Historic Timeline

Association Forms to Establish Schools for Newly Freed Slaves

The Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of Colored People is formed to establish schools for the state’s black citizens.

The association was founded by 46 men, comprised of Quakers, lawyers, clergymen and businessmen. They were committed to offering educational opportunities to the black population, which the state had failed to provide. One of those men was Joseph M. Cushing.

As chairman of the Educational Committee for Maryland’s Constitutional Convention, Cushing chastised the committee’s refusal to fund schools for black people: “There will come a time when this state will be forced by public opinion to provide means for educating our colored population.”

School #1, Precursor to Bowie State, Opens in Baltimore

School #1, the precursor to Bowie State University, offers courses in the elements of education. The normal school opens in 1866.

The school is located in the African Baptist Church at the corner of Calvert and Saratoga streets. The school is founded by the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of Colored People, started by 46 men comprised of Quakers, lawyers, clergyman and businessmen. Bowie State is the oldest historically black college or university in the state of Maryland.

Baltimore Normal School for Colored Teachers Relocated

The school relocates to the renovated Friends Meeting House at Courtland and Saratoga streets in Baltimore (Source: Drs. Simmons unpublished manuscript).