Henry Miller Morgan

On August 25, 1895, Henry Miller Morgan was born in Tyler's St. Louis community to Henry and Alice Ingram Morgan. He attended school in the St. Louis community, completing his education at East Texas Academy, which later became Butler College. He is listed as a barber in Tyler's 1918 city directory. He and his wife, Mabel (McLellan), had two daughters and one son. In the 1920s, Texas enacted laws requiring licenses for barbers, but African Americans were excluded from the requisite education. In 1929, Morgan began developing ideas for a barber college for African Americans. By 1933, he opened a college on Irwin Street with five chairs. He established male and female student dormitories, and in 1937 he opened a branch in Houston. In 1945, he opened a location in Jackson, Mississippi, adding a branch in Little Rock, Arkansas the next year. In 1948, his Manhattan location opened, and a Dallas branch opened in 1949. The Tyler headquarters quickly grew to accommodate the expanding business, and at one time the school reportedly was training a majority of the nation's African American barbers. The school's curriculum included subjects ranging from scalp and skin diseases to electricity, chemistry and anatomy. Morgan went on to help found the Texas Association of Tonsorial Artists, a professional barbers' organization, as well as the Tyler chapter of the Democratic Progressive Voters League. He also served as vice-president of the Texas Association of Barber Schools and as a trustee of Butler College. He was an active member at St. Louis Baptist Church. Morgan died in 1961 and is buried in Tyler's Evergreen Cemetery. Today, he is remembered as a civic and political activist, as well as a leader in his profession. (2005)

Henry Miller Morgan is a historical marker in Tyler, Smith County, dedicated in 2004. It is one of 90 historical markers documented in Smith County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 272 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.3508, -95.2990 near Tyler. The nearest cataloged historic site is Smith County Courthouse (courthouse), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Smith County Jail, 1881, Smith County as a 19th Century Legal Center, and Yarbrough Building.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5423013089. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.