A decades-long symbol of racial hatred, dubbed the “Spite Wall,” that segregated the Black students at Morgan State University from their White neighbors in Baltimore was demolished Tuesday (April 11).

A bulldozer tore down a brick wall that the HBCU’s neighbors began to build in 1939 “to prevent Morgan State students from simply walking across the street into the all-White neighborhood and to shop at an all-White shopping center,” Morgan State University President Dr. David K. Wilson said at the demolition.

Wilson added, “Today, what we are doing is basically tearing down hate and building up hope.”

The demolition is part of the university’s expansion plan called “Morgan Momentum,” Morgan State spokeswoman Cheryl Stewart told NBC News, adding that it was time to “remove the wall so we can continue to build and move forward.”

Wilson said the historically Black university, founded in 1867, moved to the Baltimore neighborhood in 1917, which made the local residents uneasy.

Racial tension escalated in 1939 when the state purchased the private Black college and made it a public institution because Maryland “would not allow Black students to go to its all-White universities.”

That’s when Morgan State’s White neighbors launched a plan to build the wall in response to the growing number of Black students in the area.

The wall remained in place despite the changes achieved by the civil rights movement. Generations later, few people knew why the wall was erected.

“Morgan State is an institution not afraid to dig into the past and to unearth those things that are unpleasant and to make sure they are never forgotten,” Wilson said. Officials plan to keep a small portion of the wall in place so as not to forget the past.