Dwight Oliver Wendell Holmes (November 18, 1877 – September 7, 1963) was an American sociologist, civil rights activist, collegiate athlete, author, and served as the 5th President of Morgan State College from 1937 to 1948.

Early life and career

Holmes was born in Lewisburg, West Virginia and raised in

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

. He was the son of the Reverend John A. Holmes, a pastor with the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

for almost twenty years. As an undergraduate at Howard University, Holmes played quarterback and became the team captain of the Howard Bison football and baseball teams. Additionally, he became the president of the first tennis team at Howard, was a member of the debate and glee clubs. He earned a B.A. degree in 1901 and was

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

of the graduating class. Afterwards, Holmes continued his collegiate studies at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where he earned both a M.A. and Ph.D. In 1934, he wrote ''The Evolution of the Negro College'', a book focusing on the evolution of the Negro Colleges (what's now referred to as

HBCUs Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

), and the resources that these institutions should provide to the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

population in the Southern states of the U.S. post-

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Holmes died on September 7, 1963, at the age of 85.

References

External links

* *
"The History of Morgan State University"
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Dwight, O W 1877 births 1963 deaths 20th-century American novelists African-American novelists American male novelists African-American sociologists American sociologists Columbia University alumni Howard University alumni Presidents of Morgan State University People from Annapolis, Maryland People from Lewisburg, West Virginia Novelists from New York City Novelists from Maryland Novelists from Virginia 20th-century American male writers 20th-century African-American writers African-American male writers