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THE MAROON TIGER
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MOREHOUSE FOUNDERS DAY ORATOR
FORESEES WAVE OF SPIRITUAL
REVIVALISM
Only through a wave of religious fervor, such as
has marked the great spiritual awakenings of the
past, can we hope to find a way out of the pres
ent social confusion, Reverend Miles Mark Fisher
pastor of White Rock Baptist Church, Durham,
North Carolina, declared in the course of the
Morehouse College Founders Day address here,
February 18 on the occasion of the college’s 70th
anniversary. People today are ready for social
change, he said, pointing to the response of the
masses to the program of Father Coughlin, Dr.
Townsend, and of the E P I C in California. When
social change comes, he pleaded that it might be
shot through with the spirit of Christianity, and
be guided by the social philosophy of Jesus.
Alumni, students, faculty, and friends of the
college gathered in Sale Hall Chapel for the form
al celebration of Morehouse’s anniversary. Dr.
Samuel M. Nabrit, a graduate of the college in
the class of 1925 and a member of a family which
has long been associated with its development,
presided. The invocation was spoken by Dr. E. R.
Carter, a member of the first class to be graduat
ed and veteran pastor of Atlanta’s Friendship
Baptist Church. Ira De A. Reid, ’22. now profess
or of sociology in Atlanta University, sketched the
progress of Morehouse from its founding in
Augusta, Georgia, in 1867, through the stages of
its development up to the present college genera
tion. Issac W. Meadows, ’38, of Buffalo, New
York, told of the growth of Morehouse during the
70 years of change and vicissitude through which
it has passed and waxed strong. The service was
concluded by a prayer of benediction by Reverend
C. N. Ellis, pastor of Atlanta’s Reed Street Bap
tist Church.
Introduced by Dean B. R. Brazeal, ’27, as an
outstanding graduate of Morehouse College, who
since his college years has moved on to new and
larger tasks, Reverend Fisher at the outset of his
address paid reverent tribute to those great men
who gave their best years to the founding and the
development of Morehouse College.
Of President Hope, the anniversary of whose
death falls this week, Mr. Fisher said he “demon
strated in a very fine way the ability of a Negro
to be the president of an institution of higher
learning.” Because Dr. Hope succeeded so admir
ably, his associates and his alumni have been
sought for similar positions. At the same time he
recalled that President Hope came to be “an
apostle of good wishes to everybody” and in the
course of the years the first president of the At
lanta University system.
After making a rapid and picturesquely factual
survey of the rise of evangelism in this country
from the time of the coming of Charles Wesley
and the “great awakening” of 1740 until after the
reconstruction period, Reverend Fisher pointed
out that after each of these great waves of revi
valism, there came into being great numbers of
schools and colleges. It was after the major spirit
ual awakening following the Civil War, he noted,
that the great number of Negro schools were
founded by zealous friends from the North at
points where the Union forces had established
themselves. It was at this time that Morehouse
College came into being at Augusta, where its
first teacher was a former captain in the Union
army. While many schools founded at this time did
not endure, Morehouse persisted in the face of
great odds through the skill and devotion of its
early leaders, particularly Dr. Joseph T. Robert,
its first president, and his successors, Drs.
Samuel Grave and George Sale.
In answer to the question, “Can we use revival
ism in this new age?” Mr. Fisher expressed the
opinion that the time is ripe for a new movement
toward spiritual redemption and emancipation
from social oppression. He saw in the great en
thusiasm that has greeted proposals such as the
Townsend plan an eagerness on the part of the
masses for social betterment. Through the use of
propaganda, Russia, Italy, and Germany have
been awakened, he pointed out, and he asked if
such a movement in this country should be allow
ed to come to pass without being punctuated by
religion, and guided by the spirit of Christianity.
The anniversary program, which was arranged
by a committee of alumni, was interspersed with
musical numbers by graduates of the college.
Those taking part were Johnson Hubert, ’36-
pianist, Drew S. Days, ’36, violinist, and an alum
ni quartet composed of John C. Long, Jr., ’36
Charles R. Lawrence, ’36, Claude Robinson. ’34
and Martin Graham, ’37.
Other events of 1937 Founders Day were an in
formal chapel service in the morning at which
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