April 16th 2023.
After nearly a century of division, Morgan State University and its white neighbors have finally torn down the “spite wall” that had been erected to separate the historically-Black college. Morgan State University President David K. Wilson expressed his joy at the change, saying, “It feels great to get rid of hatred. To tear down that wall is the first step in removing a physical sign every single day of what our students and larger community had to go through — had to endure from an all-White neighborhood.”
The wall was built in response to Morgan State's founding in 1867 next to the white neighborhood, which was met with protests from 257 angry whites who were determined to “fight [the] invasion of their pure white community by an [N]egro institution, colony or settlement of any kind,” according to The Washington Post. In spite of this, a judge ruled in favor of Morgan State in 1918, saying, “It is clear that the improvement of land as a colored residential neighborhood is not of itself a public nuisance.”
Kim McCalla, Morgan State University’s Associate Vice President of Facilities, told The Washington Post that another border would be added, but this time it would not divide the two communities. “All feelings of what the wall meant to many people are being relieved now,” McCalla added. “They’re being replaced with something thinking toward the future with openness.”
Wilson also noted that, as a reminder of the history of Morgan State, parts of the spite wall will remain; a positive symbol of the progress made in tearing down the barrier of hatred and discrimination.
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