February 20, 2026 • 29 mins
Hans and Menelek get inside the Lock-in room, and uncover more about why this event occurred, the insidious nature of the Atlanta drug scene in 69, and what it meant to Samuel L. Jackson. They also uncover more on the influential role of this character, Abdul Alkalimat, in the lock-in negotiations.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Coming up on the A Building.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I saw somebody running toward the administration builder talking about
there with the lock in that happened to be of
Saram Jackson.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Sent Tron died of a heroin overdose, with a lot
of my buddies in the house when it happened, and
Moreouse covered all of these things up.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The A Building, Episode four, Unrest on Campus.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
In the heist, the take is always clear, money, jewelry, gold.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
This may have gone too far, Sam, that's Daddy King.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
We've locked in here and he's not doing too well.
Speaker 6 (00:50):
There is no too far.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We're here.
Speaker 6 (00:53):
We need action.
Speaker 7 (00:55):
Now, everybody, please, you can't expect us to give in
to your demands by force.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Once the students had taken over the boardroom, tension ran high.
Negotiations were falling apart.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
One of the board members fell, silence struck the boardroom,
reality sank in. The students were locked in with dick chains,
and one of the board members was having a medical emergency.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
That board member was Martin Luther King Senior.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
We'll go to this moment a little later, but for now,
let's flash forward to the twenty first century. Let's go
to a time of twenty four hour news and social media.
Let's go to Howard University.
Speaker 8 (01:41):
Well, students who took over the Blackbird Center at Howard
University last week are still fighting for answers tonight.
Speaker 9 (01:47):
Our university students sit in continues into day five today.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
In twenty twenty one, some students begin to share photos
of poorlythic conditions on campus, mold, rodents, and several other issues.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
That would create a campus wide firestorm that would make
international news.
Speaker 10 (02:05):
Do we understand that it is not a normal college
experience to be living with molds and having resperratory issues
and safety hazards in our living spaces? Stories with videos
like this one just an example of.
Speaker 6 (02:20):
What students have been living in at Howard University.
Speaker 10 (02:23):
There was a cracks pipe that had been there since
my mom went to school here and living in these dorms.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Howard holds a very unique position in higher education. Over
the years, Howard has been a major center for black
intellectual and cultural life, producing influential alumnis such as Thurgood Marshall,
the first Black Subpene Court justice, and Vice president Kamala Harris.
The university has excelled in law, medicine, business, and the arts.
(02:53):
Contributing significantly to the civil rights movement and social justice. Today,
it remains one of the most pristige this HBC used
in the US, maintaining a strong reputation for academic excellence
and leadership in diversity.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
In the age of social media. The images went viral
and the students demanded improvements to their living conditions. These
protests were a sore spot for an institution very aware
of its public image.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Unlike the student uprising at Moorhouse in nineteen sixty nine,
Howard was led by a young president, an alumni, a
leader aware of new technology and the waves of social media.
Wayne Frederick served Howard University as president from twenty fourteen
to twenty twenty three. His MS, NBA, and medical degree
(03:42):
were all earned at Howard. He knows the school inside
and out. At the time of these protests in twenty
twenty one, he was only forty nine years old.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Despite this, his initial reaction felt a little old school.
He released the statement in response to the sit in
protest at Blackburn Center on campus.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
He writes, there may be areas where we agree to disagree.
That's the nature of a vibrant community. However, Howard university's
proud tradition of student protest has never been and can
never be invoked as a justification for tactics that harm
our students. The current occupation of the Armour J. Blackburn
Center is a departure from past norms. There is a
(04:25):
distinct difference between peaceful protest and freedom of expression and
the occupation of a university building that impedes operations and
access to essential services.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
The students responded in kind to the president's letter. They
felt unheard or even worse chastised. Like the logne the
Moorhouse in nineteen sixty nine, the students at Howard needed
another way to draw attention. The students pitch tends outside
the dorms, a bold, visual and symbolic gesture.
Speaker 11 (04:55):
So, as we said from the beginning, we're not leaving
until our for demands are met. There's no comprom They're easy.
You know, no school wants to be protested against. But
it's not like we're out here because we want hot
tubs in our dormitories. It's because we want double commisions.
Speaker 10 (05:08):
We are going to be calling for the resignation of
Wayne Ai frederation.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
These images would draw even more attention to the university.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
President Frederick's attempt to keep the issues in house would backfire,
and this protest would grow into a national story. Similar
stories in the national media would travel about the lock
in at Moorhouse in nineteen sixty nine. A consistent word
would fill the headlines militant.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
What else is there?
Speaker 6 (05:35):
What else is there? Why are you talking like that?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
We didn't do this?
Speaker 5 (05:40):
They did this. Malcolm is dead, Martin is dead.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
What are we doing?
Speaker 5 (05:47):
What risk are we taking?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Think about the shoulders we stand on.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Listen, I understand all that.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Okay, we're talking about the trustees. We're talking about losing everything.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You're about to graduate.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
You ready to give up all that?
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Listen to yourself, lose everything more than Malcolm, more than
doctor King.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
What did they lose? What did their families lose?
Speaker 6 (06:13):
Atlanta is going to.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Get left behind?
Speaker 5 (06:15):
But the world, the world is going to keep moving
faster and faster.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Which side you want to be on, doctor King? Huh?
But you want to lock up his daddy. Here's doctor
Cornell West on the legacy of doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
Taken from a c SPAN interview with Khalil Gibrad Muhammad.
Speaker 12 (06:36):
He's one of the great moments in the tradition of
a grand people who, in the face of terror and
trauma and stigma, was able to generate levels of love
and vision and unbelievable high quality service to the least
of these. He is a Christian minister first and foremost.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
That is his calling.
Speaker 12 (06:54):
You and I know that Brother Martin gets deodorized every January.
He gets sanitized and staillized every classified. Yeah, they said
to classify the old man with a smile, toys in
his bag, handing out gifts. Everybody got a smile on
their face. And the FBI is saying he's the most
dangerous man in America.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
In the wake of m OK's assassination, this black leader
who's viewed by the FBI as the most dangerous man
in America. The More House students were planning their own response.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
The more House board meets after the Spellman one.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
We have to take that one over.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
We'll lock them in and we won't let them out
until our demands are met.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I'll talk to Sam and the guys. They're down with it.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Sam is down.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Where is he He's coming.
Speaker 6 (07:40):
He's getting the brothers together from Moe Brown. Why do
you ask no reason?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Welcome back to the A building. Here's former More House
alum and civil rights activist James Early on his own
experience of the Locke In and his relationship with Samuel L.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Jackson. So take us like this from your point of
view into the events of the of the lock in.
So first quick question, did you did you know or
do you know at that time? Did you know Sam
Jackson personally?
Speaker 8 (08:17):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, so yeah, Sam, Sam is I think a year
behind me.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Okay, this is a subjective read on my let me
let me Understroy that.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I haven't seen Sam probably in thirty years, but I'm
in touch with his major running buddy. So they were
a year behind me. He and Clark White, doctor Clark White.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Refa marijuana had hit.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
So you know we rather we were.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
We ran the streets trying to find REFA and and drinking.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Wine, hanging out on that corner. That's how I know Sam.
You know we were.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
We were not thuggish, We were just not fully status quo.
His wife was actually trained as a youngster in the
arts by Brandis Johnson Wagan, And so I know Sam
from that context. After the takeover, I think during that
summer we hung out at the.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Rat Brown Center. You were telling a story about cars, though,
is there's something well.
Speaker 6 (09:21):
Sam, let's see Clark White Grizznoid.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
He had a Volkswagen, as I remember, you know, we
could probably get ten twelve guys to a Volkswagen trying
to find that reefer, trying to pick up some spell
mcgirls to go to a house party. You know, some
guys were get together and rent an apartment, find mattresses,
take rugs out of the cafeteria and put them on
(09:47):
the floor. No electricity running sometimes probably no running water.
We would throw these house parties and whatnot. And so
I know Sam in that context. And so my only
engagement with him posts more has really been when he
hits me up maybe three or four times a year.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I do a lot on Facebook.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
So he makes a note and he always refers to
me by my meddle name as Counts. So that's you know,
Sam went through a deep period of drugs and rehabilitation,
and I.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
Suspect I don't know this that you know.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Part of the rehabilitation process is I understand it from drugs,
is you don't really want to engage with people you
used to do drugs with and Sam I think has
a he has a work addiction. You know this guy,
he is never not working, Yeah, always, I mean he
is never now And you say, wow, does he do that?
I mean he has something that that interior motive and
(10:45):
I think it's probably to fill his life.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
So in that.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Period, then heroin hits, and fortunately the first time I
did it it was a dud. And fortunately the second
time I did it, I realized, Wow, this high is
something that is so exhilarating that I think I want
to go as fast as I can in the opposite direction.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
So, you know, I was lucky because Centron.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Died of a heroin overdose with a lot of my
buddies in the house when it happened. Somebody took his
shoes and morehouse covered all of these things up, you know.
But again, these are indicators of a changing society and
more House as an institution, as a very Valian institution.
I don't any way want to undermine the significance.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And the products, but they were status quo oriented.
Speaker 9 (11:37):
So so tell us like how you first hear about
the lock in, how you end up in there, and
what happens when you get in there?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
So I don't know.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
Who mentioned it to me the evening before the takeover.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
I'm not even sure I knew that there was a
Board of trustees meeting. Somebody says, you know, there's a
meeting tonight and we're going to go to the board
and trust see tomorrow. I don't know how they framed it.
I don't think the word like we're going to go
take over was there. And the meeting was over at Spelman,
and I always made my evening rounds at Spelman. You know,
(12:15):
I had several dormitories I needed to visit. Then I
had my main squeeze that I needed to finally end up.
So I went over to the meeting. I left the meeting,
I know, probably after thirty minutes, and made my rounds.
The next day I hear, you know, I'm not even
anticipating or looking forward to this. The next day I
hear me and they have taken old administration building and
(12:37):
locked the doors.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Another former more housealone, Aaron Stephen Brown, recalls how he
heard about the lock in.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
All of a sudden one day, standing out on the
campus talking to doctor Whalem Wendle Whalem, I saw somebody
run by me, running toward the Administration building talking about
there at the lock in that happened to be a
Sam Jackson. He was running saying they were lucking in
(13:06):
people at the Administratives and building. Come on, come on.
And I had just gotten there shortly, so I wasn't
taking any chances of getting involved in something that might
have me kicked out before I got there.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Good.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I watched as some people followed and they went down
to the Administration building and there was that lock in.
I did know though, that the senior doctor King was
one of those I was locked in and he wasn't
having it. He was telling them, you could do what
you want to, but you're not locking me in. And
(13:42):
they respected that because out of everybody else, they let
him go.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
And now back to James Early.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
So my interior evolving self hits another level that I
had not planned.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
The hit.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I wesht over, climbed up a tree on that south
side of the a build, that side that faces the library,
and there was a tree that ran right up the
side of the building. I climbed the tree into the
second floor because the doors had been locked.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I go in. I'm in the hallway.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
The hallways packed Abdullah Khalai Matt and a few other
students were inside the conference room with the board.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
And I go in the room.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Welcome back to the A building.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Here's former More House alum and civil rights activist James Early.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And I go in the room and Abdullah is running
Adula Klai Mott, who is a great agitational artor who
knows a lot of global.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
History and jazz music and all of that, and he.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Was really browbeating them.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I can't remember the particulars, but they were like, you know,
they were like shocked. I remember Daddy King saying, I
got to get out of here. I have a heart condition,
and so they ushered him right away. And I remember
doctor may is just sitting very very quietly. I remember Gloucester,
you know, it had a just unsettling look on his face.
I mean it was it was like shocking to them.
And I'm trying to remember the Merrill Lynch guy. I
(15:12):
used to know his name. He was on the board.
He may have been chairman of the president of Merrill
Lynch at that time. The man James Early is referring
to here is Charles E. Merrill, co founder of Merrill Lynch.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
He was a big donor to Morehouse.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Judge Tuttle from the fifth District Court was was on
that board, Daddy King.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So there was some real heavy hitters, oh, heavy heavy
hitters right right, and Abdull I.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Mean he was beating them to death with rhetoric, and
you can imagine it was just shocking. I mean, these
principles in the black community and their white alliances and
their donors, and no one had ever propped up in
seen anything like this. And you get then you got
these students out in the hallway. He's really bombarding this room.
(16:03):
And I remember that the guy from Merrill Lynch very
quietly at the end of the first day, I don't know,
around six thirty seven o'clock in the evening, he takes
off his suit jacket. He fows it up and puts
it under the conference table and then gets under the.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
Table and then goes asleep. And the next morning it's
so surreal.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I know, it was you know again in the moment,
you know, I'm twenty one years old.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
You know it was our hearts beating, all right, this.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Is kind of an open wound was happening.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And this contextual change going on in society, and I
think like a lot of young people are certainly trends
of young people. My anti establishment kind of sentiment. It
was not like any real formed ideology. It was that
I didn't fit.
Speaker 6 (16:52):
But the next morning, this guy from Meryl gets up.
At some point he announces he would.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Give ten thousand dollars for extudiast department when you went
in there, because you were a senior.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Correct. Yeah, so we're talking weeks away from graduation. So
are you thinking to yourself, Okay, what's the ramification?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Like, Am I gotta get in trouble for this? No?
Speaker 6 (17:16):
No, no, because I think it was a crowd mentality.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
You know, we're caught up in the wow that they've
taken over the administration building and you know, some of
our pizza in there, so let me you know. And
you know, there were guys making long distance phone calls.
So it was not a very disciplined organized grouping. On
that second day, some agreements were written up, I think
(17:43):
about black studies, and and then this term of exoneration.
There's another term. It says escaping me. Now I never
heard the term, so that had never they say that
they weren't going to punish you.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
No, no, no, no, they didn't say anything.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
It may have been Abdullah came up, Okay, wow, this
is going to be now.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
Our response to this a punitive response.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
And so this term of impunity or whatever, I forget
the term we put into the written document. I think
I sent you a copy of my letter of my suspension.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Dear mister Early, as a result of your participation in
the lock in of members of the trustee boards of
Morehouse College and Atlanta University, along with representatives of the
Morehouse College Student Government Association on April eighteenth, nineteen nineteen
sixty nine, the Advisory Committee has taken the following action.
You are hereby suspended from Morehouse College effective May thirty,
(18:40):
nineteen sixty nine through May thirty, nineteen seventy. You will
not be eligible for graduation from Morehouse College until the
period of your suspension has expired. The members of the
Advisory Committee sincerely regret that the seriousness of your offense
made it necessary to take this action, and we trust
that this action will have a positive influence upon your
(19:03):
life and will help you build a better future. Sincerely, yours,
Edward B. William's, Chairman the Advisory Committee, and so.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
The others may have letters, they will all say the
same thing.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I suspect we were brought.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
In for punitive evaluation, and I think we were brought
in in different groups. I don't remember who was in
there with me, but I do remember Sam William saying
something to the effect about me, you have to take
this guy kind of seriously.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
He didn't elaborate.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I don't know if that was the saving grace of
that my degree was only suspended for a year, rather
than I don't know, taking a more drastic measure of
not conferring a degree on me. One other thing that
happened to me in the context of this directly tied
to the takeover.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
My favorite teacher contacted me.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
She says, I have been told that you have to
take a comprehensive exam.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
I'd never heard of this. She was crying. Oh and
she she's.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
A tiny, little serious Cuban scholar.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
She was she was torn, and so I went in
in a drug stupor.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
And she gave me this comprehensive exam. It took like
three hours or so.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
As I recall, I was never told I needed I
would have to take a comprehensive exam.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
And the way she called me.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
It suggested that neither did she.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Know that, but somehow they had. Anyway, how'd you do
on the exam?
Speaker 6 (20:27):
I probably didn't do very well on the exam, would
be my guest.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
But I don't think it was I don't think it
was probably even a question of how that was to
be evaluated.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I think it was.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I suspect it was a kind of punitive, and I
think I probably told you all I can tell you
about what happened inside and what I'm aware of what
happened afterwards. I heard that students were banned, that letters
were sent out to Black College's banning students from transferring
from transferring.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, yeah, And I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
In the case of Sam, I think they went back
to Morehouse.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Maybe two years later. Years later, Yeah, he went back
to Morehouse. It was, And because what happened to the
students who were expelled was that they then had to
just reapply and they were admitted back to the institution.
So some it was a year, some it was two years. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
And because then I go off to the ends.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Of the Black World and and to that arena, and
then you know, off to Howard and I'm on another trajectory,
but that trajectory is of my personal and professional life
is tied directly to the takeover. And then Vincent Harding,
hearing that I needed a job, he sent a message
to me saying, come see me.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
I have a job for you at the Martin Luther
King documentation project. And I got around these black intellectuals.
So there is a tie.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
But I you know, I'm not really.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
A part of the the Moorhouse community per se.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Just as James Early described the change in his life
through this protest, many students down the years have had
the same experience standing up for something worth fighting for.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
In twenty fifteen, the University of Missouri found itself at
the center of a racial controversy. The protests were fueled
by incidents on campus in funeral dissatisfaction with the university's response.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Black students reported multiple racist incidents on campus, including racial
slurs and cyberbullying. This would lead to the creation of
Concerned Student nineteen fifty, a student activist group named after
the year Massoo first admitted black students. They demanded university
leadership take action against racism.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
The campus issues would reach a fever pick from the
entire football team announced they would not practice or play
until president Timothy Wolfe resigned from this post.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Thirty African American football players at the University of Missouri
say they're on strike and they won't play again until
the university's president, Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed.
Speaker 13 (22:58):
The move thrust Any into the national spotlight.
Speaker 8 (23:00):
This morning's Board of Curators meetings started with wolf at
the podium, collet it quits. He used my resignation to
heal and start talking again, to make the change is necessary,
and let's focus on changing what we can change today
and in the future.
Speaker 14 (23:19):
President of the university lost his job. That's certainly not
a cause for celebration. It's sad that it had to
come to this, but it was necessary. He had to go,
and he had to go, ladies and gentlemen, because as
the president of a university, of an institution for higher learning,
(23:42):
there were problems that obviously existed at this university, and
you exercised the dereliction of duty because you weren't on
top of these issues, and when it was brought to
your attention, you appeared to be so lackadaisical about it.
In the minds of those who had brought it to
your attention than an individual by the name of Jonathan
(24:05):
Butler decided that he would protest by refusing to eat
until you were dismissed.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Or you exited your post.
Speaker 14 (24:16):
That a university football team with at least thirty two
African Americans decided, with the support of their coaches, to
protest and join this group Concerned Student nineteen fifty.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
This brought international attention to Columbia, Missouri. The protest became
much bigger than a single moment back in nineteen sixty nine.
The students of Morehouse and Spelman felt exactly the same way.
Speaker 15 (24:45):
Right now, as a student body president, I am meeting
with students. We are discussing what in fact, trying to
take the situation out of the confused state. We're trying
to discover what an fact all the things that we want.
There was a lot of mixed feeling going on, you know,
(25:05):
in fact, there were many students who desired change, who
didn't felt that the right way was being used to
get these changes, et cetera. Were right now sitting down
and we're talking. We're talking about some of the things
that we want.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
The board members are now trapped in the room. Patience
is weren't things the students weren't answers, But what are
their demands?
Speaker 5 (25:30):
We need to be unified as one school. They don't
even have black studies at Morehouse.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
Listen, listen, please, we can work together. I understand what
you're trying to say. These demands you learn these ideas
from my son Martin. They're not unreasonable, but we can't
(25:56):
give in to them. This is not the way to
handle this. There is another way.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
The moment would extend far beyond the students in the boardroom.
Hundreds of students assembled outside of Harkness Hall to show solidarity,
and the moment would continue to grow.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
MLKA University was tagged all over campus with white graffiti.
They called themselves the Concerned Students. This simple label would
be a far cry from the militant label that would
be plastered on headlines all over the country.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
These board meetings were generally pretty standard for Morehouse President
Hugh Gloucester. He was only two years since his twenty
years of service as president during the lock in. He
was the seventh president in the history of Morehouse College
and would be responsible for establishing the Morehouse School of
Medicine but in this day, at this moment, he was
offering his resignation.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Doctor Gloucester submitted his resignation as president of Morehouse College,
effective on a day to be agreed upon by the
board in himself, because he would not participate in a
meeting in which members of the Board of Trustees are
confined in this conference room by force and I was
subjected to insult and intimidation. He said that he would
not sign any document or vote on any motion presented
(27:14):
in such a meeting, and that he would not be
a party to concessions made under duress. After reading his
letter to the board, Doctor Gloucester went on the balcony
and read it to Morehouse students, who once more were
dissuaded from entering the building by force.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
In this moment, in nineteen sixty nine, Atlanta had become
the epicenter of a cultural shift. The impact of this
locking will be felt for decades. More House was more
than a stage. It was a battlefield, a battlefield of ideas.
You should get some sleep. Sleep feels like I haven't
(27:52):
slept in ages.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
Well, everything changes tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
You scared?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Terrified?
Speaker 4 (28:04):
You? Okay? Good? Glad I ain't the only one no
turning back now.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
You're not.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Been singing Yeah the old Morehouse.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I hope I feel that way tomorrow night.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Spellman Morehouse will feel this way forever, no matter what
happens tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Next time on the A Building.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
We have broken the status, but we've changed.
Speaker 13 (28:42):
So that's one of the reasons why our winds, our
protests have created this atmosphere right now, to take away
our history, to take away everything from us, because we've
won too much.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
In the eyes.
Speaker 14 (28:55):
I really hope that we can still address social ills together.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
The A Building is produced by Imagine Audio for iHeart Podcasts.
It is written and hosted by me Hans Charles and
my co host menelec La Mumba.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
It is executive produced by Karl Welker and Nathan Klope,
me Mandelich, Wlamomba, and Hans Charles.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Executive producers at iHeart Podcasts are Katrina Norville and Nikki Torre.
Marketing lead is David Wasserman.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
It is produced, directed, and edited by Timothy Fernarra with
producer John Asanti, Sound design and music by Alloy.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Tracks, and special thanks to April Ryan, Doctor, Elia Davis,
Kim Feci Ada Bobby know and James Early. If you
enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate and review the
A Building on Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Coming up on the A Building.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I saw somebody running toward the administration builder talking about
there with the lock in that happened to be of
Saram Jackson.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Sent Tron died of a heroin overdose, with a lot
of my buddies in the house when it happened, and
Moreouse covered all of these things up.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The A Building, Episode four, Unrest on Campus.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
In the heist, the take is always clear, money, jewelry, gold.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
This may have gone too far, Sam, that's Daddy King.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
We've locked in here and he's not doing too well.
Speaker 6 (00:50):
There is no too far.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
We're here.
Speaker 6 (00:53):
We need action.
Speaker 7 (00:55):
Now, everybody, please, you can't expect us to give in
to your demands by force.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Once the students had taken over the boardroom, tension ran high.
Negotiations were falling apart.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
One of the board members fell, silence struck the boardroom,
reality sank in. The students were locked in with dick chains,
and one of the board members was having a medical emergency.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
That board member was Martin Luther King Senior.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
We'll go to this moment a little later, but for now,
let's flash forward to the twenty first century. Let's go
to a time of twenty four hour news and social media.
Let's go to Howard University.
Speaker 8 (01:41):
Well, students who took over the Blackbird Center at Howard
University last week are still fighting for answers tonight.
Speaker 9 (01:47):
Our university students sit in continues into day five today.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
In twenty twenty one, some students begin to share photos
of poorlythic conditions on campus, mold, rodents, and several other issues.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
That would create a campus wide firestorm that would make
international news.
Speaker 10 (02:05):
Do we understand that it is not a normal college
experience to be living with molds and having resperratory issues
and safety hazards in our living spaces? Stories with videos
like this one just an example of.
Speaker 6 (02:20):
What students have been living in at Howard University.
Speaker 10 (02:23):
There was a cracks pipe that had been there since
my mom went to school here and living in these dorms.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Howard holds a very unique position in higher education. Over
the years, Howard has been a major center for black
intellectual and cultural life, producing influential alumnis such as Thurgood Marshall,
the first Black Subpene Court justice, and Vice president Kamala Harris.
The university has excelled in law, medicine, business, and the arts.
(02:53):
Contributing significantly to the civil rights movement and social justice. Today,
it remains one of the most pristige this HBC used
in the US, maintaining a strong reputation for academic excellence
and leadership in diversity.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
In the age of social media. The images went viral
and the students demanded improvements to their living conditions. These
protests were a sore spot for an institution very aware
of its public image.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Unlike the student uprising at Moorhouse in nineteen sixty nine,
Howard was led by a young president, an alumni, a
leader aware of new technology and the waves of social media.
Wayne Frederick served Howard University as president from twenty fourteen
to twenty twenty three. His MS, NBA, and medical degree
(03:42):
were all earned at Howard. He knows the school inside
and out. At the time of these protests in twenty
twenty one, he was only forty nine years old.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Despite this, his initial reaction felt a little old school.
He released the statement in response to the sit in
protest at Blackburn Center on campus.
Speaker 5 (04:02):
He writes, there may be areas where we agree to disagree.
That's the nature of a vibrant community. However, Howard university's
proud tradition of student protest has never been and can
never be invoked as a justification for tactics that harm
our students. The current occupation of the Armour J. Blackburn
Center is a departure from past norms. There is a
(04:25):
distinct difference between peaceful protest and freedom of expression and
the occupation of a university building that impedes operations and
access to essential services.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
The students responded in kind to the president's letter. They
felt unheard or even worse chastised. Like the logne the
Moorhouse in nineteen sixty nine, the students at Howard needed
another way to draw attention. The students pitch tends outside
the dorms, a bold, visual and symbolic gesture.
Speaker 11 (04:55):
So, as we said from the beginning, we're not leaving
until our for demands are met. There's no comprom They're easy.
You know, no school wants to be protested against. But
it's not like we're out here because we want hot
tubs in our dormitories. It's because we want double commisions.
Speaker 10 (05:08):
We are going to be calling for the resignation of
Wayne Ai frederation.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
These images would draw even more attention to the university.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
President Frederick's attempt to keep the issues in house would backfire,
and this protest would grow into a national story. Similar
stories in the national media would travel about the lock
in at Moorhouse in nineteen sixty nine. A consistent word
would fill the headlines militant.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
What else is there?
Speaker 6 (05:35):
What else is there? Why are you talking like that?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
We didn't do this?
Speaker 5 (05:40):
They did this. Malcolm is dead, Martin is dead.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
What are we doing?
Speaker 5 (05:47):
What risk are we taking?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Think about the shoulders we stand on.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Listen, I understand all that.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Okay, we're talking about the trustees. We're talking about losing everything.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You're about to graduate.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
You ready to give up all that?
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Listen to yourself, lose everything more than Malcolm, more than
doctor King.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
What did they lose? What did their families lose?
Speaker 6 (06:13):
Atlanta is going to.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Get left behind?
Speaker 5 (06:15):
But the world, the world is going to keep moving
faster and faster.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Which side you want to be on, doctor King? Huh?
But you want to lock up his daddy. Here's doctor
Cornell West on the legacy of doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.
Taken from a c SPAN interview with Khalil Gibrad Muhammad.
Speaker 12 (06:36):
He's one of the great moments in the tradition of
a grand people who, in the face of terror and
trauma and stigma, was able to generate levels of love
and vision and unbelievable high quality service to the least
of these. He is a Christian minister first and foremost.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
That is his calling.
Speaker 12 (06:54):
You and I know that Brother Martin gets deodorized every January.
He gets sanitized and staillized every classified. Yeah, they said
to classify the old man with a smile, toys in
his bag, handing out gifts. Everybody got a smile on
their face. And the FBI is saying he's the most
dangerous man in America.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
In the wake of m OK's assassination, this black leader
who's viewed by the FBI as the most dangerous man
in America. The More House students were planning their own response.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
The more House board meets after the Spellman one.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
We have to take that one over.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
We'll lock them in and we won't let them out
until our demands are met.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I'll talk to Sam and the guys. They're down with it.
Speaker 5 (07:36):
Sam is down.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Where is he He's coming.
Speaker 6 (07:40):
He's getting the brothers together from Moe Brown. Why do
you ask no reason?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Welcome back to the A building. Here's former More House
alum and civil rights activist James Early on his own
experience of the Locke In and his relationship with Samuel L.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Jackson. So take us like this from your point of
view into the events of the of the lock in.
So first quick question, did you did you know or
do you know at that time? Did you know Sam
Jackson personally?
Speaker 8 (08:17):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, so yeah, Sam, Sam is I think a year
behind me.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Okay, this is a subjective read on my let me
let me Understroy that.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I haven't seen Sam probably in thirty years, but I'm
in touch with his major running buddy. So they were
a year behind me. He and Clark White, doctor Clark White.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Refa marijuana had hit.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
So you know we rather we were.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
We ran the streets trying to find REFA and and drinking.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Wine, hanging out on that corner. That's how I know Sam.
You know we were.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
We were not thuggish, We were just not fully status quo.
His wife was actually trained as a youngster in the
arts by Brandis Johnson Wagan, And so I know Sam
from that context. After the takeover, I think during that
summer we hung out at the.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Rat Brown Center. You were telling a story about cars, though,
is there's something well.
Speaker 6 (09:21):
Sam, let's see Clark White Grizznoid.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
He had a Volkswagen, as I remember, you know, we
could probably get ten twelve guys to a Volkswagen trying
to find that reefer, trying to pick up some spell
mcgirls to go to a house party. You know, some
guys were get together and rent an apartment, find mattresses,
take rugs out of the cafeteria and put them on
(09:47):
the floor. No electricity running sometimes probably no running water.
We would throw these house parties and whatnot. And so
I know Sam in that context. And so my only
engagement with him posts more has really been when he
hits me up maybe three or four times a year.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I do a lot on Facebook.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
So he makes a note and he always refers to
me by my meddle name as Counts. So that's you know,
Sam went through a deep period of drugs and rehabilitation,
and I.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
Suspect I don't know this that you know.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Part of the rehabilitation process is I understand it from drugs,
is you don't really want to engage with people you
used to do drugs with and Sam I think has
a he has a work addiction. You know this guy,
he is never not working, Yeah, always, I mean he
is never now And you say, wow, does he do that?
I mean he has something that that interior motive and
(10:45):
I think it's probably to fill his life.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
So in that.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Period, then heroin hits, and fortunately the first time I
did it it was a dud. And fortunately the second
time I did it, I realized, Wow, this high is
something that is so exhilarating that I think I want
to go as fast as I can in the opposite direction.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
So, you know, I was lucky because Centron.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Died of a heroin overdose with a lot of my
buddies in the house when it happened. Somebody took his
shoes and morehouse covered all of these things up, you know.
But again, these are indicators of a changing society and
more House as an institution, as a very Valian institution.
I don't any way want to undermine the significance.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And the products, but they were status quo oriented.
Speaker 9 (11:37):
So so tell us like how you first hear about
the lock in, how you end up in there, and
what happens when you get in there?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
So I don't know.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
Who mentioned it to me the evening before the takeover.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
I'm not even sure I knew that there was a
Board of trustees meeting. Somebody says, you know, there's a
meeting tonight and we're going to go to the board
and trust see tomorrow. I don't know how they framed it.
I don't think the word like we're going to go
take over was there. And the meeting was over at Spelman,
and I always made my evening rounds at Spelman. You know,
(12:15):
I had several dormitories I needed to visit. Then I
had my main squeeze that I needed to finally end up.
So I went over to the meeting. I left the meeting,
I know, probably after thirty minutes, and made my rounds.
The next day I hear, you know, I'm not even
anticipating or looking forward to this. The next day I
hear me and they have taken old administration building and
(12:37):
locked the doors.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Another former more housealone, Aaron Stephen Brown, recalls how he
heard about the lock in.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
All of a sudden one day, standing out on the
campus talking to doctor Whalem Wendle Whalem, I saw somebody
run by me, running toward the Administration building talking about
there at the lock in that happened to be a
Sam Jackson. He was running saying they were lucking in
(13:06):
people at the Administratives and building. Come on, come on.
And I had just gotten there shortly, so I wasn't
taking any chances of getting involved in something that might
have me kicked out before I got there.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Good.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I watched as some people followed and they went down
to the Administration building and there was that lock in.
I did know though, that the senior doctor King was
one of those I was locked in and he wasn't
having it. He was telling them, you could do what
you want to, but you're not locking me in. And
(13:42):
they respected that because out of everybody else, they let
him go.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
And now back to James Early.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
So my interior evolving self hits another level that I
had not planned.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
The hit.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I wesht over, climbed up a tree on that south
side of the a build, that side that faces the library,
and there was a tree that ran right up the
side of the building. I climbed the tree into the
second floor because the doors had been locked.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I go in. I'm in the hallway.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
The hallways packed Abdullah Khalai Matt and a few other
students were inside the conference room with the board.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
And I go in the room.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Welcome back to the A building.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Here's former More House alum and civil rights activist James Early.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
And I go in the room and Abdullah is running
Adula Klai Mott, who is a great agitational artor who
knows a lot of global.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
History and jazz music and all of that, and he.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Was really browbeating them.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
I can't remember the particulars, but they were like, you know,
they were like shocked. I remember Daddy King saying, I
got to get out of here. I have a heart condition,
and so they ushered him right away. And I remember
doctor may is just sitting very very quietly. I remember Gloucester,
you know, it had a just unsettling look on his face.
I mean it was it was like shocking to them.
And I'm trying to remember the Merrill Lynch guy. I
(15:12):
used to know his name. He was on the board.
He may have been chairman of the president of Merrill
Lynch at that time. The man James Early is referring
to here is Charles E. Merrill, co founder of Merrill Lynch.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
He was a big donor to Morehouse.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Judge Tuttle from the fifth District Court was was on
that board, Daddy King.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
So there was some real heavy hitters, oh, heavy heavy
hitters right right, and Abdull I.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Mean he was beating them to death with rhetoric, and
you can imagine it was just shocking. I mean, these
principles in the black community and their white alliances and
their donors, and no one had ever propped up in
seen anything like this. And you get then you got
these students out in the hallway. He's really bombarding this room.
(16:03):
And I remember that the guy from Merrill Lynch very
quietly at the end of the first day, I don't know,
around six thirty seven o'clock in the evening, he takes
off his suit jacket. He fows it up and puts
it under the conference table and then gets under the.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
Table and then goes asleep. And the next morning it's
so surreal.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
I know, it was you know again in the moment,
you know, I'm twenty one years old.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
You know it was our hearts beating, all right, this.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Is kind of an open wound was happening.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And this contextual change going on in society, and I
think like a lot of young people are certainly trends
of young people. My anti establishment kind of sentiment. It
was not like any real formed ideology. It was that
I didn't fit.
Speaker 6 (16:52):
But the next morning, this guy from Meryl gets up.
At some point he announces he would.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Give ten thousand dollars for extudiast department when you went
in there, because you were a senior.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Correct. Yeah, so we're talking weeks away from graduation. So
are you thinking to yourself, Okay, what's the ramification?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Like, Am I gotta get in trouble for this? No?
Speaker 6 (17:16):
No, no, because I think it was a crowd mentality.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
You know, we're caught up in the wow that they've
taken over the administration building and you know, some of
our pizza in there, so let me you know. And
you know, there were guys making long distance phone calls.
So it was not a very disciplined organized grouping. On
that second day, some agreements were written up, I think
(17:43):
about black studies, and and then this term of exoneration.
There's another term. It says escaping me. Now I never
heard the term, so that had never they say that
they weren't going to punish you.
Speaker 6 (17:57):
No, no, no, no, they didn't say anything.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
It may have been Abdullah came up, Okay, wow, this
is going to be now.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
Our response to this a punitive response.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
And so this term of impunity or whatever, I forget
the term we put into the written document. I think
I sent you a copy of my letter of my suspension.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
Dear mister Early, as a result of your participation in
the lock in of members of the trustee boards of
Morehouse College and Atlanta University, along with representatives of the
Morehouse College Student Government Association on April eighteenth, nineteen nineteen
sixty nine, the Advisory Committee has taken the following action.
You are hereby suspended from Morehouse College effective May thirty,
(18:40):
nineteen sixty nine through May thirty, nineteen seventy. You will
not be eligible for graduation from Morehouse College until the
period of your suspension has expired. The members of the
Advisory Committee sincerely regret that the seriousness of your offense
made it necessary to take this action, and we trust
that this action will have a positive influence upon your
(19:03):
life and will help you build a better future. Sincerely, yours,
Edward B. William's, Chairman the Advisory Committee, and so.
Speaker 6 (19:12):
The others may have letters, they will all say the
same thing.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I suspect we were brought.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
In for punitive evaluation, and I think we were brought
in in different groups. I don't remember who was in
there with me, but I do remember Sam William saying
something to the effect about me, you have to take
this guy kind of seriously.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
He didn't elaborate.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I don't know if that was the saving grace of
that my degree was only suspended for a year, rather
than I don't know, taking a more drastic measure of
not conferring a degree on me. One other thing that
happened to me in the context of this directly tied
to the takeover.
Speaker 6 (19:48):
My favorite teacher contacted me.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
She says, I have been told that you have to
take a comprehensive exam.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
I'd never heard of this. She was crying. Oh and
she she's.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
A tiny, little serious Cuban scholar.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
She was she was torn, and so I went in
in a drug stupor.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
And she gave me this comprehensive exam. It took like
three hours or so.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
As I recall, I was never told I needed I
would have to take a comprehensive exam.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
And the way she called me.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
It suggested that neither did she.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Know that, but somehow they had. Anyway, how'd you do
on the exam?
Speaker 6 (20:27):
I probably didn't do very well on the exam, would
be my guest.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
But I don't think it was I don't think it
was probably even a question of how that was to
be evaluated.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
I think it was.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I suspect it was a kind of punitive, and I
think I probably told you all I can tell you
about what happened inside and what I'm aware of what
happened afterwards. I heard that students were banned, that letters
were sent out to Black College's banning students from transferring
from transferring.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, yeah, And I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
In the case of Sam, I think they went back
to Morehouse.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Maybe two years later. Years later, Yeah, he went back
to Morehouse. It was, And because what happened to the
students who were expelled was that they then had to
just reapply and they were admitted back to the institution.
So some it was a year, some it was two years. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
And because then I go off to the ends.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Of the Black World and and to that arena, and
then you know, off to Howard and I'm on another trajectory,
but that trajectory is of my personal and professional life
is tied directly to the takeover. And then Vincent Harding,
hearing that I needed a job, he sent a message
to me saying, come see me.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
I have a job for you at the Martin Luther
King documentation project. And I got around these black intellectuals.
So there is a tie.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
But I you know, I'm not really.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
A part of the the Moorhouse community per se.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Just as James Early described the change in his life
through this protest, many students down the years have had
the same experience standing up for something worth fighting for.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
In twenty fifteen, the University of Missouri found itself at
the center of a racial controversy. The protests were fueled
by incidents on campus in funeral dissatisfaction with the university's response.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Black students reported multiple racist incidents on campus, including racial
slurs and cyberbullying. This would lead to the creation of
Concerned Student nineteen fifty, a student activist group named after
the year Massoo first admitted black students. They demanded university
leadership take action against racism.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
The campus issues would reach a fever pick from the
entire football team announced they would not practice or play
until president Timothy Wolfe resigned from this post.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Thirty African American football players at the University of Missouri
say they're on strike and they won't play again until
the university's president, Tim Wolfe resigns or is removed.
Speaker 13 (22:58):
The move thrust Any into the national spotlight.
Speaker 8 (23:00):
This morning's Board of Curators meetings started with wolf at
the podium, collet it quits. He used my resignation to
heal and start talking again, to make the change is necessary,
and let's focus on changing what we can change today
and in the future.
Speaker 14 (23:19):
President of the university lost his job. That's certainly not
a cause for celebration. It's sad that it had to
come to this, but it was necessary. He had to go,
and he had to go, ladies and gentlemen, because as
the president of a university, of an institution for higher learning,
(23:42):
there were problems that obviously existed at this university, and
you exercised the dereliction of duty because you weren't on
top of these issues, and when it was brought to
your attention, you appeared to be so lackadaisical about it.
In the minds of those who had brought it to
your attention than an individual by the name of Jonathan
(24:05):
Butler decided that he would protest by refusing to eat
until you were dismissed.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Or you exited your post.
Speaker 14 (24:16):
That a university football team with at least thirty two
African Americans decided, with the support of their coaches, to
protest and join this group Concerned Student nineteen fifty.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
This brought international attention to Columbia, Missouri. The protest became
much bigger than a single moment back in nineteen sixty nine.
The students of Morehouse and Spelman felt exactly the same way.
Speaker 15 (24:45):
Right now, as a student body president, I am meeting
with students. We are discussing what in fact, trying to
take the situation out of the confused state. We're trying
to discover what an fact all the things that we want.
There was a lot of mixed feeling going on, you know,
(25:05):
in fact, there were many students who desired change, who
didn't felt that the right way was being used to
get these changes, et cetera. Were right now sitting down
and we're talking. We're talking about some of the things
that we want.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
The board members are now trapped in the room. Patience
is weren't things the students weren't answers, But what are
their demands?
Speaker 5 (25:30):
We need to be unified as one school. They don't
even have black studies at Morehouse.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
Listen, listen, please, we can work together. I understand what
you're trying to say. These demands you learn these ideas
from my son Martin. They're not unreasonable, but we can't
(25:56):
give in to them. This is not the way to
handle this. There is another way.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
The moment would extend far beyond the students in the boardroom.
Hundreds of students assembled outside of Harkness Hall to show solidarity,
and the moment would continue to grow.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
MLKA University was tagged all over campus with white graffiti.
They called themselves the Concerned Students. This simple label would
be a far cry from the militant label that would
be plastered on headlines all over the country.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
These board meetings were generally pretty standard for Morehouse President
Hugh Gloucester. He was only two years since his twenty
years of service as president during the lock in. He
was the seventh president in the history of Morehouse College
and would be responsible for establishing the Morehouse School of
Medicine but in this day, at this moment, he was
offering his resignation.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Doctor Gloucester submitted his resignation as president of Morehouse College,
effective on a day to be agreed upon by the
board in himself, because he would not participate in a
meeting in which members of the Board of Trustees are
confined in this conference room by force and I was
subjected to insult and intimidation. He said that he would
not sign any document or vote on any motion presented
(27:14):
in such a meeting, and that he would not be
a party to concessions made under duress. After reading his
letter to the board, Doctor Gloucester went on the balcony
and read it to Morehouse students, who once more were
dissuaded from entering the building by force.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
In this moment, in nineteen sixty nine, Atlanta had become
the epicenter of a cultural shift. The impact of this
locking will be felt for decades. More House was more
than a stage. It was a battlefield, a battlefield of ideas.
You should get some sleep. Sleep feels like I haven't
(27:52):
slept in ages.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
Well, everything changes tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (27:59):
You scared?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Terrified?
Speaker 4 (28:04):
You? Okay? Good? Glad I ain't the only one no
turning back now.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
You're not.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Been singing Yeah the old Morehouse.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I hope I feel that way tomorrow night.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Spellman Morehouse will feel this way forever, no matter what
happens tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Next time on the A Building.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
We have broken the status, but we've changed.
Speaker 13 (28:42):
So that's one of the reasons why our winds, our
protests have created this atmosphere right now, to take away
our history, to take away everything from us, because we've
won too much.
Speaker 6 (28:54):
In the eyes.
Speaker 14 (28:55):
I really hope that we can still address social ills together.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
The A Building is produced by Imagine Audio for iHeart Podcasts.
It is written and hosted by me Hans Charles and
my co host menelec La Mumba.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
It is executive produced by Karl Welker and Nathan Klope,
me Mandelich, Wlamomba, and Hans Charles.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Executive producers at iHeart Podcasts are Katrina Norville and Nikki Torre.
Marketing lead is David Wasserman.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
It is produced, directed, and edited by Timothy Fernarra with
producer John Asanti, Sound design and music by Alloy.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Tracks, and special thanks to April Ryan, Doctor, Elia Davis,
Kim Feci Ada Bobby know and James Early. If you
enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate and review the
A Building on Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
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