Morgan London Latta

Rev. Morgan London Latta
File:Latta photo.png The "Professor"
Born	April, 1853 Fishdam, North Carolina
Died	April 13, 1937
Occupation(s)	Conman, "Professor"
Spouse(s)	Eliza Evans (1885-1886) Laura Bivans (1886-1937)

Rev. Morgan London Latta L.L.D. (April 1850 – 13 April 1937) was an African American conman, who founded the fictitious "Latta University" in Raleigh, North Carolina, exploiting the goodwill of Northern donors during the post-Reconstruction era. While often mistakenly celebrated as a pioneer in black education, historical records reveal Latta as a prolific fraudster who used his fabricated autobiography to bolster his schemes. Despite being exposed by his contemporaries and denounced by the local black community, Latta's legacy continues to be controversially commemorated in Raleigh.

Biography

Early life

According to his largely discredited autobiography (See: Fraudulent Autobiography and Fundraising), Reverend Morgan London Latta was born into slavery in April 1850, 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 13 family members by running their sharecropping business during the day and studying at night.

At the age of 15, Latta allegedly enrolled at Shaw University. He claimed to have studied to become an educator, received a classical education, and earned his teaching certificate. He purportedly 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. These experiences preceded his ambitious plan to establish Latta University.

His autobiography's account of his early life is somewhat corroborated by the historical record, as records show he left his wife for a student named Laura Bivans, whom he married before purchasing land near Oberlin Village and incorporating Latta University.

Marriage and children

Rev. M. L. Latta married Laura Bivens in 1886. 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.

Disappearance and Death

File:Latta Obit.jpg

Latta’s Obituary

In the late 1920s Rev. Latta sold and foreclosed on his land in West Raleigh. It was not known where he went, when or where he died, the circumstances of his death or where he was interred.

His disappearance and death remained a mystery for 87 years, until a volunteer researcher found his obituary in a Pennsylvania Newspaper. Rev. Morgan London Latta died on the 13th of April, 1937 in Salem, Massachusetts. He was interred on April 17th at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale Pa in Lehman 113, plot 28. Notably, his obituary does not mention Latta University or identify him as an educator.

Latta "University"

Founding and Community Reaction

Latta University, founded by Rev. M.L. Latta in Oberlin Village, an antebellum enclave established by free blacks in West Raleigh, is widely regarded as a fraudulent enterprise. Historical records and public accounts reveal that the primary goal of the university was to enrich Latta and his family. Latta traveled across the North, soliciting funds for his fictitious university by employing a strategy similar to that of Booker T. Washington, appealing to white benefactors.

Oberlin Families speak out against Rev. Latta, 1891

His neighbors in the Oberlin community were very outspoken when it came to denouncing Latta and his schemes. Residents frequently appear in the public record labeling Latta’s university as a scam.

“…[Oberlin residents] revealed the fact that Latta University exists in the Imagination of the “professor” and on the paper on which he writes his appeals for aid.”

Three years before the university's official founding, prominent Oberlin families published a signed public letter on the front page of Raleigh’s largest black newspaper, denouncing Latta and disassociating themselves from him. This letter highlighted the community's early efforts to expose Latta's exploitation of their name for credibility.

Latta incorporated his university on February 15 1894, but many question whether he ever intended to operate a legitimate institution. Contemporary documents like this suggest otherwise.

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:

““He started the place at a time when people were really giving to Negro education, so he raised a lot of money but it didn’t go into any school. Nobody cared enough about what he was doing to stop him; they just ignored him and his efforts.”

The full quote from Dr. Carter’s interview, which is available in her book The Urban Negro in the South is particularly damning:

“Latta’s University was all bogus, it wasn’t even a good primary school. . . he only had two wooden buildings and they weren’t even good barns. The three or four students he had were members of his own family. He hardly had a fifth grade education himself.”

The Oberlin community saw through his ruse, and Latta expressed disdain for the Oberlin residents, describing them as “rude, obnoxious, and indolent” or “officious and detestable.” Ultimately, the residents succeeded in detaching their name from Latta's fraudulent activities, as he stopped using "Oberlin" in association with his university, referring to its location instead as “West of Raleigh.”

Investigations Pronounce University A Fraud

Phelps Stokes Investigation

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 Morgan Latta as the most “flagrant case” they have witnessed. Despite Rev. Latta's claims that the university land was neither in his name nor for his benefit, the investigation revealed that the donated land was actually registered under his wife Laura's name. This is corroborated with Wake County property records showing multiple properties in her name, something quite uncommon for a married woman in 19th century Raleigh.

Philadelphia Charities Bureau Investigation

In Pennsylvania, Latta’s scheme had a significant toll on black communities, particularly targeting middle and upper-class blacks in the North who were motivated to support their Southern counterparts. Latta's fraudulent activities not only misappropriated funds but also eroded trust within these communities.

The fraudulent operations continued for several years before the Charities Bureau of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce was called to investigate in 1916. The Bureau conducted a thorough investigation, uncovering that Latta University was a sham. Their report highlighted that the university did not function as an educational institution and that funds raised were not used for their intended purposes.

The investigation concluded with a decisive statement that Latta University was a fraud. As a result, the Bureau sought to apprehend anyone claiming to represent the institution, aiming to prevent further exploitation.

Legal Actions and Incarcerations

By 1907, the word was spreading about the fraudulent nature of Latta's operations. Fifteen years after black communities and newspapers initially raised alarms, the broader public began to reach the same conclusion. Over the next ten years, Latta's family and associates operating their scam in the North frequently faced apprehension.

John Bivans

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 Bivan's 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, New York, and other states.

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.

Closure of Latta University

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.

Flawed Research Enabled Fraudulent Legacy

Despite the dubious nature of Latta's claims, the City of Raleigh has celebrated Reverend Latta for decades. His home received the designation of a Raleigh Historic Landmark and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. This recognition was based solely on the narrative presented in his autobiography, the very tool he used to deceive donors. In 2002, the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources submitted paperwork nominating Latta’s home for the National Register of Historic Places. The state's historical support relied almost entirely on Latta’s autobiography, citing it over 25 times in a ten-page submission, with the only other source being an "unpublished student report".

When Latta’s home burned down in 2007, the city initiated a costly archaeological excavation to find any significant archaeological deposits related to Latta and his university. The investigation yielded minimal findings, such as a horseshoe and some trash, yet this was deemed sufficient to advise the city and the Raleigh Historic Districts Commission to redesignate the empty lot as a Raleigh Historic Landmark.

The 2010 Raleigh Historic Landmark designation submission essentially replicated the 2002 National Register text, which was based on Latta’s autobiography taken as fact. This ongoing recognition underscores the extent to which Latta's deceptive narrative has influenced historical records.

City Knowingly Embraces False Narrative

For years, the celebration of Morgan Latta's legacy in Raleigh has raised questions about the city's uncritical embrace of a man whose fraudulent legacy been well-documented. Despite ample evidence exposing Latta as a conman, Raleigh has invested significant resources into commemorating his fictional achievements, he's even been inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame. Most recently, the City of Raleigh spent close to a million dollars on a park commemorating his dubious achievements. of educational materials based on his fabricated narrative.

Efforts to caution city officials about the reliance on Latta's autobiography as the sole historical source were met with resistance, with public comments expressing concerns being removed from view to purportedly protect living descendants. Despite these warnings, Raleigh persists in perpetuating Latta's false narrative, investing taxpayer money into projects that uphold his deceitful legacy.

See also

• Rev. M. L. Latta House