"One Blood": Berea's Black Settlers

"One Blood": Berea's Black Settlers Richard Sears 14 Beginning in 1866, Berea, in Madison County, Kentucky, was the scene of a unique project in interracial living. An integrated school, church, and community flourished here for almost forty years—until Kentucky's infamous Day Law (which prohibited interracial education ) effectively ended the experiment. The church, grade school, high school, and college were founded by a native Kentuckian, Rev. John G. Fee, andfellow abolitionists from Oberlin, Ohio, including Rev. John A. R. Rogers. The community ofBerea was settled by white people, mostly quite poor, from the Appalachian foothills, especially Jackson and Rockcastle counties, and by blackpeople, recently freed slaves from the Kentucky Blue Grass. During a decade of research I grew more and more concerned to discover the roots ofBerea's black settlers, whom the curious (and, I suppose, racist) twists of Berea's history have mostly obscured. It was as if they never existed, although in reality they contributed greatly to the establishment of Berea, Kentucky, and Berea College, helped to build both town and school—helped to such an extent that Berea College would never have existed without them. I searched censuses, town records, school registers, account books, obituaries, graveyards, family histories, diaries and memoirs, and newspapers, and I interviewed descendants ofsome of Berea s African American founders. These early figures were noteworthy, even though they have received little or no attention; most Berea histories have, at best, treated them as passive recipients of the bountiful work of others—others who were, of course, white. Such a view is not supported by the evidence. The diligence, energy, patience, ambition, courage, and devotion of Berea's black settlers—all of whom had lived in bondage —emerges clearly from the records. This essay, reflecting my desire to right the balance in theirfavor, is dedicated to the memory of African American founders of Berea, Kentucky. Rev. John G. Fee's scheme for interracial education in Berea, Kentucky, required , from the beginning, a total social context: the relationship of school to church and community was integral to his conception of practical recognition of equality. It was never enough, in his view, to teach equality without having the means to practice it, and he considered it pointless to speak of a person's having a right, if that right could not be enjoyed. Even though his plans began at a very specific, local level, he envisioned a school which would contribute to "national well being by its active demonstration of principles." Berea was designed as a sign for the entire United States. In 1874, Fee wrote in favor of the new civil rights bill, which had not yet been passed. His argument consisted of gointing to "the little town of Berea, Kentucky," with its interracial community and integrated school. At that time Berea had seventy-four white families, "some from abroad—most . . . natives." Of these white families, fifty-eight were landholders. "In the same town or area" were forty-nine colored families. "Of these forty-two [were] landholders [with] their lots, their homesteads." Fee claimed Berea was the most harmonious, the quietest community he had ever known. "What has been done can be again done," he stated, "and with better men and greater facilities, a better work. Such communities [like Berea] must in every country be a regenerating force . . . centers of population made up of true men and women." Most of Berea's early success sprang directly from Fee's most daring and effective idea. Immediately after the Civil War he had determined that Berea would be the place where black people could own property of their own; he did not wish to promote a system of segregated ownership, however, but insisted on a kind of "interspersion." All black people should not live apart, but blacks and whites should be interspersed about the countryside and in the town. In the 15 186Os and '70s Fee's interspersion policy was fully implemented. Fee himself, many of the resident trustees , and a small group of Berea supporters provided black settlers with land of their own, on terms they could afford, with practical help at every stage. Most slaves were unfamiliar with business practices—what experience had...