15 student and faculty leaders. Chapters, known as Circles, are located on over 300...
- Golden Key International Honour SocietyGolden Key International Honour SocietyThe Golden Key International Honour Society is an Atlanta, Georgia-based non-profit organization founded in 1977 to recognise academic achievement among college and university students in all disciplines....
- National Society of Collegiate ScholarsNational Society of Collegiate ScholarsThe National Society of Collegiate Scholars is a national nonprofit academic honor society for college students in the United States. NSCS has active chapters at more than 280 colleges and universities in the United States, including in the District of Columbia, and in Puerto Rico, consisting of a...
- Phi Alpha ThetaPhi Alpha ThetaPhi Alpha Theta is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history.The society is a charter member of the Association of College Honor Societies and has over 350,000 members, with about 9,500 new members joining each year through 860 local chapters.-...
- Pi Delta PhiPi Delta PhiPi Delta Phi is the French National Honor Society for undergraduate and graduate students at accredited public and private colleges and universities in the United States. The society was admitted to membership in the Association of College Honor Societies in 1967.Pi Delta Phi was founded as a...
- Pi Sigma AlphaPi sigma alphaPi Sigma Alpha , the National Political Science Honor Society, is the only honor society for college and university students of political science in the United States. Its purpose is to recognize and promote high academic achievement in the field of political science...
- Psi ChiPsi ChiPsi Chi is the International Honor Society in Psychology, founded in 1929 for the purposes of encouraging, stimulating, and maintaining excellence in scholarship, and advancing the science of psychology. With over 1,050 chapters, Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States...
- Sigma Delta PiSigma Delta PiSigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society , was established on November 14, 1919, at the University of California at Berkeley. Its insignia is the royal seal of Fernando and Isabel, representing Castille, León and Aragón...
- Sigma Tau DeltaSigma Tau DeltaSigma Tau Delta is an international collegiate honor society for students of English. It presently has over 800 active chapters located in Europe, the Caribbean, the United States, and 1 chapter in the Middle East , with more than 1,000 faculty sponsors...
- Alpha Lambda DeltaAlpha Lambda DeltaAlpha Lambda Delta is an honor society for students who have achieved a 3.5 GPA or higher and are in the top 20% of their class during their first year or term of higher education.-History:...
Religious organizations
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
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is a College athletic conference consisting of historically black colleges and universities located in the southern United States. Formed in 1913, the SIAC is a member of the NCAA and participates in Division II athletics...
(SIAC) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) Division II. The mascot is the Maroon Tiger. Morehouse College competes in football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, track & field and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
.
The Morehouse swim team is called the Tigersharks. From 1958 till 1976 the swim team had 255 wins and only 25 losses, with over 15 SIAC championships, making it the most winning sports team in Morehouse history. It beat Emory University and Georgia Tech in dual meets in different seasons. The team also appeared in Jet
Jet (magazine)
Jet is an American weekly marketed toward African-American readers, founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois...
and Ebony
Ebony (magazine)
Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African-American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945...
magazines, Black Sports, and Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and is presently being considered as honorary inductees into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Actor Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
was once the team statistician and apprentice swimmer. Some of the swimmers had competed in NCAA and NAIA competition at various times throughout the team's history. The team was disestablished in 1976, and the funds were transferred to build the Morehouse School of Medicine, which separated from Morehouse in 1981. During the years of 1966 to 1970, their star butterfly swimmer was Bobby Garcia, now filmmaker Robert G. Christie (IMBD.com). His film, The Sobbing Stone, was nominated Best Feature Drama at the Sabaoth International Film Festival in Milan, Italy in 2006. He is now writing a screenplay of his years at Morehouse, soon to be made into a major motion picture.
Notable alumni
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, businessman and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain
Herman Cain
Herman Cain is a candidate for the 2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination.Cain has a background as a business executive, syndicated columnist, and radio host from Georgia. He served as chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza from 1986 to 1996...
, Theologian Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman
Howard Thurman was an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard University and Boston University for more than two decades, wrote 21 books, and in 1944 helped found a multicultural church.-Early life...
, filmmaker Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
, filmmaker Robert G. Christie (a.k.a. Bobby Garcia), actor Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
, Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
gold medalist Edwin Moses
Edwin Moses
Edwin Corley Moses is an American track and field athlete who won gold medals in the 400 metre hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals and set the world record in his event four times...
, former Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
Chairman Walter E. Massey
Walter E. Massey
Walter Eugene Massey is an educator, physicist, and business executive. He is the current President of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the former Chairman of Bank of America, replacing Ken Lewis on April 29, 2009...
, the first African-American mayor of Atlanta Maynard Jackson
Maynard Jackson
Maynard Holbrook Jackson, Jr. was an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and the first African American mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. He served three terms, two consecutive terms from 1974 until 1982 and a third term from 1990 to 1994...
, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan, former United States Surgeon General David Satcher
David Satcher
David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D. FAAFP, FACPM, FACP is an American physician, and public health administrator. He was a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health, and the 16th Surgeon General of the United...
, and also include: United States Court of Appeals
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
judges, United States Ambassadors, university presidents, Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
professors and Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
executives, among others.
Morehouse is also one of two historically black colleges in the country 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. Morehouse has been home to seven Fulbright Scholars
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
, Damon M. Lombard (1995), John Thomas (2004), Jason T. Garrett (2006), Morgan C. Williams, Jr. (2006), Lasean Brown (2008), Eric R. Baylor (2008) and Wendell H. Marsh (2009).
Since 1999, Morehouse has produced five Marshall Scholars, 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.