After the Civil War, HBCUs pioneered Black education in America.
The Maroon Tiger: The Voice of the Students of Morehouse College
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The Maroon Tiger, Morehouse College’s weekly student run newspaper was first issued in 1898 as The Athenaeum. The publication was renamed The Maroon Tiger in 1925 and became a monthly publication. The publication highlighted student life and campus activities, such as the dramatic arts, music, and sports. The magazine also provided an arena for poetry, fiction and opinion. American poet and writer Tom Dent was a contributor while he attended from 1948-1952, as was fellow alumni Martin Luther King, Jr. The Amistad Research Center’s School Newspaper Collection contains nine issues of The Maroon Tiger dating 1926-1950.
Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically African American college located in Atlanta, Georgia. The college is one of the few remaining traditional men's liberal arts colleges in the United States and is the largest men's college in the United States, with an enrollment over 2,000 students.
The Maroon Tiger is notable for the richness of the opinion pieces contained within. Readers of the publication will find opinion pieces covering everything from politics and race relations, to the virtues of government versus big business, to religion and the influence of scientific thought. College campuses first became prominent centers of student radical activity in the 1930s, with their main focus on foreign policy. Communist Party members and sympathizers played an important role. For the most part, the 1930s student movement focused on off-campus issues, with the exception of threats to campus freedom of expression.
Issues from the 1930s of The Maroon Tiger note the lack of student organizing around domestic political and social issues. This foreign and antiwar focus of student activity is often focused on “The New Germany” and the youth movements in Germany, as well as China, and Russia. H.J. Battle notes in his article “Youth Movements In American,” found within the January 1934 issue, that America’s youth are starting to become galvanized from “complacency and apathy” by starting to organize themselves to improve domestic conditions, including economic hardship and discrimination. Battle discusses having attended the various conferences in 1933 of the Communist-led National Student League (1932-1926); the International Student Services (1933), the student affiliate of the social-democratic League for Industrial Democracy; and the National Student Federation of America (1925-circa 1941). He acknowledges each organization’s purpose for change and offers his opinion that the “racial can perhaps intensify the desire for a new order.” Battle puts a call out for action to the students of Morehouse College.
“I consider all these movements very important. The variety of views will help us to see the situation at various angles and, by careful comparison, to determine the best course to follow. I hope that more Negro students will join in these efforts. In the NSL Convention and in the conference on the students in politics I saw very few Negroes, and only two Negro colleges are members of the NSFA despite the fact that all of the organizations welcome Negroes without any discrimination.”
Images from the School Newspaper Collection. Images from Amistad’s website, newsletters, and blogs cannot be reproduced without permission.
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Kathe Hambrick is the Founder and former Executive Director of the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM), established in 1994 as Louisiana’s first African American Museum. She is a past President of the national Association of African American Museums (AAAM). She served as the Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation for the West Baton Rouge Museum for four years. Hambrick was born in New Orleans and spent half her life in California where she received an undergraduate degree in English and a minor in African American Studies from California State University Long Beach.
Hambrick is a Public Historian with a passion for collecting, preserving and interpreting history for diverse audiences. Her thirty-one-year career as a museum professional includes expertise in program development, interpretative planning, curation, grant writing, fundraising, and board governance. She led the effort to preserve three slave cemeteries and six historic buildings in Ascension Parish.
She is considered an expert on the history and culture of African Americans in communities along the Mississippi River. Kathe Hambrick’s interviews include local, national, and international media, the BBC Learning Channel, CBS Morning News, National Public Radio, and the New York Times. The consulting firm, 2PRESERVE was established by Hambrick in 2021 to provide cultural resources and guidance to corporations, museums, cultural centers, government agencies, and faith-based organizations.
Throughout her 31-year career, Kathe has curated over one hundred exhibits, including The Rural Roots of Jazz, African Influences on Louisiana Cuisine, Creole Du Monde, and The Square Collection which featured original art by Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Richmond Barthé, and Tina Allen. Her most recent exhibit is the GU272 of Ascension: The Jesuit and Episcopal Connection to Slavery.
Kathe is the author and co-author of several books:
Kathe Hambrick is the Founder and former Executive Director of the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM), established in 1994 as Louisiana’s first African American Museum. She is a past President of the national Association of African American Museums (AAAM). She served as the Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation for the West Baton Rouge Museum for four years. Hambrick was born in New Orleans and spent half her life in California where she received an undergraduate degree in English and a minor in African American Studies from California State University Long Beach.
Hambrick is a Public Historian with a passion for collecting, preserving and interpreting history for diverse audiences. Her thirty-one-year career as a museum professional includes expertise in program development, interpretative planning, curation, grant writing, fundraising, and board governance. She led the effort to preserve three slave cemeteries and six historic buildings in Ascension Parish.
She is considered an expert on the history and culture of African Americans in communities along the Mississippi River. Kathe Hambrick’s interviews include local, national, and international media, the BBC Learning Channel, CBS Morning News, National Public Radio, and the New York Times. The consulting firm, 2PRESERVE was established by Hambrick in 2021 to provide cultural resources and guidance to corporations, museums, cultural centers, government agencies, and faith-based organizations.
Throughout her 31-year career, Kathe has curated over one hundred exhibits, including The Rural Roots of Jazz, African Influences on Louisiana Cuisine, Creole Du Monde, and The Square Collection which featured original art by Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Richmond Barthé, and Tina Allen. Her most recent exhibit is the GU272 of Ascension: The Jesuit and Episcopal Connection to Slavery.
Kathe is the author and co-author of several books:
Kathe Hambrick is the Founder and former Executive Director of the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM), established in 1994 as Louisiana’s first African American Museum. She is a past President of the national Association of African American Museums (AAAM). She served as the Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation for the West Baton Rouge Museum for four years. Hambrick was born in New Orleans and spent half her life in California where she received an undergraduate degree in English and a minor in African American Studies from California State University Long Beach.
Hambrick is a Public Historian with a passion for collecting, preserving and interpreting history for diverse audiences. Her thirty-one-year career as a museum professional includes expertise in program development, interpretative planning, curation, grant writing, fundraising, and board governance. She led the effort to preserve three slave cemeteries and six historic buildings in Ascension Parish.
She is considered an expert on the history and culture of African Americans in communities along the Mississippi River. Kathe Hambrick’s interviews include local, national, and international media, the BBC Learning Channel, CBS Morning News, National Public Radio, and the New York Times. The consulting firm, 2PRESERVE was established by Hambrick in 2021 to provide cultural resources and guidance to corporations, museums, cultural centers, government agencies, and faith-based organizations.
Throughout her 31-year career, Kathe has curated over one hundred exhibits, including The Rural Roots of Jazz, African Influences on Louisiana Cuisine, Creole Du Monde, and The Square Collection which featured original art by Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Richmond Barthé, and Tina Allen. Her most recent exhibit is the GU272 of Ascension: The Jesuit and Episcopal Connection to Slavery.
Kathe is the author and co-author of several books: