IV. The Third Stage: An All White Institution
| The third phase of Berea's history was from l908 to l950. Because of the Day law, Berea in these years was an all white institution dedicated to educating students from the Southern Appalachian region. However, the College did find ways to continue and enhance contact between the races, especially during the administration of William J. Hutchins, the College's fourth president, who annually scheduled one important Negro speaker or musical aggregation. For example, in 1934 Charlotte Hawkins Brown, President of Palmer Institute in North Carolina delivered a lecture at Berea. She informed the students that "the Negro did not want to be white," and did not desire intermarriage, because "slavery had produced a sufficient supply of mulattoes for their children's children if they want light-colored mates." [Berea College Archives]. In l940, the fifth president, Francis Hutchins (William's son), initiated a series of interracial conferences and summer programs for Berea students to meet and to interact with Negro college students [Peck and Smith, 48]. This period of history concluded in l950 when Jesse H. Lawrence,the only black representative in the General Assembly of Kentucky, introduced an amendment to the Day law " to allow the co-education of white and Negro students in public or private schools above the high school level provided the governing authorities of the institution, corporation, group or body so elect, and provided that an equal, complete and accredited course is not available at the Kentucky State College for Negroes" [60]. The amendment was approved and in the fall of l950, Berea College re-opened its doors to Black students, an action which initiated the fourth phase of the school's history. |