Alumni organizations partnered with Maryland Public Television to host the “6 Days of Determination Symposium”, celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the 1990 students’ protest today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Morgan State’s Student Center. 

Morgan’s Alumni Association and Office of Alumni Relations joined forces with MPT to feature five event sessions that will include documentary screenings and panel discussions highlighting the legacy of the largest student-led protest in Maryland.

Travis Mitchell is an executive producer of the film and was one of the student protestors in 1990.

“It’s important for people to see what peaceful protest and effective protest and advocacy looks like,” said Mitchell. “It gives people an opportunity to understand, in this moment in time, what can we do, what should we be doing to support our alma mater [and] our HBCUs, in general.”

Mitchell’s peers volunteered him as the protest’s official spokesperson and according to him, it’s important students hear Morgan’s history of activism and understand its role in civil rights.

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Getty_Images (Afro Newspaper/Gado / Contributor)

Students demonstrating at Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland, 1990, Original Caption Reads: 'Morgan State University Students Demonstrations'. (Photo by Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)

The protest lasted from March 6 to March 12, and started after students grew frustrated with the state’s history of underfunding the university and the dilapidated condition of its on-campus dormitories. Other demands students made were to improve campus security, grant more financial aid, longer infirmary hours and have better food in dining halls.

The third session of the event will introduce a panel of alums and student protest leadersbefore viewing the short film “6 Days of Determination: The Story of the 1990 Morgan State Student Protest” at 1:15 p.m. 

Additional sessions will begin as early as 11 a.m that will also include multiple panel discussions and a screening of the PBS film, “Becoming Thurgood.”

The event registration is sold out but everyone can watch the film about the Morgan student protest of 1990, on YouTube as part of MPT’s “HBCU Week” series as well as in the PBS app. 

Doors open at 10:30 a.m. and lunch will also be available to guests in Tyler Ballroom at 11:45 a.m.