Affirmative Development in the 21st Century

From his first day at Morehouse College Joshua Packwood has been a standout. This month, Packwood is set to address his classmates as the first white valedictorian in the school's 141 year history. Morehouse is the country's only institution of higher learning dedicated to the education of black men.

Packwood's mere presence on campus wouldn't make history at this school founded by a black minister and cabinetmaker two years after the end of the Civil War. Howard Zehr, Morehouse's first white student, graduated in 1966 and there have been dozens of other whites on campus since. Packwood turned down Columbia University, postponing his dream of living in NYC, and headed South.

"Josh Packwood is Morehouse," the college president, Robert Franklin, said in his inauguration speech in February. "He happens to be Euro-American and brings much appreciated diversity to the campus."

Notable who attended Morehouse: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.