MICA Apologizes For Whites-Only Admission Policy That Barred Black Students In The Past
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Inside the bunting center at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a small gallery housing Deyane Moses' senior project.
It begins with Harry Pratt, the first black student to graduate in 1894.
"So a few more students came and MICA's attendance started to drop," Moses said. "And white pupils complained despite the fact those black students weren't studying with them. They were still segregated."
Deyane Moses called her exhibit "Blackives" because it was archived at the school and elsewhere she turned to tell the history of blacks at MICA.
She reproduced the headline of that first student: "MICA in 1895 made the choice to have only reputable white students allowed to the college. period."
There would not be another black student until 1954, a woman who graduated four years later.
There was a man who modeled for students in the 1930's.
At the turn of the century, a mocking caricature of a janitor.
"It came from MICA's 1902-1903 yearbook. Yearbooks at the time were drawn up by students, so I can only believe this is a student drawing."
This exhibit was scheduled to come down today. Instead, it's being moved to the administration building.
According to MICA Associate Dean Clyde Johnson, "it will really be out front so we can talk about race, racism, even in the arts, which has a racist past."
But the present is also part of moses exhibit. Not only photos of current students, but recorded oral histories of their time at MICA.
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