Tag / 1950s

by Jennifer A. Ferretti

[Governor Lane meeting with the Board of Cheltenham School for Boys]

[Governor Lane meeting with the Board of Cheltenham School for Boys], 1951. Paul Henderson, HEN.00.A2-206.

[Governor Lane meeting with the Board of Cheltenham School for Boys], 1951. Paul Henderson, HEN.00.A2-206.

In 1948, Governor William Preston Lane, Jr. (1892-1967), seated second from right, appointed nine African Americans to the Board of Trustees for Cheltenham School for Boys after the entire board resigned. The correctional institution for young Black males was in dire straits when the new board took over. Members of particular note were Willard A. Allen (seated far left), president of Southern Life Insurance Company, and Violet Hill Whyte (seated second from left), the first black policewoman in Baltimore.

Image information:

[Governor Lane meeting with the Board of Cheltenham School for Boys]
State House, 100 State Circle, Annapolis, Maryland
February 1951
Paul Henderson, 1899-1988
4 in. x 5 in. acetate negative
Paul Henderson Photograph Collection, HEN.00.A2-206
Maryland Historical Society

by Jennifer A. Ferretti

Morgan State College (now Morgan State University)

Morgan State College basketball team, HEN.03.02-064

Class inside gym, Morgan State College. Paul Henderson. MdHS. HEN.06.04-015.

In 1867, the Methodist Episcopal Church opened the Centenary Biblical Institute to train young men in ministry. In 1890, after broadening its mission to educate Black men and women as teachers, the school was renamed Morgan College after the first chairman of its Board of Trustees and land donor, Reverend Lyttleton Morgan.

After a few decades, President John Oakley Spencer realized the college was outgrowing its space at Fulton and Edmondson Avenues and activated plans to move and expand. After learning of Andrew Carnegie’s speech in support of black education, the college contacted the philanthropist for financial assistance.

Carnegie agreed to provide $50,000 to the college for a new site only if the board met certain terms, including raising matching funds. The board pledged $25,000 and the public contributed the difference, with much-needed pleas for assistance from the Afro-American newspaper for this “praiseworthy object.”

After being prohibited from relocating to Mount Washington, a white Baltimore suburb, a parcel of land in northeast Baltimore became the best option. Fifty community members filed lawsuits against the move, including poet Edgar Allan Poe’s grandnephew and namesake. All attempts failed and Harry O. Wilson, Baltimore’s leading black banker, purchased the land for the college that became known as Wilson Park.

The college met all of Carnegie’s conditions and in 1917 moved to its present location. In 1939, the state of Maryland purchased the school after a study determined that Maryland needed to provide more opportunities for its black residents. Morgan State College is now Morgan State University, a public Historically Black (HBCU) research university. [Image: Morgan State College basketball team, 1951, Maryland Historical Society, HEN.03.02-064; Class inside gym, Morgan State College, 1955, Maryland Historical Society, HEN.06.04-015.]

The photographs below are only a small fraction of the additional photographs of Morgan State College by Paul Henderson:

by Jennifer A. Ferretti

Maryland State Teachers College at Bowie [Bowie State University]

Women watching television, Maryland State Teachers College, HEN.00.B2-232

Beginning in 1865,  Bowie State University is one of the oldest historically Black universities in Maryland. The Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of Colored People established the Baltimore Normal School to train Black teachers in Baltimore. After moving to Prince George’s County, Maryland in 1914, the school also received a new name: Maryland Normal and Industrial School at Bowie. By 1935 it was known as the Maryland State Teachers College at Bowie. Over time, it expanded from a three year program and introduced programs to train teachers for junior high schools, secondary education, and liberal arts.

Source: Bowie State University

Image information:
Women watching television, Maryland State Teachers College at Bowie [Bowie State University]
Bowie, Maryland
1953
Paul Samuel Henderson, 1899-1988
Digital reproduction from 4 in. x 5 in. acetate negative
Paul Henderson Photograph Collection, HEN.00.B2-232
Maryland Historical Society

by Jennifer A. Ferretti

Verda Freeman Welcome

Maryland State Senator Verda Freeman Welcome, HEN.00.B1-054

After graduating from Coppin Normal School (now Coppin State University) and Morgan State College (now Morgan State University), Maryland State Senator Verda Welcome taught in Baltimore City Public Schools for eleven years. In 1958 she was the first Black woman elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, representing the Fourth District of Baltimore City. In 1962 she was elected to the Maryland Senate, becoming the first Black female senator in the United States. From the Senate seat, Senator Welcome passed legislation that dealt with issues of discrimination.

Source: Maryland State Archives, Women’s Hall of Fame

Image information:
Verda Freeman Welcome
1950
Paul Samuel Henderson, 1899-1988
Digital reproduction from 4 in. x 5 in. acetate negative
Paul Henderson Photograph Collection, HEN.00.B1-054
Maryland Historical Society

More photographs of Senator Welcome by Paul Henderson: