University of Maryland Eastern Shore Campus - Hawk Yearbook (Princess Anne, MD)

Page 9 text:

In an effort to combat the rising com- petition from public schools, Kiah in- stituted a junior college program. Not bringing in the desired results, this program was terminated and a full fledged four year college was to be formed. But there again was the problem of finances and World War H also played its part in slowing down the enrollment. Shortly after the end of World War II a major program was instituted. It was designed to revolutionize college life. This development was the major turning point in the building of a very prominent four year college program.

Page 8 text:

UMES has had several names throughout its histon;, all of which seem to reflect the types of programs offered at the school or the type of programs under which the school was run, names such as the Industrial Branch of Morgan College, Delaware Conference Academy, Princess Anne Academy and many others. During its early years of existence, most of the financial aid of the school came from various Methodist Conferences. However, most of the financial support after 1900 came from Federal land-grant funds under the Morrill Acts and the Nelson Amendments. By 1936 the school had transformed from high school to college. This major change was brought about by Frank J. Trigg and Thomas Kiah. Trigg served as principal from 1902 until 1910. He was successful at gaining the Academy high recognition and thus placing it among the better black schools of that time. A native of the Eastern Shore, Kiah served as Principal from 1910 until 1930. Dur- ing his years as principal, the role of the Academy as high school was eclisped by the development of public secondary education. However, due to the increase of free public education in Maryland the enrollment after World War I dropped tremendously and continued to decline in the years that followed.

Page 10 text:

In 1947 Maryland State had such low prestige with very little or no recognition as a college that the Higher Education in Maryland Survey recommended that the college be abolished. In addition, the publicity given to the survey ' s recommendation by several prominent newspapers of that time left little hope for the continuation of Maryland State. There was much turmoil all over the campus. Whites and blacks alike were in fact strongly against the continuation of Maryland State and gave no support to the of- ficials of the school that were trying to encourage its survival. Finally on December 17, 1947, the Legislative Council met to decide if there was any need for further existence of the college. When the council decided on the con- tinuation of Maryland State, it received hardly any support. Along with this, the governor of Maryland, in his inaugural address stated that there would be no in- crease in funds for the school until an actual decision had been made as to whether the school would or would not be terminated. It was then, in an attempt to save the college, that the black citizens of the Eastern Shore Counties banded together to form the Eastern Shore Citizens Association. In one attempt to save the college, the Association sent 750 people to Annapolis to explain to the governor the need and the desire of the Eastern Shore to have the programs of the school continued and im- proved.