Read about some of the African Americans who contributed to and benefited from the life and culture of Oberlin College during its 176-plus year history.
1835
Oberlin College becomes the first institution of higher education in America to admit students without respect to race as a matter of regular policy. The first two students are Charles Langston (1835, 1841-44) and James Bradley (spring 1836).
1842
In 1842, Sarah J. Watson Barnett becomes the first African American woman to enroll in the college. Lucy Stanton Sessions is the first African American woman to earn a four-year degree, literary course of study, in 1850.
1854
John Mercer Langston of Virginia graduates from the Collegiate Department at Oberlin in 1849, the fifth African American man to do so. He later enrolled in Oberlin's Graduate School of Theology graduate program in preparation for legal study. He earns a master's degree, but cannot gain admittance to law school. Undeterred, he read law under Philemon Bliss of Elyria, Ohio. Langston passes the Ohio bar exam in 1854 and is the first African American lawyer in Ohio.
1862
Mary Jane Patterson, a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, studies one year in the Oberlin College Preparatory Department and four years in the college before graduating in 1862 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, the first African American woman in the United States to do so. She becomes a teacher and, in 1871, becomes the first African American principal of the newly established Preparatory High School for Negroes in Washington, D.C.
1884
Anna Julia Cooper, who earns a bachelor's (1884) and a masters (1887) degree in mathematics, becomes a teacher at the M Street High School (now Dunbar High School) in Washington, D.C., the first public high school for African Americans. She becomes principal in 1902. Rather than focus on trades, Cooper promotes academics among her students, many of whom later attend Brown, Harvard, Yale, Amherst, and Wilberforce.
1888
South African born John Langalibalele Dube enrolls at the Oberlin Preparatory Academy, the pre-college division, in fall 1888. Dube stays in Oberlin until 1890, working, studying the sciences, mathematics, classical Greek works and practicing his oratorical skills. He is the founding president of the African National Congress (1912), the political organization, which, years later, is primarily responsible for overthrowing the Apartheid system in South Africa.
1933
Memphis born Mary Church Terrell attends Oberlin Academy, in Ohio and enrolls in the four-year "Classical" or "Gentleman's Course" at Oberlin College, graduating in 1884. In 1891, Oberlin College offers her the position of registrar, including a faculty position, but she declines because of her forthcoming marriage. She is a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Oberlin recognizes her in 1933 as one of its 100 outstanding alumni and awards her an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1948.
1934
Shirley Graham DuBois '34 was an author, playwright, composer, and activist who was the second wife of the scholar and writer W.E.B. DuBois in his later years. Graham DuBois devoted much of her life to fighting for desegregation in the United States and decolonization in Africa. After a brief first marriage, Graham DuBois moved to Paris in 1929 to study music composition. A year later, she returned to the states and received her undergraduate and master's degrees from Oberlin College.
1943
Jewel Lafontant-Mankarious becomes the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School (1946). Mankarious parlays her degree into a distinguished career. During President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration, she is the first African American woman to serve as assistant U.S. attorney. Later President Richard Nixon names her to his cabinet as the first African American deputy solicitor general. Under President George Bush, she becomes U.S. ambassador-at-large and U.S. coordinator for refugee affairs.
1967
Oberlin College launches a Black Studies Department, now called the African American studies department, offering courses in response to student demands for a more socially relevant education. The program offers both a major and a minor.
1992
Downtown business owner and Oberlin College resident faculty member Adenike Sharpley helps organize the town's first observance of Juneteenth, a national celebration that focuses on the abolition of slavery in the United States. Oberlin sought to recognize its role in the abolitionist movement.
1995
Denyce Graves is an internationally recognized mezzo-soprano who performs with opera companies and in recital around the world. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in the 1995-96 season in the role of Carmen. She has an honorary doctorate of music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, presented to her in 1998.
1997
The Imani Winds Wind Quintet brings European, American, African and Latin American musical traditions that offers a distinct and rich voice in the classical music world. Two members are Oberlin Conservatory of Music graduates. The Grammy-nominated group tours internationally and records with Koch International Classics, among others. Imani Winds released its fifth album This Christmas in November 2008. Current members are Valerie Coleman (flute), Toyin Spellman-Diaz '94 (oboe), Mariam Adam (clarinet), Jeff Scott (French horn), and Monica Ellis '95 (bassoon).
The Oberlin Alumni Association of African Ancestry or OA4 is established to support African American student retention on campus, encourage alumni involvement, and develop mechanisms for the group's ongoing involvement with the college. Jackie Bradley Hughes '76 is among the founding members.
1999
Alumni Jackie Bradley Hughes '76, Dawn Alexander '82, dt ogilvie '70, and Kay Thomson invest their money to establish the 1835 Fund to commemorate the year Oberlin began admitting students of color. The fund supports African ancestry constituents in areas of scholarships, retention, and alumni lectures.
2001
Conservatory of Music students Martha Newland '03 and Ivy Newman '04 cofound the Oberlin Conservatory Black Musicians Guild as a means to create a base of academic, social, musical, and cultural support and guidance for African American Conservatory students. The group also provides public programs that showcase the works of African American composers, musicians, performers, and other artists.
2004
Former Oberlin point guard Chris Broussard '90 is a blogger and sports columnist for ESPN the magazine. He launched his sports writing career with the Plain Dealer covering the Cleveland Cavaliers before going to the New York Times to cover the New York Nets, the Knicks, and the NBA. He joined ESPN in September 2004.
2006
Adrian M. Fenty '92 is elected mayor of Washington, D.C., in November 2006, the youngest ever to take on the position. At age 35, he won in all 142 precincts and earned 89 percent of the vote in the general election. He is just the fifth mayor of the district. He took office in January 2007.
2009
Johnnetta B. Cole '57 is the newly appointed director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, the only museum in the United States dedicated to the collection, conservation, study, and exhibition of traditional and contemporary African art. She is the chair of the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute established during her tenure as president of Bennett College for Women. The museum will benefit from Cole's vast experience as a scholar, educator, author and leader of an international nonprofit organization. In 1987, Cole became the first African American woman to become president at Spelman College in the 107–year history of the Atlanta-based institution.
Dwan Robinson '83 is elected president of the Oberlin Alumni Association, the first African American woman to lead the association. A resident of Columbus, Ohio, she is a visiting faculty member at Michigan State University College of Education. She will serve a two-year term. Wendell P. Russell Jr. '71 was the first African American to lead the association, serving in the leadership role from 2005-2007.
2010
The College and Conservatory of Music unveil the new Bertram and Judith Kohl Building, the new home for the jazz studies, music theory, and music history. The building also honors the late Wendell Logan, who established the jazz studies program at Oberlin. A two-day celebration in May featured Bill and Camille Cosby and Stevie Wonder, along with such Oberlin notables as trustee and benefactor Stewart Kohl '77 and his wife, Donna; Leon Dorsey '81, Stanley Conwell '62, James McBride '79.
The Oberlin Alumni Association of African Ancestry (OA4) has its reunion on campus in the fall to mark 175 years of African American heritage at the college. More than 130 alumni returned for the celebration. See the OA4 sideshow.
