Born on May 27, 1883 in Wilmington, North Carolina, Joseph Cornelius Briscoe graduated from the Hampton Institute in 1903 and continued on to become one of Baltimore’s foremost foremost black educators and a powerful advocate for expanding vocational training.

According to an April 15, 1939 profile in the Afro American by Bettye Murphy:

Following his graduation from Hampton Institute thirty-three years ago, he planned to do contracting with a friend in California, but when asked, because of his knowledge of manual training, to accept the principalship of a school in Denton, Md., which needed also someone who could teach trades, he accepted and has been in the teaching profession ever since. At the Denton school, he organized a class of boys who actually did trade work as early as 1906 and 1907. This was a forerunner of the vocational work done in most schools today.

Joseph Cornelius Briscoe had multiple residences over the course of his life in Baltimore but 1232 Druid Hill Avenue has unique significance as his residence when he first started his career as an educator. Other residences include:

  • 1524 Druid Hill Avenue (1909) - nonextant?
  • 590 Prestman Street (1918) - extant
  • …

On September 11, 1909, the Afro American reported on the marriage of Joseph C. Briscoe, then at teacher of “manual training in School No. 107,” and Rosa A. Savage at Wilmington, Delaware, noting the couple planned to live at 1524 Druid Hill Avenue.

By 1910, the U.S. Census recorded Joseph Briscoe and Rosie Briscoe living with a single lodger, Anna Burrell. Note: What is the address for this?

By 1918, lived at 590 Prestman Street and is described as a tall, slender man by a World War I Draft Registration Card (1917-1918).

In 1925, Principal Briscoe presented at a meeting of A.M.E. Preachers held at Bethel Church, reported in the Afro-American newspaper on November 21. The preachers had invited Briscoe to “give a talk on the school and the work it is doing,” and he explained that the work is “intended primarily for those boys who drop out of school instead of going to high school.” At the same meeting, Rev. Ernest Lyons “scored the management o the Community Fund for its jim crow method of attempting to collect funds from colored people,” quoting Lyons:

They are so afraid we want to eat with them that they had a little special meeting down at the Sharp Street Community House, and furnished the dinner, I told them I had a dinner at home.

In 1932, Briscoe spoke before the Department of Public Welfare in Government of the Maryland League of Women Voters. The Sun reported on November 5, 1932, writing:

Joseph C. Briscoe, Negro principal of the Colored Vocational School, asserted that if the history of inmates of juvenile and adult penal institutions were available, a large number of cases would disclose that the individuals in question never had been trained for a job. It costs $300 a year to keep a convict imprisoned and $100 a year to education a child, he emphasized.

Another speaker, M.C. Kent, principal of the Boys’ Vocational School, noted a “net total of 3,3750 of more than 5,000 students leaving the public schools annually lack any form of training which will fit them for other than very unskilled occupations.” Edna M. Engle, principal of the Girls’ Vocational School also spoke. The audience included “social workers and representatives to the juvenile court.”

In November 1938, Joseph C. Briscoe joined a group of fifteen members of the Druid Hill avenue branch of the Baltimore Young Men’s Christian Association traveling to Washington, D.C. for a conference organized to “celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the organization’s activities among Negroes.

  • William Anderson
  • J.A.H. Callie
  • John T. Colbert
  • T. Alexander Date
  • Carrington L. Davis
  • A.N. Grant
  • William H. McAbee
  • Dr. RB. McRary
  • The Rev. A.J. Mitchell
  • George B. Murphy
  • Dr. W.F. Noville
  • Dr. A.O. Reid
  • George S. Whyte
  • Andrew W. Wicks

The Sun reported the list of delegates on November 2 and noted, T. Alexander Date is “the only member of the delegation who has been a member of the organization since its inception.”

In 1939, Joseph C. Briscoe married for a second time to fellow educator Virginia Hall.

On November 3, 1940, Governor O’Connor announced the appointment of four new members to the Cheltenham Board and the appointment of two others. The new members included Joseph Briscoe, then principal of the Colored Vocational School) along with:

  • State Senator Charles C. Marbury (D, Prince George’s County) appointed to fill “the unexpired term of the late Dr. William H. Gibbons”
  • Edward S. Lewis, “Negro, executive secretary of the Baltimore Urban League”
  • Sidney R. Traub, Baltimore attorney

On December 11, 1944, the Sun reported on Briscoe’s death, writing:

Joseph C. Briscoe, Negro, principal of the George Carver Vocational Training School, died yesterday morning at his home at 1303 Madison avenue. He was a member of the board of Cheltenham School for Boys and of the board of the Provident Hospital. Funeral services will be held at 10 A.M. Wednesday at St. Katherine’s Episcopal Church.

Additional report on Briscoe’s death

In 1948, the Vocational School was named for Briscoe. Source

In December 1977, educator Dr. Saul M. Perdue credited Joseph C. Briscoe as an important influence on his career. Source

Note: Additional research needed on Briscoe, Sherman (1908 - 1979)

Dedication of Carver in 1956 Profile on Virginia Briscoe Additional sources available through Google Newspapers