Morehouse College Little Known Black History Fact

Morehouse College of Atlanta, Georgia is one of only three all-male liberal arts colleges in the country. The school began as the Augusta Theological Institute in the basement of Springfield Baptist Church. Springfield is the oldest church in the United States, dating back to 1787. By 1913, the operation had moved to the Atlanta West End area and named Morehouse College after Henry L. Morehouse. One of the most notable presidents of Morehouse college was Dr. Benjamin Mays.

Dr. Mays, the college’s sixth president, was a mentor to then student Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who entered the college at age 15 in 1944 and graduated in 1948. Dr. King attended the school as part of his family’s legacy; his grandfather, father, brother and consequently two sons would call Morehouse their alma mater. Dr. Benjamin Mays would also deliver Dr. King’s public eulogy on the campus on April 9, 1968.

Morehouse College is also the home of the Dr. Martin Luther King International Chapel and the multi-million dollar historic collection of Dr. King’s papers and effects from his days as a civil rights leader.

This past January 2013, the college welcomed Dr. John Silvanus Wilson Jr., class of 1979, as the 11th president of Morehouse College. Among his list of sizable accomplishments in education, Dr. Wilson was appointed by President Barack Obama as the Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

On May 19, 2013, President Barack Obama presented the colleges graduation commencement speech.

Among the list of prominent Alumni of Morehouse College:

Lerone Bennett Jr. ’49

Former Executive editor of Ebony magazine

Sanford D. Bishop Jr. ’68

U.S. congressman (Georgia)

Nathaniel Hawthorne Bronner ’40*

Founder of Bronner Brothers Beauty Cosmetics

Herman Cain ’67

Founder and CEO, T.H.E. New Voice, Inc.

(The Hermanator Experience, a motivational program for corporations and non-profits); Former Chairman of Godfather’s Pizza Inc.

Peter Chatard ’56

Distinguished plastic surgeon;

Founder of the Chatard Plastic Surgery Center and the Aesteem Outpatient Surgery Center, Seattle, Washington

Don Clendenon ’56

New York Mets outfielder; 1969 World Series MVP

Julius Coles ’64

Former President of Africare and former USAID Mission Director to Senegal and Swaziland

Samuel Dubois Cook ’48

Former President, Dillard University; former member of the National Council on Humanities

Ralph B. Everett, Esq. ’73

President and CEO, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Henry W. Foster Jr. ’54

Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Meharry Medical School; physician; U.S. presidential advisor

Robert Michael Franklin ’75

President Emeritus, Morehouse College; Presidential fellow and professor, Emory University, former president of the Interdenominational Theological Seminary (ITC)

Hugh M. Gloster Sr. ’31

President Emeritus, Morehouse College 1967–1987

George W. Haley ’49

U.S. Ambassador to Gambia, Africa; former U.S. Postal Rate Commissioner

Lt. Gen. James R. Hall ’57, USA (Ret.)

Retired Lt. General U.S. Army; former Vice President for Campus Operations, Morehouse College

Earl F. Hilliard ’64

U.S. Congressman (Alabama)

Donald R. Hopkins Sr. ’62

Senior Consultant, Carter Presidential Center; Director, Guinea Worm Eradication Program

Maynard H. Jackson ’56*

first African-American mayor of Atlanta

Samuel L. Jackson ’72

Academy Award nominee, stage and

film actor

Howard E. Jeter ’70

U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria; former U.S. Ambassador to Botswana

Arthur E. Johnson ’68

President and COO, Lockheed Martin Information Services Sector

Jeh Johnson ’79

General Counsel, U.S. Dept. of Defense

Former President, Howard University, Washington, D.C., (first African-American to serve in this position)

Robert E. Johnson ’48

Former Executive Editor and Associate Publisher, JET magazine

Leroy Keith Jr. ’61

President Emeritus, Morehouse College; Chairman of the Board, Carson Products; former President, Morehouse College

Thomas Kilgore Jr. ’31

Pastor Emeritus, Second Baptist Church

Martin Luther King Jr. ’48*

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and civil rights leader

Shelton “Spike” Lee ’79

Filmmaker and President, 40 Acres & A Mule

Reginald C. Lindsay ’67

U.S. federal judge, Massachusetts

Michael L. Lomax ’68

President, Dillard University; former President, The National Faculty

Robert L. Mallett ’79

Former deputy secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce; senior vice

president, Pfizer Corporation; president, Pfizer Foundation

Walter E. Massey ’58

Former President, Morehouse College; former Director, National Science Foundation; former Dean, College at Brown University; former Provost, University of California System

Richard I. McKinney ’31

Former President, Storer College; Chairman, Philosophy Department, Morgan State University

Charles David “C.D.” Moody ’78

President and CEO, Moody Construction

Edwin C. Moses ’78

Olympic gold medalist and financial consultant

Otis Moss Jr. ’56

Pastor, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, Cleveland, Ohio; Chairman, Morehouse College Board of Trustees

James M. Nabrit ’23*

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; second African-American president of Howard University

Samuel M. Nabrit ’25

Former member, Atomic Energy Commission; former president of Texas Southern University, first African American to receive the Ph.D. from Brown University

Bill G. Nunn III ’76

stage and film actor

Major R. Owens ’56

Retired U.S. congressman (New York)

Roderic I. Pettigrew ’72

Physician and nuclear physicist, National Institutes of Health

David Satcher ’63

Director, National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine; former U.S. Surgeon General; former president, Meharry and the Morehouse School of Medicine

Maceo K. Sloan ’71

Chairman and CEO, Sloan Financial Group Inc.

Louis W. Sullivan ’54

Founder and former president, Morehouse School of Medicine; former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

Howard Thurman ’23*

internationally known theologian and author

Nima A. Warfield ’94

First African-American Rhodes Scholar from a historically black college or university

Charles Vert Willie ’48

Distinguished Professor of Education and Urban Studies, Harvard University

John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79

11th President, Morehouse College; former executive director, White House Initiative on HBCUs