Coulter, a formerly enslaved man from Augusta.
The men established the school in the basement of
the Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta, Geor-
gia, the oldest independent African-American
church in the nation. Its first president was the
Reverend Dr. Joseph Robert.
Known as the Augusta Institute, the school
was dedicated to graduating men who would pur-
sue careers as ministers and teachers. The school
relocated to Atlanta in 1879 and was renamed the
Atlanta Baptist Seminary. The school became
Morehouse College in the early 1900s, named in
honor of Henry Morehouse, a prominent Atlanta
man and the corresponding secretary of the At-
lanta Baptist Home Mission Society. The first pres-
ident of the newly renamed Morehouse College
was JOHNHOPE, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of
BROWNUNIVERSITYand the school’s first African-
American president.
Morehouse graduates went on to impressive
careers and positions of influence in science, edu-
cation, politics, journalism, and other fields.
Among its most well known graduates are BEN-
JAMINBRAWLEY, a literary critic who later joined
the faculty; MORDECAI JOHNSON, the first
African-American president of HOWARDUNIVER-
SITY; Howard Thurman, an eminent theologian;
Martin Luther King, Jr., the civil rights leader and
Nobel Peace Prize winner; Hugh Gloster, president
emeritus of Morehouse; journalist Lerone Bennett;
Maynard Jackson, the first African-American
mayor of Atlanta; David Satcher, a U.S. surgeon
general; Samuel Jackson, an accomplished actor;
and Spike Lee, a dynamic filmmaker and producer.
Bibliography
Butler, Addie. The Distinctive Black College: Talladega,
Tuskegee, and Morehouse.Metuchen, N.J.: Scare-
crow Press, 1977.
Jones, Edward. A Candle in the Dark: A History of More-
house College.Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson Press, 1967.
MortgagedWillis Richardson(1924)
A play by the pioneering playwright WILLIS
RICHARDSON, a graduate of the M STREETHIGH
SCHOOL.Mortgagedwas the first play by a profes-
sional African-American playwright to be per-
formed at HOWARDUNIVERSITY. The enterprising
Howard University professors T. MONTGOMERY
GREGORYand ALAINLOCKEworked together to
bring Richardson’s work to the campus in the wake
of his phenomenal success as the first African-
American dramatist to see his works performed on
BROADWAY.
The play revolves around two brothers whose
obsessions with social appearance have awful con-
sequences for their relationship. The protagonists
are John and Tom Fields. John is a widowed
chemist determined to finance his son’s HARVARD
UNIVERSITYeducation. Tom is a heartless landlord
who uses the rent from his many dilapidated prop-
erties to finance the high-profile social life of his
family. When John needs to borrow money from
his brother to pay his son’s college bills, his calcu-
lating brother demands that John give up his seem-
ingly unprofitable chemical research and find
another job. A dedicated father, John agrees to the
terms but is saved from the Faustian bargain when
a major chemical company invests in his research
and purchases one of his chemical inventions.
Freed from the potentially demeaning circum-
stances, John lectures his brother on the evils of
oppression and poverty.
The play addresses African-American life, up-
ward mobility, and racism in the workplace and in
schools and underscores the value of education
and scholarship.Bibliography
Gray, Christine Rauchfuss. Willis Richardson, Forgotten Pi-
oneer of African-American Drama.Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood Press, 1999.Moryck, Brenda Ray(1894–1949)
A WELLESLEYCOLLEGEgraduate, teacher, reporter,
and author of prize-winning short stories.
Born in New Jersey, she was a descendant of
the Reverend Charles Ray, a former blacksmith,
active abolitionist, and Congregational minister
who worked alongside other pastors such as
Henry Highland Garnet and Samuel Ringgold in
the effort to abolish American slavery and to
achieve racial equality and advancement. Her
grandmother was Henrietta Cordelia Ray, an ac-
complished poet and educator. In 1872, Moryck’s
great-aunt, Charlotte Ray, was the first African-Moryck, Brenda Ray 351