Kurt Schmoke
| Kurt Schmoke | |
|---|---|
Kurt L. Schmoke
|
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| 46th Mayor of Baltimore | |
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In office December 7, 1987 – December 7, 1999 |
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| Preceded by | Clarence "Du" Burns |
| Succeeded by | Martin O'Malley |
| State's Attorney for Baltimore City | |
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In office 1983–1987 |
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| Preceded by | William A. Swisher |
| Succeeded by | Stuart O. Simms |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Kurt Lidell Schmoke December 1, 1949 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. Patricia Schmoke (Locks) |
| Children | Greg and Katherine |
| Profession | University president |
| Religion | Protestant Christian |
Kurt Lidell Schmoke (born December 1, 1949) is best known as the first elected black mayor of Baltimore, Maryland. He is the current president of the University of Baltimore (UB), and former Dean of the Howard University School of Law.
Schmoke was born and raised in Baltimore to Murray Schmoke, a civilian chemist for the US Army, and Irene B. Reid, a social worker. He attended the public schools of Baltimore.
Schmoke attended the Baltimore City College, the third oldest high school in the United States and the largest high school in Maryland at the time of his graduation in 1967. Schmoke excelled in both football and lacrosse. His speed afoot and his passing accuracy won him the starting job as the junior varsity and later varsity quarterback. As the varsity quarterback, he led the City Knights to two undefeated seasons and successive Maryland Scholastic Association A-conference championships in 1965 and 1966.
As a student, Schmoke was a member of the Baltimore City College "A-course", a college preparatory curriculum that required him to take Latin and other advanced studies not offered to the average Baltimore high school student. Schmoke was elected president of the school's student government in his senior year but also worked in the Baltimore community with disadvantaged youth. Compulsory community service had not yet been mandated for Baltimore high school students, yet he tutored and mentored young men from the inner city as a member of the Lancers Boys Club.
Schmoke entered Yale University in the fall of 1967. He played quarterback on the freshman team that year. While at Yale, Schmoke and his classmates started a day care center on campus for the children of the university's janitors and cafeteria workers who lived in New Haven. The center was named after Calvin Hill, a former Yale football star who became a star running back for the Dallas Cowboys, and still stands today.
Schmoke has been acknowledged as the undergraduate student leader who helped quell the possibility of riot on the Yale campus in the wake of the New Haven Black Panther trials in the spring of 1970. As New Haven filled with radical protesters, Yale students demanded the suspension of classes. A bitterly divided faculty met to discuss strategy, and invited a student leader to address the gathering. Schmoke, who was Secretary of the Class of 1971 and a leader of the Black Student Alliance at Yale, was selected to represent the students. He spoke only a few sentences: "The students on this campus are confused, they're frightened. They don't know what to think. You are older than we are, and are more experienced. We want guidance from you, moral leadership. On behalf of my fellow students, I beg you to give it to us." This moment is credited with helping to dispel the growing tensions: the university voted to bend its rules, making classes "voluntarily optional" to the end of the term, and despite small outbreaks of violence, no campus-wide unrest resulted.
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