A segregation wall was taken down 80 years after its construction in Northeast Baltimore. Also referred to as a “spite wall,” it was built in the 1940s as an effort to keep Black students out of a predominantly white neighborhood.

A segregation wall was taken down 80 years after its construction in Northeast Baltimore. Also referred to as a “spite wall,” it was built in the 1940s as an effort to keep Black students out of a predominantly white neighborhood.

At the time, residents came together to build the wall because of the growing number of Black students attending Morgan State University, an HBCU, according to NBC. It had remained a symbol of racial division and redlining policy in cities — efforts to maintain segregation.

“This wall occupies a central part of the history of Morgan State University in Morgan, moved to this site in 1917 and this whole community was all white,” David Wilson, President of Morgan State University, said, according to CBS. “It became known as the hate wall, the spite wall because the neighbors who erected this wall to prevent Morgan students from literally walking across the street into the neighborhood and into the shopping center.”

On Tuesday, Wilson, school officials and local residents watched as an excavator took down the redbrick wall.

“We had no choice but to tear it down,” Wilson said, according to NBC. “We couldn’t have this symbol of hate staring down every single day. This was an easy decision for us. It was time for us to tear down that hate.”

Wilson said Morgan State University doesn’t plan on ignoring the past even though the wall is gone. A small part was kept as a historical marker in order for students to learn about its history.

“Hate, never ever wins, and Morgan State University is coming face-to-face with that, and we are preserving a certain part of that because we want to always be able to tell our story,” Wilson told NBC.

Baltimore was one of the first cities to adopt redlining policies to keep segregation in place in cities, according to NBC. The wall was built along Hillen Road, in front of the school’s entrance, after years of opposition. It was constructed in response to Morgan State University moving to its current location in 1917. At the time, the construction company Morris Macht, denied it having anything to do with race. A zoning board approved the wall and construction began in 1942.

“For the white community, this spite wall was to send a signal and to physically create a divider that would symbolize the segregation that they stood for,” Dale Green, a professor and architectural historian at Morgan State, told NBC. “They were not supportive of the integration of African Americans into the greater society. The wall was to fortify the whites from the Blacks.”

Calls to tear down the wall have been present in the local community until today.

“It’s really overwhelming to be honest,” Bridgette Neal, President of the Hillen Road Improvement Association, told CBS. “We are very excited. I’ve been here for 16 years, but I’ve heard plenty of residents who have talked about this wall being very restrictive and not inclusive of the community.”

Taking down the wall is part of Morgan State University’s “Morgan Momentum,” efforts to redevelop its campus in cooperation with the local community. So far, academic facilities, a bookstore and shops have been built.

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