Morgan London Latta
Rev. Morgan London Latta L.L.D. was an African American educator who operated a fraudulent scheme to solicit and misappropriate funds. He founded Latta University in North Carolina">Northern United States">North Carolina and used it to exploit the goodwill of Northern donors during the post-Reconstruction era. Despite being exposed for his criminal misconduct, which brought an end to his school and standing, Latta's legacy continues to be commemorated in Raleigh as a pioneer in Black education.
Early life
According to his largely discredited autobiography, Morgan London Latta was born into slavery in April 1853, at Fishdam, a Cameron/Mordecai plantation where the current Falls Lake Reservoir is located. After being emancipated at the age of nine, he reportedly supported himself and thirteen family members by running their sharecropping business during the day and studying at night.At the age of fifteen, Latta said he enrolled at Shaw University, receiving a classical education and earning his teaching certificate. He also said that he taught for many years near his home while starting his family and becoming a reverend. In addition to occasionally working as a teacher, Morgan Latta held various jobs, including selling sewing machines and canvassing for the proposed Lynchburg and Durham Railroad. In January 1887, he was arrested after forging a signature on a petition for a teaching job in the Neuse District of Raleigh.
Latta University
Latta founded Latta University in Oberlin Village, an antebellum enclave established by free Blacks in West Raleigh. Latta University received its official incorporation on February 15, 1894, following the acquisition of land in Oberlin Village and fundraising efforts to finance its construction, a process spanning three years. Latta traveled across the North, making speeches and fundraising for the university.>
Community backlash
His neighbors in the Oberlin community were outspoken about Latta; three years before the university's official founding, they published a signed letter on the front page of Raleigh's largest Black newspaper, disassociating themselves from his project. In the letter, they referred to him as a "so-called" professor and were the first to publicly cast doubt on his intentions and credibility. Latta expressed disdain for the Oberlin residents, describing them as “rude, obnoxious, and indolent” or “officious and detestable.” Ultimately, the residents succeeded in dissociating the community's name from Latta's fraudulent activities, he even strikes it from his book entirely, saying the university is located “in West Raleigh, NC.”Wake County’s official history, authored by Elizabeth Reid Murray, characterizes Latta as “a real crook.” and shares interviews with Oberlin residents conducted by Shaw University Professor Wilmoth Carter:
The full quote from Carter's interview, which is available in her book The Urban Negro in the South is particularly damning
Claims of fraud
Phelps Stokes Fund
In 1916, the Phelps-Stokes Fund initiated a comprehensive study of American Black universities under the auspices of the US Department of Education. The study's inaugural chapter shed light on the pervasive issue of "larceny by false pretense", identifying Latta University as the most “flagrant case” they have witnessed. Despite Latta's claims that the university land was neither in his name nor for his benefit, the investigation revealed that the donated land was registered under his wife Laura's name. This is corroborated by Wake County property records showing multiple properties in her name.Philadelphia Charities Bureau
In Pennsylvania, Latta targeted middle and upper-class Blacks in the North who were motivated to support their Southern counterparts. In 1916, the Charities Bureau of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce conducted an investigation of Latta University. The Chamber's report stated that the university did not function as an educational institution and that the funds raised were not used for their intended purposes. The investigation concluded with a decisive statement that the individuals claiming to represent Latta University were frauds who should be apprehended, noting that the school had once existed but was no longer operational in 1916.Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
The Raleigh Chamber of Commerce conducted its own investigation into Morgan London Latta and his university. After receiving inquiries from a Pittsfield, Massachusetts-based company that had been contributing funds to Latta University for over twenty years, the chamber's secretary, H.B. Branch, clarified that Latta University no longer existed and had been defunct for "many, many years." The investigation revealed that Latta University had ceased operations long before the solicitations in question. They determined that Morgan London Latta had misrepresented the existence of the institution to secure donations, often in person. The chamber deemed these fundraising efforts fraudulent and issued warnings to other state chambers of commerce to alert businesses and the public about the scheme. Bulletins and letters were circulated, explicitly advising against providing funds for Latta University.Insurance
Latta faced multiple court appearances after his efforts to obtain payouts from insurers were unsuccessful, all due to questions surrounding his claims. He insured his buildings, and over the years, reported that his properties were destroyed by "five different fires and a cyclone". Consequently, Latta University appears on the 1914 Sanborn Fire Insurance map. However, contrary to his claims of having 23 buildings, the survey shows only two large structures and three smaller buildings. Even before the claims of fire and other damages, Latta's photographs of the school only show seventeen buildings, most of which were outbuildings.Closure of Latta University
Over the next ten years, Latta's family and associates operating their scam in the North were frequently apprehended. John Bivans and his wife played a key role in Latta's fundraising scheme by soliciting donations under false pretenses. When Bivans was arrested soliciting donations, Latta would wire the police chief, claiming that Bivans had been misappropriating funds and requesting leniency, as Bivans was a cripple. This would result in the donations being sent back to Raleigh, Bivans being released, sometimes the mayor warning him never to return. This pattern is seen repeated in local newspapers for years across towns in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York. In 1916, Bivans was convicted in New York despite Latta's plea for his release. During his trial, Bivans revealed that he was Latta's brother-in-law and acting under Latta's direction. Regardless, Bivans was sent to the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island.The New York Age, one of the most prominent Black newspapers of its time, published multiple articles condemning Latta University's honorary degree abuse, whereby Latta conferred honorary doctorates for a fee. In 1919, a bill was presented to the North Carolina House to regulate degrees awarded by universities and colleges, specifically targeting diploma mills. When the bill was narrowly defeated, The News & Observer noted that this left "Latta University and its industrious president free to make B.A.’s, B.S.’s, LL.D.’s and D.D.’s of the newly made rich in the metropolis."
Latta University officially closed on paper in 1922, as Latta sold off land to pay debts and sold the deed to the school. The remaining land was sold in 1929, except for a small parcel that included his house. The family was last listed in Oberlin on the 1930 census, where Latta no longer described himself as a professor but as a preacher. In 1933, his final parcel of land, including his home, was foreclosed and sold at auction to cover his debts.
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Autobiography and fundraising
Latta's autobiography, History of My Life and Work, was published in 1903. In his book, African Americans in the Post-Emancipation South, Alton Hornsby Jr. details how Latta used his autobiography to swindle donors to Latta University.Harry Morgan, in Historical Perspectives on the Education of Black Children, describes Latta as an "outstanding example" of fraud and highlights the dubious nature of Latta's operations at the time the book was published:
In his autobiography, Latta exaggerated the scale and success of his university, claiming it had 23 buildings and accommodated over 1400 students. The book included many photos of students, yet none showed more than thirty individuals. Additionally, the school's records did not support the number of students he claimed.
In the book, Latta fabricated stories of traveling to Europe and consorting with Queen Victoria, who he claimed pledged to grant him an entire province if he requested it. Julian Street describes multiple photographs as "made-up", such as the illustration above of him speaking "in the Auditorium at London." During a 1908 insurance trial, Latta admitted that these speaking engagement images were taken at a Philadelphia photography studio.
Latta asserted that his university was "one of the largest schools in the South in every respect." Street notes that to support this, he took pictures of the same buildings from different angles, labeling them as different structures: "Similar artfulness is shown in pictures of the university buildings, where the same frame structure, photographed from opposite ends, appears in one case as, Young Ladies' Dormitory, and in the other as, Chapel and Young Men's Dormitory."
Despite numerous primary accounts and documents revealing his autobiography to be false, it played a crucial role in his fundraising efforts and, decades later, in establishing his legacy.
Personal life
Latta procured a license to marry Eliza Evans on February 7, 1885. It remains unclear what transpired, as a year later he married student Laura Bivens. Records indicate that they lived together in Oberlin Village from 1889 through 1929. They had ten children, Marie Latta, Morgan L. Latta Jr., James L. Latta, Laura Latta, Moses Latta, Jessie Latta, Nellie Latta, Zacharia Latta, Clementine Latta, and Ediith Latta.|In the late 1920s, Latta sold and foreclosed on his land in West Raleigh. Latta died on April 13, 1937, in Salem, Massachusetts. He was interred on April 17 at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Pennsylvania in Lehman 113, plot 28. His obituary does not mention Latta University or identify him as an educator.
Controversial views
Latta's political views were a source of significant controversy and criticism, particularly from prominent Black leaders. In her book The Urban Negro of the South, Dr. Wilmoth Carter highlights that Latta's acceptance by whites and rejection by Blacks were due to his corrosive views. He largely blamed lynchings on the Black victims— claiming so much widespread "ignorance among the colored people that such extreme depredations as assaulting white ladies of the South takes place".Racial inferiority
Latta publicly expressed that Blacks were generally ignorant and lacked ambition, stating "Our race is ignorant, as a rule, with few exceptions. The colored people, as a race, don’t seem to have much ambition about them." He often described Blacks as a "weak' race, and believed that Blacks were uncivilized and inferior, advocating that they should be submissive and deferential to whites, whom he regarded as "more capable men".In his writings, Latta praised prominent white supremacists who supported his endeavors. This included public commendations for figures like Charles Brantley Aycock and Josephus Daniels, despite their significant roles in advancing Jim Crow segregation and disfranchisement in North Carolina. Such endorsements, given their contentious actions, ignited fury and condemnation within the Black community.
Opposition to political engagement
Latta opposed Black political participation, he frequently preached that, "The colored people should take no part in politics and leave it to more capable men". He proclaimed that there was “nothing in politics for colored people” and urged African Americans to “get religion, educate themselves, buy property, stay out of politics, and put money in the bank."Latta regularly used his community of Oberlin Village as an example of why he believed Blacks "are not sufficient to govern themselves." Given all of the above, he attributed the resistance he faced from Black communities to "ignorance, prejudice, and jealousy."
Legacy
Raleigh's commemoration
The commemoration of Latta by the City of Raleigh has sparked debate regarding the reliance on his autobiography as the primary narrative of his legacy. Historians have highlighted that his autobiography, which served as a tool in his fraudulent activities, contains numerous discrepancies and false or exaggerated claims about his achievements. Multiple contemporary investigations pronounced Latta and his university a fraud, and he, along with at least one co-conspirator, were jailed for fraud, further casting doubt on the credibility of this narrative.In 2019, Morgan Latta was inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame stating "Reverend Latta’s history and legacy continues to inspire children from all backgrounds through programming by the City of Raleigh and the Latta House Foundation." In 2014, the City of Raleigh Museum hosted the exhibit “Latta’s Living Legacy”, which displayed an original copy of his autobiography as well as some items from the archeological excavation.
Latta University Historic Park
In April 2024, Raleigh completed the Latta University Historic Park, an project featuring interpretive signage, bronze historical markers, and educational materials for schools. These materials rely on Latta's autobiography as a primary source.The Latta House Foundation, a nonprofit organization which includes descendants of Latta on its board, has the mission of "promoting the history of Latta and his university". The Foundation's board members served on the citizen planning board for the Latta University Historic Park Master Plan and collaborated with the City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department for a public program.