The Omaha guide., 1956-03-16
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OF The
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Article From TIME Magazine

HSO
Article From TIME Magazine
In a University of Paris class
room an American Negro attend
ing a meeting Of religious leaders
sat reading and rereading cable
that had just come from the us.
The year was 1926, and for Morde-
cal Johnson, SO, the news that he
had been elected president of
Howard University in Washington,
D. c. should have been cause for
celebration. But, recalls Johnson,
it was not: My happiness on my
trip was destroyed"
A Baptist minister with two
bachelors degrees (Morehouse Col
lege, the University of Chicago,
an MA. from Harvard and divin-
ity degree from the Rochester
Theological Seminary, Johnson was
already familiar with Howard's pre-
dicament Though known as "the
captstone of Negro education" it
was scarcely a third-rate institu-
ton. Only two of its eight schools
were accredited. The plant was
run down; its annual appropriation
from the Government was heading
into ever-mounting opposition from
Southern Congressman. Running
Howard would have been a tough
task for any man, but it seemed
especially so for the one who was
to be its first Negro president.
A Moral Obligation
Today, after 80 years of Mordecai
Johnson, Howard is the nations
leading Negro campus. Nearly
half of all us. Negro doctors and
dentists are Howard men, as are a
fourth of the Negro lawyers. But
the university's influence is not
limited to the U. S alone. Among
American colleges and universities,
it ranks third in the percentage of
foreign students enrolled.
When Johnson took over, the
university had few things to boast
about. 1t had a flourishing medi-
cal school, and its faculty included
such teachers as Philosopher Alain
Locke, the first and only Negro
Rhodes scholar. But it had little
money, and when Mordecai John
son appeared before Congress to
ask for more, one Representative
bluntly warned him: young man,
we may as well come to an under
standing. We have no obligation
to consider the needs of Howard"
johnson took his case to the De-
partment of the Interior, persuaded
Assistant Secretary Edward Finney
that the Government had a moral
obligation" In 1923 President
Coolidge finally signed bill max
ing the university's annual feder-
al grant (now $3,OOO,OOO perman-
ent.
Phi Beta Kappa & A Nobleman
A proud and portly man with a
flair for oratory and willingness
to travel $4,000 miles a year to
plead Howard's cause, Johnson has
seen his budget swell from less
than S956,OG0 to $5,658,5OO. His
enrolment has climbed from
2,155 to 4,800; his faculty has near
ly tripled to 442. He built a new
library and a power plant, build
ings for the School of Engineering
and Architecture, the College of
Dentistry and the College Of Phar-
macy. Five women's dormitories
have gone up, as well as one for
men, and three recitation halls.
Johnson established full-fledged
schools of graduate study and soci-
al work, gradually got all ten of
his schools accredited. In 1858 Phi
Beta Kappa at last gave permis-
sion for Howard chapter. This
week Tau Beta Pi, oldest engineer
ing honor society in the U.S., will
become the 14th honor society to
do the same.
AS Howard has grown in size, it
has also grown in stature. Among
Howard'S top faculty appointments:
Nobel Prizewinner Ralph Bunche,
Federal Judge William HaStie,
Sociologist E. Franklin Frazier,
Surgeon Charles Drew, who pio-
neered in the blood-bank field.
Chemist Percy Julian has given
medicine whole new source of in
expensive cortisone. Historian John
Hope Franklin has made such
name for himself that he is the
first Negro ever to head a depart
ment at Brooklyn College (Time
February 27th)
A Long Way To Go
Of all Howard's accomplish
mentS, those of the law school are
in way the most important. Both
training and practice ground of
Negro civil rights, the school has
been indispensable to the long
battle against discrimination. How
ard alumni won for the Negro the
right to be served in white Michi-
gan restaurants, and to picket en-