Dwight Oliver Wendell Holmes (November 18, 1877 – September 7, 1963) was an American sociologist, civil rights activist, collegiate athlete, author, and served as the fifth president of Morgan State College from 1937 to 1948.

[citation needed] He was the son of the Reverend John A. Holmes, a pastor with the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, D.C. for almost twenty years.

Additionally, he became the president of the first tennis team at Howard, was a member of the debate and glee clubs.

Afterwards, Holmes continued his collegiate studies at Columbia University, where he earned both a M.A.

and Ph.D.[3] In 1934, he wrote The Evolution of the Negro College,[citation needed] a book focusing on the development of Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and the resources that these institutions should provide to the African-American population in the Southern states of the U.S. post-Civil War.