Browse important moments below, and please get in touch at odei@kenyon.edu if you'd like to share moments of your own.
Milestones
1856
The Reverend William J. Alston is the first Black student to enroll in Kenyon's Bexley Hall theological seminary. Despite facing opposition and racism during his time in Gambier, Alston graduates in 1859 and becomes one of the first African American Episcopal priests in the United States.1865
“On this Founders’ Day, I want the members of the African Students Association to know about Kwabuku Libiete. Coming from the Gold Coast to study at the College’s Gambier Mission House in 1865, Kwabuku died at the tender age of 14 in this western wilderness and now lies buried in the College cemetery, the first and only person of African descent so honored.”
Professor of Sociology & Legal Studies Emeritus Ric Sheffield
Founders' Day Address, Oct. 2021
1952
Allen B. Ballard Jr. is one of the first two Black students to graduate from Kenyon. A political science major, Ballard plays football and lacrosse goes on to study in France as a Fulbright scholar. He earns a doctorate in government Harvard and is currently an emeritus professor of history and Africana Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY.
1952
Stanley L. Jackson joins Allen B. Ballard Jr. as one of the first two Black Kenyon graduates. Also a political science major, Jackson is active in student organizations and a member of the soccer, track and football teams. He has a distinguished career and eventually retires from the U.S Department of Health and Human Resources before passing away in 2017.
1962
Gene Payne joins Kenyon's health service as a registered nurse, becoming the only Black employee at the College.1969
Ten Black students deliver a statement of demands to President William Caples. The following students are recognized as the founders of Kenyon's Black Student Union: Eugene Peterson ‘70, Ruben “Ed” Pope ‘70, Gary Hayes ‘71, Roland Parson ‘71, Keith O’Donnell ‘72, Ulysses Hammond ‘73, Johnnie Johnson ‘73, Barbara Lee Johnson ‘73, Doretha Smallwood Leftwood ‘73, Larry Parker ‘73 and Glory Wolfe ‘73.
1972
NAACP scholarship winner Leon Haslip ‘74, with help of members of the Black Student Union, paints a mural on the wall of the BSU lounge in Peirce Hall.
1973
Barbara (Lee) Johnson is one of the first two Black women to graduate from Kenyon. A cum laude graduate with high honors in English, Johnson went on to earn a master's degree in English education from Indiana University and have a long and well-recognized career as a high school English teacher, college counselor and coach for academic competitions.
1973
Doretha Smallwood (now Leftwood) joins Barbara (Lee) Johnson as one of the first two Black women to graduate from Kenyon. Image courtesy of the Kenyon Reveille, 1973.
1975
Kenneth Bluford (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) is the first black faculty member hired at Kenyon; he taught in the Department of English from 1975 to 1979. For a 2006 alumni magazine article about the challenges of recruiting and supporting Black faculty, Bluford was asked about his place in Kenyon history: "If it took Kenyon 150 years to invite someone like me to visit," he wrote, "the most I could hope was to be the thin edge of the wedge."
1978
Mary Elizabeth Rucker is the first black woman to join the faculty; she teaches in the Department of English from 1978 to 1981. A tenure-track member of the faculty, Rucker was denied a contract renewal after three years and sues the College for racial and sex discrimination in 1980.1989
The College hires its first director of multicultural affairs, Mila Cooper, who helps create the Office of Multicultural Affairs, which is now the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
1992
Professor Theodore Mason of the Department of English is the first black faculty member to earn tenure.
2005
Professor Marla Kohlman of the Department of Sociology is the first black woman faculty member to earn tenure.
2013
Sean M. Decatur is inaugurated as Kenyon’s 19th president, the first Black person to hold the position.Allen House
Kenyon College
Gambier, Ohio 43022