Robert Hall Morrison

Robert Hall Morrison was the first president of Davidson College. Morrison, originally from Cabarrus County, North Carolina, enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, eventually graduating second in the class, behind future President James K. Polk. After graduating, Morrison entered the ministry before being appointed as president of Davidson. Morrison taught mathematics and science courses at the college. After a year as president, a typhoid fever epidemic swept through the area, taking two of his children. Morrison would later become ill and resign from the position in 1840, eventually retiring in 1849.

Although he claimed to be a “Union man at heart,” Presbyterian pastor and Davidson College's first president “claimed ownership of multiple enslaved people who were forced to work on the college grounds, and would eventually become a staunch supporter of the Confederacy.” The Morrison family arrived on campus with at least two enslaved people and kept at least three to work the grounds. “These individuals, named Mary, Sarah, and Bagwell, are some of the few enslaved people at the college who are identified in college materials.”