VI. The Fifth Stage: The Black Revolution

In many ways, the fifth phase was the most difficult phase for the leaders of the college. First, there was the problem of the attitude of the White students. In January l969, four students {two White and two Black} submitted the results of a survey in which they compared the racial attitudes of white students at Berea College to Allport's profile of the prejudicial person and the environment which is most likely to produce a prejudiced person. They concluded that the "typical" {White} Berea College student fit Allport's description of a prejudiced person [Blacks 1924-1970]. Unfortunately, the students did not examine the attitudes of Black students to determine if they would have fit Allport's profile.
A second problem involved the Black students. Like their counterparts at other colleges and universitites, they had entered the Black Revolution. No longer were they Negroes; they were Black or Afro-American. They wore African clothing. Their hairstyles were natural. They wanted black dormitories or at least, all black floors or suites. And, as stated above, they demanded the introduction of black studies courses. In the Fall Term of l968, Berea College responded to their demand or request by offering History 373, Negro History, for the first time. The problem-- who was going to teach the course?
The individual selected for this task was Dr. Richard Drake, a member of the History department, who felt that he was "well prepared in the field." However, the Black students wanted a Black person to teach the course, but not just any Black. This was also one of Drake's concerns. He wrote, "Many 'scholars'...have become sufficiently 'middle class'--Honky perhaps--that they've lost contact with the Black Student group" [Drake, April 26, 1968]. In another letter, Drake wrote:
Ideally, perhaps, we should have hired a properly qualified Negro to teach the course--this was the request of the Black Students...But because of the nature of this whole matter, I'm the wrong color so far as many in this course will be concerned...In any event, it would not have been satisfactory for us to hire just any qualified Negro for such a course. The tendency today for white institutions to hire qualified Negroes just because they are academically qualified sometimes created, in our time at least, a situation wholly unacceptable to the needs and requests of the Black Students. Such a Negro, all too often, is a person who has accommodated himself to the white, middle-class structure, and is more out of touch with the modern Black Student than the concerned white liberal. I have found precisely this situation in my search for materials for this Negro History course. Out of necessity and with great fear and trembling, I have already committed myself to John Hope Franklin's From Slavery to Freedom. I have found my Negro students, rejecting Franklin's 'accommodating' bias. [July 26, 1968]
Despite the complaints of the Black students, in Drake's opinion, students, both Black and White, responded well to the course [Nov. 16, 1968]. Still, the Black students found other ways to express their concern. On November 7, l968, approximately 50 students, predominately Black, walked out of a campus wide symposium. In the opinion of one of the students,
I feel that Berea College is not living up to its ideals of racial equality. Most of my fellow white students are not getting an interracial education because of the small number of blacks that they come in contact with. People cannot understand other people if they are not exposed to their thoughts and ideas. This is shown best by the fact that only six percent of the student body is black, there are no black instructors, no blacks in the administration, and very few black chapel speakers. Improvements in these areas would aid greatly in the broadening the perspective of both black and white students--particularly white. [Citizen, Nov. 14, 1968]
This action was perceived in different ways. Dr. Drake saw the walkout as "skillfully run, and in the best of taste really" [Nov. 16, 1968]. Dr. Louis Smith, Dean of Berea College, stated, "I think it was in very poor taste. We have been trying and will continue to try to find qualified Negro teachers. The Negro teachers that we have written seem to feel that they can be of more value to their race by teaching in all- Negro schools" [Citizen, Nov. 14, l968]. He also expressed the belief that the college's "first commitment is to the underprivileged youth of the Appalachian Mountains and this is the main reason for the small percentage of Negro students" [Citizen, Nov. 14, l968].
Thus, during the fifth phase of Berea's history, the college offered its first Black Studies course, an action that was caused by pressure initiated by Black students. However, in the opinion of Drake, the History department was glad to respond to this pressure "because most of us feel that Negro history is a legitimate field-in part created by a Berea graduate, Carter G. Woodson--and partly too because of Berea's commitment to bi-racial education" [Drake, July 26, 1968]. Notwithstanding this fact, Black students were not satisfied. They also wanted Black faculty, not only to serve as role models, but also to help educate the "typical" White students, a group that fit Allport's description of a prejudiced people. Ironically, within three years of hiring its first Black administrator, Berea College faced its worst racial incident in its entire history.
Before obtaining the services of a Black American on a full-time basis, the College arranged for an individual to teach on a part-time basis, Dr. Joseph Taylor, a member of the Sociology Department at Indiana University-Indianapolis. Arranged by Drake to provide assistance in the Negro History course, this individual scheduled three-two day visits. [Eventually, he became a member of the Board of Trustees.] In addition, a committee composed of students and faculty known as the Negro Studies Committee was formed in l968. Its task was to examine the curriculum and to suggest ways to examine the racial issue in America. The members of the committee reached agreement on the following basic principles as a guide for its work:
			A. As a nation, as Christian, as a college, we face a crisis. We must begin with the recognition that this crisis arises, not from rioting and violence, but from the fact that God made of one blood and man has divided. B. Berea's religious and educational commitments make it imperative that racism in all its forms be attacked by Christian witness and exposed by scientific analysis. C. Whatever Berea is now doing in this regard is surely not sufficient for the time and the place. D. Although problems are not solved by programs, neither are they solved without them. The importance of developing curricular and extracurricular programs must not be minimized nor their implementation disparaged simply because, by themselves, they do not fulfill Berea's commitment. [p.2]
Besides the addition of relevant courses, the committee recommended that all General education be re-examined to be sure that race and prejudice were receiving adequate attention, that College assemblies be utilized as important avenues of communication, that the Audio-Visual Services holdings of materials related to Negro Studies be examined and expanded and that library materials should be adequate for general reading [2]. Despite these and other recommendations, the black students did not trust the committee because of its composition [Black Consultants Folder]. As a result, the institution hired a consultant to visit Berea and to evaluate its efforts to achieve its commitment to interracial education.
The consultant was Ralph J. Bryson, the Chairperson of English at Alabama State University. In many ways, his recommendations were similar to those of the Negro Studies Committee. For example, he recommended the addition of Black Studies courses, the integration of Black Studies in the present course offerings, a concerted effort to recruit black faculty and more extracurricular activities geared to the interests of Black students. One new recommendation was the establishment of a chair in honor of Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Negro History who was an alumnus of Berea College [Black Consultants Folder].
On that night, three Black students were harassed by some of the local citizens, a common happening in Berea at that time. Not only did the White students at the college have to adjust to more Black students, but the local White citizens had to make the same adjustment. [Berea was no longer the integrated city or town of John G. Fee which was the most integrated town or city in Kentucky in 1900, it had become a segregated community. In fact, the local Blacks lived in four distinct Black communities on the out-skirts of the town.] Instead of arresting the local citizens for harassing the students, the police arrested the three Black students for carrying a concealed weapon, "a big stick." The next day, the Black students staged a sit-in in Lincoln Hall, the administration building, in particular, the President's Office [Blacks 1924-1970]. Eventually, the charges were dropped against the students by the local authorities. Despite the seriousness of this incident, the one that would shake the foundations of the college would occur in December of 1971.
The president of Berea College who was forced to deal with this controversy was Willis D. Weatherford, the sixth individual to occupy that office. Because his father had been a member of the Berea College board of Trustees for nearly five decades, there was no doubt that Dr. Weatherford was familiar with the history of the institution when he assumed the position in 1967. As can be quickly surmised from the information mentioned above, one of the problems he would encounter during his early years as president was the protest of Black students for more Black students, courses and faculty. Also, as mentioned previously, by 1970, the college was attempting to fulfill the demands. There were at least five courses on "the books which might be called black Studies" courses [Blacks 1924-1970]. The number of Black students had increased. There were at least two Blacks on the professional staff. However, there was one deficiency--no full-time Black faculty. This situation changed in the Fall Term of 1971.
For that term, the institution hired two Black faculty members and a Black campus minister. The faculty were in History and Spanish. Thus, Some could and would argue that trouble occurred when the racial climate should have been at its best. Unfortunately, despite this viewpoint, trouble did occur.
The immediate cause of the trouble was when the Black counselor hired in 1969 was informed that he would not be rehired after the conclusion of the 1971-72 academic year. The reason given was "that the students of the college had lost confidence in his performance of duties as a counselor." Another factor in the disturbance was, in the opinion of the counselor, "when a white male student who had written a letter 'full of lies about me' and 'pulled out and flourished' a switchblade knife in [my]presence" [Citizen, Dec. 16, 1971]. Rumors about "a firearms arsenal of undefined size in some of the male dormitories, and [that] there was an undercurrent of comment that white students and black were preparing for impending trouble" [Citizen, Dec. 16, 1971] circulated throughout the campus. A disturbance in a female dormitory resulted in a number of faculty and security officers having to restore order. On Monday, December 13, a number of Black students occupied the administration building. They brought with them eight demands which were presented to President Weatherford. These demands included: reversal on the decision about the termination of the counselor; a dismissal of specific members of the faculty and staff "because of their overt racist acts"; a search for weapons; and refuge in the administration building for protection and security until the situation was rectified [Citizen, Dec. 16, 1971].
The immediate reaction of the administration was to close school early for the Christmas vacation. All students were urged to leave campus by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, December 14. Dr. Weatherford felt that "it [had] become evident that an academically profitable examination week, [was] not feasible" [Dec. 16, 1971]. He hoped that "closing one week earlier [would] allow passions to cool over vacation . . . and the ideal of brotherhood [would] be reasserted in the new year in this college" [Citizen, Dec. 16, 1971].
When classes resumed in January, there was outward calm. During the break, the counselor had reached an agreement with the college to go on terminal leave until June 30, 1972. He and his family left Berea. On campus, the faculty created a project called Operation Zebra. Its purpose was to "welcome the students back to campus in an atmosphere of friendship and conciliation" [Citizen, Jan. 6, 1972]. The restoration of this outward calm brought to a close the fifth and shortest period of the history of Berea College.
Even though the fifth stage may have been the shortest period of the college's history, it was one of the most traumatic for those affiliated with Berea. During this period, Black students were no longer satisfied with the status quo. They wanted more Black students enrolled at the school. They wanted Black Studies courses. And, they wanted these courses to be taught by Black faculty. Of course, these demands were being made at other institutions of higher learning in the United States, so what occurred at Berea was not unique. However, this offered little comfort to Bereans; many thought that the school's history would insulate it form the Black Revolution.
As has been stated earlier, this history included opening the doors of Berea to all races despite personal attacks against individuals like John G. Fee. It included having a Black person on the Board of Trustees until 1914, ten years after the Day Law was ruled to be constitutional. It included re-opening the doors of Berea College to Black students before the rest of the nation had to experience the marches and demonstrations of the Civil Rights Movement. It included having Black speakers and students from historically Black schools at Berea before the Day Law was amended so that White Berea students could have an opportunity to interact with their darker skinned brothers and sisters. All of these actions were initiated because Bereans believed that this was their Christian duty. Thus, why was this period so chaotic?
The answer can be found in the Berea College Self-Study, 1973-74. A questionnaire was sent to students and staff members. They were asked to respond to the following question:
To what degree do you think that special programs and activities such as the Black Students Union, the Black Ensemble, convocations, Black Studies courses, and certain aspects of Issues and Values, of Religious and Historical Perspectives, and of other courses fulfill our [interracial] commitment?
	Excellent Or good	Fair	Poor or Unsatisfactory
Staff	31.3%	42.8%	25.9%
Students	19.3%	31.7%	46.0%
Comments to this question fell into two categories: "those which recognize the need for self-identity among blacks, and those which recognize the shortcomings of attempts to program such identity" [Self-Study, 1973-74. P. 302]. Both groups, students and staff, supported the interracial commitment, but the issue was whether or not black-oriented activities were "divisive" and "aggressive" [302]. Added to this scenario was "a decided dislike for Appalachia and for white Appalachians" by Black students [302-303]. As a result, although Berea College was a Christian college, it was a divided community. There were two major schools of thoughts. "One school emphasize[d] frank discussions in which racism may be confronted and either eradicated or ameliorated. The other school - placing a high value on toleration, decency, and courtesy - believe[d] the less said about racial problems the better [302]. The fifth stage had been so chaotic because it was a transitional era from the fourth stage in which the latter school of thought controlled to the sixth and present stage, in which the former school of thought has probably gained the advantage in a difficult and continuing struggle.