Kurt L. Schmoke, born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1949, came from a middle class background. His father, Murray, a civilian chemist for the U.S. Army, was a graduate of Morehouse College, and his mother, Irene was a social worker. Schmoke attended the city’s prestigious public high school, Baltimore City College, winning both academic and athletic distinctions, and leading his school to a state championship in football. Schmoke entered Yale University in 1967 and three years later, he acted as a student leader to help defuse a crisis in 1970 over the New Haven murder trial of Black Panther Bobby Seale. After graduating from Yale, Schmoke studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. In 1976 he graduated from Harvard Law School. Following a brief career in Washington, D.C., serving on the White House Domestic Policy Staff and at the Department of Transportation during the Administration of President Jimmy Carter, he returned to Baltimore and was elected to the position of State’s Attorney in 1982, and five years later he won the election for mayor of Baltimore