Berea College professor Jackie Burnside author of new book about early Berea and Madison County

Burnside will show slides and discuss her new book at a program that includes lunch October 11, noon-1 p.m. in room 226 of the Bruce Building at Berea College, sponsored by the Berea College Appalachian Center.  Those wanting to attend should RSVP to (859) 985-3140.

“Berea and Madison County” focuses on the founding and 40 year development of the interracial town of Berea and based on the religious principle of the kinship (Christian brotherhood) of all people, especially between Whites and Blacks in a former slaveholding state after the Civil War.  Following the war, black families were invited to Berea by white abolitionist Rev. John G. Fee to develop an interracial school and church. From 1866 to 1904, residents’ lives revolved around Berea College, which educated black and white students together from primary school through college. In 1904, Kentucky’s Day Law prohibited interracial education. College trustees retained white students while funding blacks to attend all-black colleges elsewhere.  From 1904 to 1950, when the Day Law was amended, many residents upheld racial equality principles.

“I hope many residents of other communities will take heart that the interracial community efforts of these 19th century pioneers can be a model and inspiration of the high achievements residents of the 21st century can strive to accomplish,” says Burnside.

Images in the book include photos of people and scenes and documents from Berea and southern Madison County’s early settlement, and campus and community photos through the 1950s.  Photos of the community’s Rosenwald School, Middletown Consolidated School, where African American children were educated through 1963, are also included.  Middletown School was recently renovated and is the new home of Berea College’s GEAR UP program.  As part of the renovation, an exhibit about the school’s early history and its importance in the community will be on display in the space.  A formal rededication is scheduled for October 19.

Burnside has resided in Berea, Ky., since the 1970s.  Her interest in local history started while she was a college student.  A 1974 graduate of Berea College, Burnside enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in Panama with the 193rd Infantry Brigade (Canal Zone) for nearly four years. After completing her Army service, she and her husband, Virgil Burnside, returned to Berea where he was employed by Berea College. She continued her higher education by obtaining a doctorate in sociology at Yale University in 1988.  Her dissertation was an organizational study of Berea College with its abolitionist founders, post-slavery black and white students, and teachers in the late 19th century. She was amazed at the wealth of primary documents, including letters and other records about the black and white students, teachers and families who pioneered the interracial education school and community named after the biblical town of Berea.

Since 1999, Burnside has worked with Berea College students and community residents to collect oral history from the pioneers’ descendants. The Historic Black Berea Project has created a touring map with an audio tape and CD for local schools, residents and tourists. Arcadia Publishing’s publication of this photographic history book completes Burnside’s earlier research.