Oberlin College has played an enormous part in Black American academic achievement. A year after its founding, in 1834, the authorities of Oberlin College negotiated to earn a bachelor’s degree “regardless of colour.” They have been the only college to have such a law at the time. Oberlin College of science and technology has more than 50-degree courses, minors, and specializations available in the College of Arts and Sciences. The college was first named Oberlin Collegiate Institute till 1850 when it was given its current name. Lets’ start with Is Oberlin A Black College?
Due to the tremendous effect of Oberlin College being the first to admit students regardless of color made the Oberlin college to be referred to as a black College.
Oberlin admitted students “without regard to complexion, color or race” two years after its commencement, coming to be one of the first colleges in the United States to do so; before the American Civil War, Oberlin College was regarded as a hub for antislavery activities. Oberlin Theology was first articulated by Charles Grandison Finney, professor of theology and president of the College from 1851 to 1866.
In addition, Oberlin is the first in the United States to submit women. Women had studied in the “Ladies Department” at Oberlin since the school’s inception, but four women entered the normal college graduate degree in 1837. Following the Civil War, Oberlin’s Black graduates played important roles in creating faculties of other Black colleges As these universities expanded in size and other white colleges began to admit Black students, Oberlin began to lose its uniqueness.
Some of the reasons Oberlin College admitted blacks include the following:
To encourage Racial Egalitarianism.
When it decided to teach students “irrespective of colour” in 1835, Oberlin College became the first institute of higher education to make racial equality a cause. However, the implementation of this admissions policy by the pioneering college was irregular. Oberlin College’s Constructing Black Education.
To enhance Communal cooperation between blacks and whites.
Oberlin is one of the few schools in the country with such a dominant student cooperative system, in which you organize, purchase, cook, and clean up after every meal while saving money, all without the supervision of faculty or staff. It is an excellent way to experience communal cooperation with your fellow students while also gaining an incredible sense of fulfilment and independence. It also generates fantastic coeducational social networks for connecting with others.
Eradication of Slavery.
Oberlin’s history as the first private school to accept Black students, as well as its subsequent antislavery activities, are critical to understanding Black educational history. Before the American Civil War, Oberlin College was respected as the centre of anti-slavery activities.
Public Education Provision for the Blacks.
Before the Civil War, education opportunities were scarce for the majority of the American population, but they were practically non-existent for Blacks. It was taboo for Blacks in the South to be educated but for Blacks in the North, public education was limited.
Similarly, in the early nineteenth century, there was no college for blacks to attend. Although the Bowdoin College bragged of the first Black graduate in 1827, few other colleges and universities welcomed Black students before the Civil War. As a result, the opportunity that Oberlin provided to Black students was extremely important.
The Blacks That Graduated From Oberlin College Before the Civil War.
Oberlin College, which was established in 1833, has been a pioneer in the growth of higher education for racial minorities. As the first academy to admit students of any racial or ethnic group, Oberlin has produced several notable African Americans. Some of them include:
- George Boyer Vashon (1824-78,), bred in Carlisle, was Oberlin College’s first black who completed and acquired the B. A degree in 1844. After the completion of his education, he withdrew to Pennsylvania to practise law but was not deemed to be admitted to the bar because of his skin colour.
- Blanche Kelso Bruce, was a slave and Oberlin graduate, was the first African American to serve a full six-year term in the United States Senate.
- Mary Jane Patterson (1840-94), bred and brought up in Raleigh, North Carolina later shifted to Oberlin OH with her family. She became the first black woman in the world to obtain a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and was an alumna.
- Mary Eliza Church Terrell (1863-54) bred in Memphis, Tennessee and later moved to Oberlin Ohio, with her family, where she attended high school and then Oberlin College.
Is Oberlin College Good For Black People Currently?
Although the college has a proud history of educating African Americans, the situations of many black students have differed from those of their white classmates. These one-of-a-kind experiences influence how much black alumni contribute to Oberlin College, both financially and emotionally. Realizing that they have not been wholly involved in the general activities of the Oberlin Alumni Association, the Black Alumni Committee was established in 1987 as an “appointed committee” of the Oberlin Association Council.
The mission and vision of the Committee (the Black Alumni Committee) is to increase the involvement of African American graduates in alumni activities, at the invitation of the college’s president and the initiative of the Executive Board; it has sighted a particular priority on the wants and interests of currently enrolled and prospective black students.
Conclusion.
The choice was made to admit Black students to college and provide them with fair access to the academic program as their white allies questioned the widely held belief that Blacks are infantile, unqualified, and futile to learning.
It is important to note that, Oberlin had the most black students of any American college or university. Oberlin College had generated one-third of African American college graduates in the United States by 1900. That is why the college is refer to as black College.
FAQs.
- Who is the founder of Oberlin College?
A Presbyterian minister, the Rev. John J. Shepherd and a missionary, Philo P. Stewart founded Oberlin college in 1833.
- What was the objective of the founder?
Due to the lack of strong Christian principles in west America, they decided to start a college and colony based on religious beliefs, where they will train Christian leaders for the boundless most desolate places in west America.