Whereas, on November 27, 2017, Morgan State University (referred to in this preamble as the University ), located in Baltimore, Maryland, will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first academic year of the University and Founders Day; Whereas the University was envisioned by African-American pastors in the Washington Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and officially founded by white pastors in the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Whereas the University was incorporated on November 27, 1867, as the Centenary Biblical Institute, in celebration of the centennial anniversary of Methodism in the United States; Whereas the University was established with a modest budget of $5,000 to train for the ministry males who were former slaves and freedmen; Whereas the first classes of the University were held in the basement lecture hall of Sharp Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore on April 30, 1867, with a class of 9 students and 1 teacher; Whereas the University admitted the first female students to the University during the 1874–75 academic year and amended the charter of the University to train students in teaching as well as in ministry; Whereas, in 1886, the University established a branch named Princess Anne Academy on the eastern shore of Maryland; Whereas, in 1890, the University was renamed Morgan College in honor of Lyttleton F. Morgan, a long-time board member who was a strong financial supporter of the institution, and was authorized to offer bachelor’s degrees; Whereas the first bachelor’s degree from the University was awarded in 1895 to George W. F. McMechen, who went on to earn a law degree from Yale University and to distinguish himself as a citizen and civil rights lawyer in Baltimore, Maryland; Whereas, in 1893, the University established the second branch of the University, named Virginia Collegiate and Industrial Institute, in Lynchburg, Virginia