Berea College and Interracial Education:
The First 150 Years - GSTR 210

Berea came into existence because Cassius Clay invited John G. Fee to Madison County, Kentucky, to establish an anti-slavery settlement (Ellis, Everman, and Sears 105).² Fee, the son of a slave owner, viewed slavery as “the sum of all villainies” (Ellis, Everman, and Sears 108).³ He desired to build anti-slavery churches and “to have a good school here in central Kentucky, which would be to Kentucky what Oberlin is to Ohio, Anti-slavery, Anti-caste, Anti-sum, Anti-secret societies, Anti-sin” (Ellis, Everman, and Sears 133).⁴ These tasks would be accomplished in a county which had 1,881 slaveholding families who owned a total of 6,118 slaves in 1860 (Ellis, Everman, and Sears 139).⁵ more....

From 1908 to 1950, the third stage, only White students from the Southern Appalachian region were educated at Berea College. However, efforts were made to continue and enhance contact between the races. William J. Hutchins, the fourth president, annually scheduled one important Negro speaker or musical aggregation. In 1940, Francis Hutchins, the fifth president and William’s son, initiated a series of interracial conferences and summer programs for Berea students to meet and interact with Negro college students (Peck and Smith 48).²⁸ In 1950, Jesse H. Lawrence, the only black representative in the General Assembly of Kentucky, introduced an amendment to the Day law “to allow the co-education of white and Negro students in public or private schools above the high school level…provided an equal, complete and accredited course is not available at the Kentucky State College for Negroes” (Peck and Smith 60).²⁹ In the fall of 1950, Berea College re-opened its doors to Black students and initiated the fourth stage of the school's history.

Educating White students from the Southern Appalachian region remained the focus during the fourth stage. However, in 1950, the Board of Trustees “empowered the administration ‘to admit such negro (sic) students from within the mountain region whom it finds thoroughly qualified, coming completely within provisions of the Kentucky law, and whom in its judgment it appears we should serve’ ” (Peck and Smith 61).³⁰ As a result, until the end of the 1960’s, the number of Black students increased very slowly. In the opinion of Peck and Smith, the low number was caused by “the small number of Negro residents in the southern mountains; the poorer educational opportunities for Negroes in elementary and secondary work; and Berea’s policy of admitting Negro applicants most likely to do college work well” (61).³¹ Subsequent events forced change upon the institution.

On November 26, 1967, 18 Black students submitted a petition which stated: “We, the Black Students of Berea College, are in support of the initiation [sic] of a Negro History course in the academic curriculum on this campus.” ³² This event marked the end of the fourth stage and the initiation of the fifth stage.

Two areas of the new curriculum implemented in 1970-1971 dealt specifically with the interracial commitment. First, Issues and Values, a new required freshman core course, was added to the General Education curriculum so all students would be exposed to the Christian, Appalachian, and interracial commitments from an academic perspective. Its goals included examining current issues, the Christian commitment and the role of values. Black America and Appalachia issues were two of the continuing issues (Curriculum Committee 1969 5).⁵¹ In the fall of 1982, Issues and Values was replaced by Freshman Seminar, a course to involve all freshmen, “in a critical study of the topic Freedom and Justice as it relates to the commitments of Berea College, to Appalachia, the Christian faith, the kinship of all people, or the dignity of labor” (Berea College Catalog 1987-1989).⁵² Each section of the course dealt with only two of the Great Commitments; a decision made by the specific faculty member. For many years, less than fifty percent of the sections dealt with the interracial education commitment. more....

In July 1994, Larry D. Shinn became the eighth President of Berea College. Shinn saw education as means of finding common ground “in a society plagued by divisions based on race, religion or ethnic origins” (Wilson 202)⁷⁵. At Bucknell University, Shinn initiated and implemented major affirmative action and minority hiring and enrollment plans. So, there was hope that the college's efforts to achieve the commitment to interracial education would improve. more....

In the 2006 edition of “Being and Becoming: Berea College in the 21st Century, The Strategic Plan for Berea College,” the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) defined interracial education at Berea College as

the education of black and white people together for the benefit of their learning (both inside and outside the classroom), their understanding of one another, and the reconciliation of the breach in our lives caused by slavery, institutional racism, and the resulting personal prejudices found in both black and white communities.
(71-72).⁹⁴

The SPC was reaffirming that the intentional education of Blacks and Whites in a Christian environment is seminal for achieving racial conciliation and broader cultural diversity and continuing the work of the founders. Thus, 150 years later, the commitments of the founders of Berea College are still important.

However, there is a major change. Now, the challenge is to achieve the interracial commitment in a world and region that is more diverse ethnically, racially and religiously and calling for multicultural education. But, as to the first 150 years, to paraphrase an old cliché spoken on many Sundays in predominantly African American churches, from the perspective of this alumnus and faculty member, Berea College is not where it should be in terms of achieving the interracial commitment, but thank God, it is not where it was during the second and third stages of the College’s history!