On Tuesday, February 16, 2021, leaders from Atlanta’s business and education
communities begin breaking walls and barriers with the first eSports degree program at a
Historically Black College or University. Google, the Arthur Blank Foundation, Door Dash,
Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Brown, East Point City Councilman Joshua Butler IV, will join
Morris Brown College’s President Dr. Kevin James and Pharaoh’s Conclave (PCX) as they begin
renovations to open the Ronald Floyd Thomas Center for eSports and Innovation at Morris Brown
College.
Erich and Jakita Thomas own and operate Pharaoh’s Conclave, Georgia’s leading organization
for diversity and inclusion in competitive video gaming. Their work to create opportunities for
minorities in STEM professions, not only caught the attention and praise of former President
Barack Obama, but also Atlanta’s business community. PCX and the Thomas Family Fund started
the initiative to bring an eSports program to an HBCU by donating $160,000.00 to Morris Brown
College to establish the Ronald Floyd Thomas Center for eSports and Innovation, after Erich’s
father, Ronald Floyd Thomas. The elder Thomas graduated from Morris Brown College in 2002.
PCX will now complete its “Cradle to Career” model with the opening of the Ronald Floyd
Thomas Center for eSports and Innovation at Morris Brown College. The focus on HBCUs will
help to address the lack of diversity in eSports and technology.
“Atlanta is one of the top cities in the country for gamers, therefore we felt that adding the
Esports Performance degree program to our existing degree options made sense,” said Dr.
Kevin James, Morris Brown’s President. “We were already updating our existing academic
programs for our accreditation application so we knocked out two birds with one stone. The first
course began in August 2020.. The addition of the eSports lab is a great addition to educating
our students. We are grateful to the Ronald Floyd Thomas family.”
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