Early Black Graduates of Oberlin College
The Oberlin Collegiate Institute (later Oberlin College) was founded on groundbreaking values in 1833 when it became the first coeducational institution in the United States. Two years later in 1835, Oberlin cemented its progressive standards when the board of trustees adopted a policy allowing all students to receive an education “irrespective of color.”
George Boyer Vashon (1824-78,), born in Carlisle, PA, was Oberlin College’s first black graduate, receiving the A.B. degree in 1844. After finishing his studies, he returned to Pennsylvania to practice law, but was not allowed to be admitted to the bar because of his skin color. Vashon was admitted to the New York state bar in 1848, becoming New York’s first black lawyer. Vashon also had a notable career in education. He was a language teacher in Haiti, president of Avery College in Pittsburgh, PA, Howard University’s first black professor, and professor of mathematics and ancient and modern languages at Alcorn University.
Mary Jane Patterson (1840-94), was born in Raleigh, NC and later moved to Oberlin, OH with her family. She then attended Oberlin College and became the first black woman to ever receive an A.B. degree in 1862. After leaving Oberlin, Patterson dedicated her life to education. She was the assistant to fellow Oberlin graduate Fanny Jackson Coppin at Philadelphia’s Institute for Colored Youth (now the Cheyney University of Pennsylvania), and then taught at Washington D.C.’s Preparatory High School for Colored Youth (now Dunbar High School). She served as the school’s first black principal, and under her leadership the high school gained enrollment and added a teacher training program. Patterson continued to teach at the high school until her death. She also was very active in other organizations for people of color in D.C., including assisting the elderly, rescue work, and teaching organizations.
Three Trailblazing Oberlin Women
The Oberlin College Class of 1884 produced many talented and remarkable graduates. Included in this class are three black women: Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida Gibbs Hunt, who made their mark on the world in education, women’s rights, and became lifelong colleagues and friends.
Mary Eliza Church Terrell (1863-1954) was born in Memphis, TN and later moved to Oberlin, OH with her family, where she attended high school and then Oberlin College. After her education at Oberlin, she taught at Wilberforce University, and then studied in Europe for two years, becoming fluent in Italian, French, and German. When Terrell returned to the United States, she shifted her focus from her career in education to social activism. She became the first president of the National Association of Colored Women, fought for black women’s suffrage when the National American Women Suffrage Association was more focused on white women, and stood on picket lines to fight for the integration of businesses and schools. The Oberlin College main library is now named for Terrell, and her illustrious career and achievements can be studied at our digital exhibit.
Ida Alexander Gibbs Hunt (1862-1957) was born in Victoria, British Columbia, and later moved to Oberlin, OH. Hunt began her career after college as a teacher, but had to leave her position after her marriage in 1920, as married women were not seen as appropriate teachers for young people. She shifted her focus to worldwide peace issues and racial and gender equality. Hunt assisted W.E.B. DuBois organize Pan-African Congresses, and served as the primary French translator of the 1919 Paris Pan-African Congress, and co-chaired the 1923 London Pan-African Congress. She also organized the first black chapter of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and served on the board of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA.
Anna Julia Haywood Cooper (1858-1964) was born into slavery in Raleigh, NC. After completing her studies at Oberlin, Cooper moved to Washington, D.C. and taught Latin at the M Street High School. She left her position there due to her belief that black students should be able to have a classical education, instead of only being offered trade schooling, but later returned. Cooper was a speaker at the World’s Congress of Representative Women in 1893, and spoke at the first Pan-African Congress in 1900. She received a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne in 1924 (at the age of 65), which made her only the fourth black woman to hold a doctorate at that time. Cooper then became president of Frelinghuysen University, a school founded in D.C. to provide black students older than public school age access to schooling.
These are just brief glimpses into the fascinating lives of these Oberlin College alums. For further information on each of them, you can search the African American Registry, or contact us for holdings in the Oberlin College Archives.
