Earl Richardson, an educator ‘armed with history’ and who changed HBCUs, dies

['Joseph Shapiro', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright'] TPR: The Public's Radio 2025-09-13 21:21:45

Earl Richardson was the president of Morgan State University between 1984 and 2010. It was settled in 2021 when the state of Maryland agreed to give $577 million in supplemental funding over 10 years to four HBCUs. Richardson led Morgan State from 1984 to 2010 and he had long chafed at stretching the little funding he got from the state. Because Richardson was the university’s president, and an employee of the state, he couldn’t sue the state. Still, Richardson was the visionary behind the lawsuit, said Burton, a Morgan State alumnus and now a strategic planner for businesses.