James November-December 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 47
he story of Morris
Brown College is
nothing if not perseverance. Founded
in 1881, it is one of
several historically
black colleges and universities in
Georgia. Morehouse and Spelman
are perhaps the most famous, but
Morris Brown is the only one founded, funded, owned and operated by
black people.
It was a project of the African
Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church—
the first independent black denomination in the United States.
Founded by Richard Allen in
Philadelphia, Morris Brown
the man was the second bishop of
the denomination and was active
planting new churches across the
country and even into Canada. The
AME spread quickly across the
country, particularly after the end of
the Civil War when it became safer
for blacks from the North to travel
South. Hundreds of thousands of the
newly freed black population across
the South joined the denomination,
and in 1881 the North Georgia Annual Conference of the AME Church
passed a resolution to establish an
educational institution in Atlanta. It
is a special history.
Today, Morris Brown College is
led by Dr. Kevin James as the 19th
president of the school. James is a
native of Columbia, South Carolina
and attended South Carolina State
University— another HBCU, Winthrop
University, Troy State University
and Nova Southeastern University.
James was appointed president in
2020, after a year as interim, and is
one of the youngest college presidents in the country.
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