Morgan State University celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary Monday.
Mayor Catherine Pugh, a graduate from Morgan State, delivered the 150th Founders Day Convocation address.
"I often brag that Morgan prepared me to become all that I dreamed and desired," Pugh said to a crowd of Morgan State students and alumni. "It gave me the confidence, courage and fortitude. Along with the knowledge I gained, I truly believed I could become anything, compete with anyone and achieve my best self."
In 1864, a group of African-American ministers development a vision and plans for an institution to train free and newly-freed African-American men in ministry. The school was founded in 1867 as the Centenary Biblical Institute by the Baltimore Conference of Methodist Episcopal Church.
The institution was renamed Morgan College in 1890 and awarded its first degree in 1895. The name would change again in 1940 to Morgan State College before it was named Morgan State University in 1975.
"It is here Morgan State University where I entered as a teenager and left as an adult," Pugh said. "Morgan is a place where I grew up. I was nurtured, directed, educated, supported, and loved."
A proclamation ceremony for the university will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at city hall.
