DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it — and this one, friends, is worth every mile. August 25, 1895. In the St.
Louis community of Tyler, Texas, a boy named Henry Miller Morgan came into the world, son of Henry and Alice Ingram Morgan. He grew up in that same community, went to school there, and finished his education at East Texas Academy — the school that would later become Butler College. By 1918, Tyler's city directory had him listed plain and simple: barber.
Now, a barber. Seems like a modest enough beginning. But keep your eyes on this man, because he was seeing something the rest of the world hadn't caught up to yet.
In the 1920s, Texas started requiring licenses for barbers. Professional standards, official credentials — all well and good. Except that African Americans were excluded from the education required to get those licenses.
Just shut out. And Henry Morgan, husband to Mabel McLellan, father of two daughters and a son, a man who knew this trade inside and out — he let that injustice sit in his mind like a slow-burning coal. By 1929, he started developing ideas.
Not complaints. Ideas. And by 1933, he opened a barber college on Irwin Street in Tyler.
Five chairs. That was the whole thing. Five chairs and a vision.
He didn't stop there. He established dormitories — male and female — for his students. In 1937, he opened a branch in Houston.
Then 1945 brought a location in Jackson, Mississippi. The very next year, Little Rock, Arkansas. Then 1948, his Manhattan location opened.
Then 1949, Dallas. Tyler, Dallas, Houston, Jackson, Little Rock, Manhattan. One man.
One barber from the St. Louis community of Tyler, Texas. And at one time, the school reportedly was training a majority of the nation's African American barbers.
The majority. Of the whole nation. The curriculum was no joke either — scalp and skin diseases, electricity, chemistry, anatomy.
This wasn't just how to hold a straight razor. This was a full professional education for people the state of Texas had tried to lock out of the profession entirely. And still Morgan kept building — not just chairs and classrooms, but institutions.
He helped found the Texas Association of Tonsorial Artists, a professional organization for barbers. He helped establish the Tyler chapter of the Democratic Progressive Voters League. He served as vice-president of the Texas Association of Barber Schools.
He was a trustee of Butler College — the very school where he had finished his own education decades before. And through all of it, he remained an active member at St. Louis Baptist Church.
Henry Miller Morgan died in 1961 and is buried in Tyler's Evergreen Cemetery. The marker remembers him as a civic and political activist, and as a leader in his profession. And that's the truth — but here's the thing worth sitting with.
He didn't just lead a profession. He opened one. For people who were told the door was closed, Henry Morgan built a whole other building.
What the marker says
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)