; Whereas in the case of Morgan State University, the institution was founded in Baltimore, Maryland, as the Centenary Biblical Institute in 1867 to train former slaves and freedmen for the Methodist ministry; Whereas becoming co-ed in 1874 and changing its name to Morgan College in 1890, in honor of one of its board members, the institution was purchased by the State of Maryland in 1939 to provide more academic opportunities for Black students and was renamed Morgan State College; Whereas Morgan State College distinguished itself as a liberal arts college and, in 1975, was granted university status and has been designated as Maryland's preeminent public research university, as well as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Whereas the Morgan State Choir, in 2004, was named The Nation's Best College Choir by Readers Digest, and has performed for audiences on four continents; Whereas Morgan State University has graduated a great number of prominent African-American leaders in politics, law, entertainment and science and has a list of alumni that includes Congressmen Parren J. Mitchell and Kweisi Mfume, Maryland Chief Justice Robert M. Bell, novelist Zora Neale Hurston, and Pulitzer Prize winner James Alan McPherson; Whereas in the case of St. Augustine’s University, in 1867, the institution was founded as the St. Augustine’s Normal School by prominent Episcopal clergy for the education of freed slaves in Raleigh, North Carolina; Whereas St. Agnes Hospital and Training School for Nurses, the first school of nursing for African-American students in the State of North Carolina, was established by St. Augustine’s Normal School in 1895; Whereas St. Agnes was the only hospital in North Carolina that served African Americans until 1960; Whereas St. Augustine’s University was the first historically Black college and university to own an on-campus commercial radio and television station