by Leigh Wingfeld
Author’s Note: In working on the digital publication on the Judge John Marshall Harlan statue, I found that his brother was noteworthy. History is complex, understanding the various perspectives of an issue helps us as young intellectuals make better decisions for the future of our world. I would like to give credit to the Grace Doherty Library for making much of the historic information pertaining to Centre College easy to access through the CentreCyclopedia website. I would advise checking the Centre Cyclopedia Webpage for more historical information. Within this article, I will provide a brief history of Centre’s race policy, who Robert Harlan is and propose ideas on how to move forward.
Danville and Centre College’s History in Regards to Race
Slavery and racism are two issues that have permeated the social space in American politics and society since the founding of the nation. The physical relics of slavery are clear scars on the history of Danville and Centre College. For example, Justice John Marshall Harlan was a slave owner, yet he is memorialized on campus; the graveyard on the grounds of the Presbyterian church right off campus is predominantly the graves of slaves, but their names aren’t known. Perryville Battlefield, a civil war battlefield, is an 18 minute drive from Centre Campus. There are slave quarters as part of the McDowell residence museum, a hospital and a museum are both erected in honor of a slave owner. While slavery based on race was outlawed with the ratification of the 13th amendment, the culture of racism continued, this can be observed in Centre College’s history.
In 1904, Kentucky legislature passed the Day Law, which “prohibited any person, group of people, or corporation from the teaching of black and white students in the same school,” according to CentreCyclopedia. Furthermore, “Centre never had a policy that expressly denied African-American students admittance, for the first half of the twentieth-century it operated under the restrictions of the Day Law.” Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Centre College maintained that they could not integrate as they must follow the law of the state. Various black scholars applied to Centre College during this time period, but were constantly rejected due to their race. In the 1950’s, following an amendment to the Day Law allowing Colleges to voluntarily desegregate, Centre College President Walter Groves asked the board of trustees to consider the process of desegregating Centre College and admitting black students. Groves and the Centre Board of Trustees continued to have conflict over the issue of desegregation until 57’ in which Groves resigned in part due to this conflict with the Trustees. The man selected to replace Groves was Thomas Spragden, and his stance was very clear: “any institution should accept students without regard to race; a diverse student body was an educational benefit; he would not only be open to African American students at Centre, but would actively encourage their admission, but he would not allow Centre’s level of expectation to drop for any student” as described by CentreCyclopedia. In June of 1958, Centre finally adopted a policy which reads: “Centre College is committed to a selective policy of admission…Candidates for admission will be judged in terms of scholastic aptitudes giving promise of a constructive contribution to the life of the campus and of potential future leadership in human affairs. No candidate will be arbitrarily excluded on grounds of race or creed.” Centre would enroll Tim Kusi, a student from Ghana, as its first Black student in 1961, would enroll its first African-American student in 1964 and would enroll the first Black faculty member in 1972.
A Forgotten Boyle County Icon
Robert Harlan, John Marshall Harlan’s half-brother, was of mixed race and described by the Smithsonian magazine as “light-skinned, blue-eyed slave.” He was fathered by James Harlan, John Marshall Harlan’s father, through his rape of an enslaved woman. Robert and John were raised together in the same household. Through Robert Harlan’s entrepreneurial spirit in establishing a barbershop and a grocery store, Harlan saved $500, and was declared a free man on September 18th, 1848. Utilizing his small fortune made during the Gold Rush, Robert Harlan went on to “invest in real estate, open a photography business, and dabble quite successfully in the race horse business,” according to the Smithsonian magazine. In the abolitionist stronghold of Cincinnati, Robert married a white woman and lived openly as a “negro” man. Robert Harlan went on to be “elected a delegate to the Republican National Convention, and President Chester A. Arthur appointed him a special agent to the U. S. Treasury Department. He continued to work in Ohio, fighting to repeal laws that discriminated on the basis of race, and in 1886 he was elected as a state representative.” Robert Harlan, like his brother, was born and raised in Boyle County, so why didn’t he attend Centre? Despite Robert Harlan’s intellectual and entrepreneurial merit, he would never become an alumni of Centre College, due to the color of his skin. Robert Harlan was considered “light-skinned”, if he had been born to a white mother and black father he would have been born free, but due to the racial laws at the time he had to buy his freedom. In another universe, perhaps there is a statue of Robert Harlan the entrepreneur, the politician and the progressive on Centre Campus.
Moving Forward
According to Forbes, Centre College consists of 72.3% white students, meaning little more than a fourth of students at Centre are people of color. Centre remains a predominantly white campus. While there is no singular cause for this, one can speculate a few possibilities. One possibility is that Centre is not attracting students of color. In discussions with various students of color on Campus, the most common theme is that they don’t feel welcomed on campus. One student compared their experience to being looked at like a “zoo animal.” There is strength in diversity, having various opinions and perspectives of the world allows students to have a more comprehensive understanding of the world, echoing the liberal arts values of Centre as an institution. Increasing diversity by attracting more young scholars of color to Centre College’s campus will help to lighten the effects of the Centre bubble, create more well rounded students and prepare students for an ever more diverse work force.