Morris Brown College

Morris Brown College students

Morris Brown College

History

During the North Georgia Annual Conference at Big Bethel AME Church in January 1881, Reverend Wesley John Gaines introduced a resolution to found Morris Brown College to educate and uplift the children. Supporters at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta would furnish a room in their institution for the first college.

The institution was named Morris Brown College to honor the memory of the second consecrated Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.

The Georgia Conference was persuaded to join the endeavor. An assembly of trustees from both conferences convened at Big Bethel Church and selected the Boulevard site as the school’s first home. In May 1885, the State of Georgia granted a charter to Morris Brown College of the AME Church.

That same year, 107 students and 9 teachers walked into a crude wooden structure at the corner of Boulevard and Houston Streets in Atlanta, Georgia, marking the opening of the first educational institution in Georgia under sole African American patronage.

Academic Merit

Morris Brown College survived a rocky decade of unstable finances and other issues. Today, MBC has over 2,000 students and it still a predominantly African American co-educational institution.

It offers majors in more than 40 areas of study including business, health sciences, computer science, chemistry, biology and hospitality administration.

Campus Life

Morris Brown College is a historic part of the Atlanta University Complex.

In addition to participation opportunity in over 75 organizations that include six honor societies, four fraternities and four sororities, there are also a wealth of off-campus activities nearby.

APEX (African American Panoramic Experience) Museum; Mercedes-Benz Stadium, FTX Arena, Atlanta Historic Museum; Piedmont Park; Fox Theatre; Six Flags over Georgia; Olympic Park; Underground Atlanta, a six-city block retail shopping center; Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site; and the Civil Rights Museum.

ADDRESS: 643 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive NW, Atlanta, GA MAP
PHONE: 404-220-0270
WEBSITE: https://www.morrisbrown.edu

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