Education
As a child he demonstrated such superior academic abilities that friends raised funds to send him to high school in the United States.
In 1923, Morón entered Hampton Institute in Hampton, Va. , founded as Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute in 1868 by Samuel C. Armstrong to educate black and Indian children.
In 1927, he graduated with a trade school certificate in upholstery and a high school diploma.
In 1928, Morón entered Brown University on a full scholarship; he graduated cum laude in 1932 with a Bachelor of Philosophy in sociology.
He continued his education at the University of Pittsburgh, where he received a master's degree in sociology and social work in 1933.
These years of academia and social work did not lead him to forget his early years at Hampton Institute, by then a college.
While he was at Harvard, Morón served as business consultant to the institute, and upon his graduation he became its general business manager.
Career
His thesis was entitled "The Movement of the Negro Population Within the City of Pittsburgh During the Period from 1910 to 1930. "
During this period he taught classes in housing for the Department of Social Work at Atlanta University.
In 1944, Morón received a Rosenwald fellowship to Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1947.
Morón returned to Hampton at an auspicious time.
He was named acting president in October 1948 and was elected president the following year.
Morón was the first alumnus and the first African American to serve as president of Hampton Institute.
In his inaugural address on Oct. 29, 1949, he defined Hampton Institute's role as "continu[ing] to meet changing needs of students without becoming ordinary or mediocre. "
With these goals in mind, Morón initiated many innovative programs.
Recognizing that the often-difficult transition from high school to college resulted in a high percentage of failure, he established a six-week precollege program for high school graduates in 1953.
They also acquired improved study habits and social skills.
Beginning in 1954, the Off-Island Program each year sent five graduates to Hampton Institute for a five-year teacher-training program, after which both a bachelor's and a master's degree were conferred.
The first students graduated in 1958.
The On-Island Program allowed professors from the United States to travel to the Virgin Islands and offer courses for teachers in the evenings and on Saturdays.
Despite Morón's innovative programs, his tenure as president of Hampton Institute was not an easy one.
He also believed that financially strapped black colleges should leave mass education to publicly supported institutions.
In 1959, Morón resigned as president of Hampton Institute, and was succeeded by Jerome H. Holland.
This reason for his resignation reflected both his successes and his difficulties as president.
[Morón's papers are at Hampton University, Hampton, Va.
American City, Apr. 1942; and "Maintaining the Solvency of the Private College Through Efficient Management, " Journal of Negro Education, Spring 1958.
For an assessment of his presidency of Hampton Institute, see Mae Barbee Boone Pleasant, Hampton University (1990).
An obituary is in the New York Times, Nov. 1, 1971. ]
Politics
In 1933, Morón was appointed commissioner of public welfare of the Virgin Islands by Governor Paul Pearson.
Views
His publications include "Public Housing from a Community Point of View, " Social Forces, Oct. 1940; "Where Shall They Live?"
