In 1901, the Baltimore City School Board merged the Colored Polytechnic Institute with
the Colored High School. The new Colored High and Training School offered some academic
coursework, but it emphasized manual training for all students.74 Per Capita expenditures for
black schools were about 3/4 of per capita expenditures on white students, although this made
Baltimore one of the better educational systems for black students among all the major cities with
substantial black populations. Nevertheless, broad based academic training for blacks was
extremely limited. The academic program at the Colored High and Training School was weak,
and the only college in the state that was open to blacks was Morgan College (founded in 1867 as
the Centenary Bible Institute to train black ministers, it had broadened its educational mission by
1872 and changed its name to Morgan College in 1890).

B.         The Economics of Law Practice

Civil rights was hardly the staple fare of the small group of Maryland black lawyers in the
nineteenth century. Indeed, law itself was often not remunerative enough to pursue full time.
With rare exceptions, white clients did not hire black lawyers and black clients were not wealthy
enough to pay substantial fees. The early lawyers recognized this, and devoted a great deal of
time and attention to strengthening the economic structure of the black community. For
example, in 1890 Harry S. Cummings, W. Ashbie Hawkins and Joseph Seldon Davis along with
two other businessmen established the Economics Association to encourage black businesses.75
Another example was the establishment of the Lexington Savings Bank in 1895. Everett Waring
was its president, and George M. Lane was one of the founders.76

Political fortune smiled momentarily in 1895 when the Republican Party gained statewide
office for the first time since the early 1870's. Although the party distributed patronage to blacks
only sparingly, Warner T. McGuinn was made clerk to the State Liquor Board and another young
black lawyer, Malachi Gibson, became clerk to the Judiciary Committee.77

Both politics and business proved to be weak supports for the economic hopes of the new
attorneys. Although Cummings was elected to the city council again in 1897, the Republicans
lost their statewide position in the elections of 1899 and politics became more racially polarized.
In business, the Lexington Savings Bank failed in 1897 and Waring was indicted on charges of
embezzlement. A jury found him not guilty at his trial in 1898, but Waring left Baltimore with a
bitter taste in his mouth and eventually settled in Philadelphia.78 A variety of other cooperative
ventures were begun between 1890 and 1910, but they all failed through lack of capital and lack
of black patronage.79 The only successful business was the newspaper that had so strongly
supported these efforts - The Afro-American Ledger. Despite the establishment of the training
school, skilled trades continued to be in the hands of white laborers. In 1910, over 70% of the
male black work force in Baltimore were engaged in one of the following occupations:
agricultural laborer, janitor, longshoreman, launderer, common laborer, servant, waiter, drayman,
hackman, hostler, peddler, messenger, porter, or newsboy. By comparison, less than 15% of the
white work force was engaged in these occupations. 85% of black women in the work force
were either laundresses or servants.80

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