'Fourth of April' Tells Story of Bowie State Protests

On April 4 in 1968, 227 students from Bowie State College, now Bowie State University, marched into the Maryland Statehouse, demanding a meeting with then-Gov. Spiro Agnew.

Their request: increased state financing to renovate aging academic buildings and student housing.

They marched into history that day – it was the same day that civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

This little-known event in Bowie State’s history is the subject of a new play, “Fourth of April,” part of Bowie State’s year-long 150th anniversary celebration as Maryland’s oldest historically black college or university.

Written by BSU assistant professor Bob Bartlett, the play will run from Nov. 19 through 22 in the Fine and Performing Arts Center’s Main Stage. It is directed by the Helen Hayes Award-nominated Psalmayene 24. It features a small cast of student actors who will portray the activities of the protest of that day and video vignettes of BSU alumni who participate in those protests.

In 1968, the protest at the Statehouse capped a week of protests on campus. When Governor Agnew refused to meet with the students, he ordered that they be sent to jail. While imprisoned, the students learned of Dr. King’s assassination.

“The Fourth of April” tells the story of the determined students who fought for better conditions on campus by taking their concerns to the highest level of state government.

Tickets can be purchased here.