‘History of a National Treasure: Morgan State University’ documentary highlights roots of historically Black institution in Baltimore

By Christina Royster
Special to the AFRO

Morgan State University is sponsoring a national public media effort to tell the world about the value of not only its story, but also the stories of other historically Black colleges and universities in America. The effort, called HBCU Week NOW, is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), WORLD Channel and a host of other partners. HBCU Week NOW will feature an unprecedented 30 hours of original programming dedicated to the history and culture of the HBCU in America and will be shown nationally by more than 20 PBS stations that share markets with all 100 HBCUs. 

One of the featured films, “History of A National Treasure: Morgan State University,” premiered in studio at Maryland Public Television on Aug. 27 to an influential group of the Morgan’s senior leadership team, to include the school’s president, Dr. David K. Wilson and Board of Regents Chair, well-known alumnus, Congressman Kweisi Mfume, and Regent, Dr. Linda Gilliam.  Attorney General, Anthony Brown, was also in attendance. 

Maryland Audience members praised the film for its powerful storytelling and necessity as the first documentary to tell a comprehensive story about the founding and more than 150 years of growth of the university through its various stages. The HBCU bore the name Centenary Biblical Institute when it was founded by formerly enslaved clergymen and the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1867, became Morgan College in 1890, Morgan State College in 1939 and finally Morgan State University in 1975.   

The idea for creating the film began when the university’s visionary President, Dr. David K. Wilson, went looking for a comprehensive story of Morgan State University in the school’s library and archives and could not find it. Former Morgan Regent and Dean Emeritus, Dr. Burney J. Hollis unearthed the story of the legendary founders of Centenary Biblical Institute – Reverend Benjamin Brown, Reverend Samuel Green Sr., Rev. Elijah Grissom, Rev. James Harper and Rev. James Peck.  A particularly compelling drama point included Green’s motivation for founding Centenary Biblical Institute after he was arrested for possessing then controversial book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was deemed illegal abolitionist propaganda.  “Because he had that in his hand, he was sentenced to serve 10 years in a Baltimore City Penitentiary,” Wilson says. “He served five years, and was released in 1862.”  Green vowed to blaze a new trail to educate formerly enslaved Americans in the Maryland area after his release.

The documentary not only chronicles Morgan State’s origins, but the former Presidents who shaped it throughout the years, its students historic participation in activism during the Civil Rights era, and beyond, and the school’s rise to prominence as one of the largest HBCUs in the country with a record enrollment of more than 10,000 students. 

“This is the reason why we must be tireless about telling and sharing the HBCU story,” says Travis Mitchell, Sr. Vice President and Chief Content Officer for Maryland Public Television. Mitchell, who graduated from Morgan State in 1992 was also one of the students who led the historic 1990 MSU protest that challenged state funding norms that left many of the university’s facilities in shambles at that time.  The protest led to a $577 million settlement to end a 15-year-old federal lawsuit that accused the state of Maryland of providing inequitable resources to its four historically Black colleges and universities. The funds where divided amongst Maryland’s HBCUs. “When we tell our story, not only do we remember who we are, but we empower a new generation of young people with the knowledge of who they are called to become. We inspire and ignite history in the making.” In fact, history will be made again in 2025 when two additional documentaries chronicling the 1990 student protest and the subsequent lawsuit are released next year on Maryland Public Television. “And Morgan is only one of 107 HBCUs, and each school has thousands upon thousands of untold stories in its history, students and alumni.” 

The 37-minute documentary was filmed by MSU students in the School of Global Journalism and Communication’s Center for New Media and Strategic Initiatives. It was led by the film’s writer and producer, MSU Inaugural Dean Emeritus, DeWayne Wickham. The Center for New Media and  Strategic Initiatives’ mission is to find new ways to solve three age-old media problems in finding innovative ways to report and disseminate news to people who live in urban news deserts; producing contemporary and historical documentaries about Black life in the African diaspora and helping expand the ranks of the Black journalists and news executives who are needed to bring balance and diversity to American journalism. 

Wickham, whose long and impressive career in journalism spans from serving as a correspondent for U.S. News and World Report to being a columnist for USA Today, and founding the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).  He has also authored several books.  He applauds the Morgan fellows who helped him create the film. “This project that culminated in this film you are about to see is the work of not just my own effort, but the effort of others who have been working with me,” he said. “I pushed these young people, and oftentimes they pushed back. We got a lot done, in a short period of time.”  The students shared during a panel discussion after the screening the many ways in their participation in the film and study at Morgan has impacted and transformed their lives.

Prior to the screening, a notable Morgan State University alumnus testified to the school’s life transformative and crucial impact on his life, too. Congressman Kweisi Mfume, reflected upon serving as the evening night-time janitor at Maryland Public Television while attending MSU. Mfume recounted how attending Morgan helped him find his way in the world after returning to school to earn his GED Certificate. “I didn’t know what I wanted to study or if I could afford to study anything,” he remembers.  

“I was a teenage parent when I first heard about Morgan, so when I got there in my early twenties, It was like a dream come true,” Mfume said. “It did for me then what it continues to do for so many young people now. That is to meet them where they are, lift them up, and remind them that they are indeed somebody.” 

 Maryland Public Television has created a week of local programming  predominantly focused on HBCUs and airing  on MPT Sept. 2-8. HBCU Week NOW is a national campaign featuring HBCU Week NOW on Youtube. For more information on “History of a National Treasure: Morgan State University,” or to view the documentary, visit mpt.org/hbcu.  To find more HBCU Week Programming subscribe to HBCU Week NOW on YouTube.

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