By Kendra Bryant
Special to the AFRO
Morgan State University hosted its 41st annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Breakfast on Jan. 10 at the Calvin and Tina Tyler Ballroom. The event’s theme was “Empowering the dream of growing our future.”
“I want to give a huge thank you to the Howard L. Cornish Baltimore Chapter for enabling hundreds of students by investing over $1.1 million here at Morgan,” said David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University. “The continuous support allows students to taste the magic of a Morgan State degree.”
Led by WBAL-TV 11 News co-anchor Jenyne Donaldson, the event honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as awarding scholarship recipients, community leaders and recognizing donors.
“Despite all of the black-and-white footage that you’ve seen from years gone by, Dr. Martin Luther was a young man, which is why these students here today represent that which has not come into being yet,” said U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md-07. “Because there is a generation to pick up and move forward and to lead us on.”
In the theme of making a change, Morgan State University’s choir performed an array of Black classic hymns, including “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” “We Shall Overcome,” “I Know I’ve Been Changed,” and “Total Praise.”
“There are three types of people in this world: Those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and those that wake up and say what the hell happened,” said Lt. Col. (Retired) Micheal Bell, president of the Morgan State University Alumni Association. “Don’t be that person. I encourage you to stand up and commit to making a change here at Morgan.”
The Rev. Dr. Robert R.A. Turner, senior pastor of The Empowerment Temple African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, gave the keynote address. His message focused on the story of the Israelites and Pharoah in Exodus 5:7.
“Pharoah told the Israelites that they will no longer be given straw to make bricks. They will have to go and gather the straw for themselves,” said Turner. “What are you saying preacher? What I’m saying is that we need to stop waiting for the master to supply. We’ve never been paid our dues in this nation. America wouldn’t be America and Maryland wouldn’t be Maryland without us.”
According to the Neighborhood Data for Social Change, nearing the end of the Civil War, a Special Field Order was signed which promised to redistribute 400,000 acres of confiscated Confederate land to emancipated Black families. This would have allotted 40 acres of land and a mule to 40,000 of the 4 million former enslaved. However, those promises were not delivered after Lincoln’s assasination, and another 124 years passed before the conversation of reparations was reintroduced in 1989.
“I wish that suffering for Black folks stopped in 1865 (when slaves were freed). But even after 1865, they still didn’t give us any straw. In the midst of the Jim Crow laws, we founded colleges. We never depended upon them to supply our straw. We took and we made our own straw, and it is with that same spirit that we built Black Wall Street.”
Awards in honor of the late Howard L. Cornish were given to community leaders such as the Scouts of America Troop #846’s leaders Philander Wiggins and Harry Williams, Patricia D. Cole, Valerie Cherry-Jones, Congressman Mfume and Anthony C. McPhail.
McPhail served as the chairman of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Breakfast for 38 years. He graduated from Morgan State University in 1976 and later died on Dec. 6, 2025.
“Anthony was my classmate here at this university,” said Mfume, recipient of the Anthony McPhail Leadership Legacy Award. “Thank you for even thinking back then that I should have this award and my thanks to his family as well.”
There were 21 scholarship recipients studying majors such as political science, engineering, graphic design and nursing.
“We want to say congratulations for all that you have done and all that you are going to do,” said Erica M. Waters, president of the Howard L. Cornish Baltimore Chapter. “I wanted to remind you that you must motivate each other. We have to uplift each other. You cannot get that diploma and walk away and never come back. You have to reach out and support those who follow you.”
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