Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 20, 2008

Thehistory of Baltimore City Collegebegan in 1839, when thecity councilofBaltimore,Maryland,U.S.passed a resolution mandating the creation of a male high school with a focus on English and classical literature.Baltimore City Collegewas opened in the same year with 46 pupils under the direction ofNathan C. Brooks,a local educator and poet. In 1850, the council granted the school the authority to present its graduates with certificates of completion. An effort to expand that power and allow City College to conferBachelor of Artsdegrees began in 1865, but ended unsuccessfully in 1869. By the early 1900s, as the importance of higher education increased, the school's priorities shifted to preparing students for college. In 1927, the academic program was further changed, when City College divided its curriculum into two tracks: the standard college preparatory "B" course, and a more rigorous "A" course of study. In the 1950s, the school underwent demographic changes following theU.S. Supreme Court's ruling in theBrown v. Board of Educationcase. In September 1954, African-Americans entered City College for the first time and continued to increase as a proportion of the student population in the 1960s. The school saw further changes in the student population with the acceptance of women in 1978. (more...)

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