Morehouse College | News Release

Morehouse College Celebrates 75 Years of Homecoming
Queens from past to present to be honored through a
Crowns and Gowns exhibit

ATLANTA, October 28-30, 2004 – Morehouse College, the nation’s premiere institution of higher education for men, will celebrate this year’s 75th Homecoming Anniversary with an exhibit to honor some of the women who have played a role in supporting the college.

The grand opening of “Crowns and Gowns: the legacy of Miss Maroon and White,” opens the evening of October 28th at the African American Hall of Fame on Morehouse College’s campus. It will feature more than 100 original and recreated coronation gowns, homecoming suits, crowns, photographs and memorabilia dating back to 1935. To mark this milestone, former queens and their attendants will return to the college for the exhibit opening, kicking-off a three-day homecoming celebration.

Many of the queens have had illustrious careers in their various professions since wearing the title of “Miss Maroon and White.” Dr. Gladys Forde, a retired professor from Fisk University heads the list as one the oldest living queens; she was crowned in 1938. Mrs. Ella Gaines Yates was the first African-American Director of the Atlanta Fulton County Public Library; she reigned in 1949. Others include: the Honorable Brenda Cole, a Superior Court Judge (crowned in 1961); Dr. Anne Ashmore Poussaint Hudson, noted psychologist and former student Civil Rights activist (crowned in 1962); Kathleen Jackson Bertrand, Vice President, Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and well-known Atlanta jazz artist (crowned in 1972); and Jerri DeVard, Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing for Verizon Wireless, who served as queen in 1978.

Last Spring Morehouse College received a grant in the amount of $99,000 from the Institute of Library and Museum. Crowns and Gowns is one of several archival projects being funded by the grant, which also established the Department of Archives at Morehouse.

“When we first began this project last spring, “said Morehouse College Archivist, Herman “Skip” Mason, Jr., “we weren’t exactly sure where it would take us. But once we started locating the queens and saw their interest, it quickly took on a life of its own. The thing that I’m most proud of is the level of student involvement. Our men are so creative; they’re helping to bring this exhibit to life.”

Since the very first crowning in 1935, Morehouse’s Homecoming queens have come from Spelman College and nearby Clark Atlanta University.

The “Crowns and Gowns” exhibit will run from October 28th through November 21st. For more information regarding the exhibit and other Homecoming Celebrations, please log onto the Morehouse College website at www.morehouse.edu..

Ranked three times as the number one college in the nation for educating African American students by Black Enterprise magazine, and recognized by The Wall Street Journal as one of the top feeder schools for the 15 most prominent graduate and professional schools in the country, Morehouse College is the nation’s largest, private liberal arts college for men. Founded in 1867, the College enrolls approximately 3,000 students and confers bachelor’s degrees on more black men than any other institution in the world.

Prominent alumni include Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize laureate and civil rights leader; Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. Surgeon General and director of the National Center for Primary Care at the Morehouse School of Medicine; Sheldon “Spike” Lee, filmmaker and president of 40 Acres & A Mule Productions; Maynard H. Jackson, founder of Jackson Securities and the first African-American mayor of Atlanta; and Nima A. Warfield, the first African-American Rhodes Scholar from an Historically Black College or University.

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