Winner of the Union College
Board of Trustees Writing Award
for Expository Writing
2014
Racial Discrimination
and Segregation at
Union College from
the 1930s to the 1960s
Kyle Berg
2
1
Racial Discrimination
and Segregation at
Union College from
the 1930s to the 1960s
In The Beginning
Kyle Berg ’16
Language Arts
Education
In conducting research on the racial discrimination
and segregation at Union College’s campus during the
1930s and 1960s, Dr. George Gibson offered these
words: “When researching Union College history,
you tread lightly.”1 As the most knowledgeable living
historian of Union College, he recalled this mantra as
I brought up a darker subject regarding the college’s
history.
This is not something many Adventists, let alone
Americans, like to talk about as it was a tumultuous and
turbulent time; as a result, not much has been written
about discrimination and segregation on Union College’s
campus. Unless one was enrolled at Union College
between the 1930s and early 1960s, racial segregation
would be a great mystery. Unfortunately, it was a much
1 Interview with George Gibson, March 27, 2014.
2
too real problem for the African American
students on Union College’s campus.
This dark spot on the record of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, especially
Union College, must be examined.
Though the denomination’s founding
fathers were composed of staunch
abolitionists of the 1800s, fighting for the
freedom of those enslaved in the United
States, racial segregation seemed to be
tolerated among many Adventist colleges.
It is ironic that a school named
Union College would be so segregated,
even at its foundation. In 1891, when
Union College opened its doors, it was
a missionary school. Union specifically
served as a school to train German
Americans and Scandinavian Americans.
According to Light Bearers these two
groups of people were immersed in their
own cultures, not each other’s. They lived
in separate dormitories and attended
separate classes and church services,
which were conducted in their respective
languages in order to keep their cultures
distinct.2 The school carried on this way
for almost twenty years.
T. R. M. Howard and the President
from the South
As early as the 1930s there has been
2 Richard W. Schwarz et al., Light Bearers: A
History of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church
(Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Association,
2000), 194.
a recorded account of segregation on
Union College’s campus, specifically
in the cafeteria. T. R. M. Howard, an
African American who attended Union
College in 1929, found that “life at
Union College was far more complicated
than he had expected.”3 A graduate of
Oakwood College, Howard continued on
at Union College under the influence of
his two white mentors, Will Mason and
Joseph Tucker, who had attended school
there. Leo F. Thiel, a favorite professor
of Howard’s from Oakwood, served as
president of Union College during the
1920s and also influenced Howard’s
decision.
Howard underwent a drastic cultural
shift as he went from being one of many
black students on campus at Oakwood
College to being the only black student at
Union College. He is recorded as writing
to Thiel:
That as a southerner, he understood
the “‘color line, and I am determined
to stay well on my side of the line .
. . I never go in the dining hall and
set down at a table where there are
others, but I set at a table where there
is no one, and other[s] come and eat
with me. If ‘staying in my place; will
3 David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, Black
Maverick: T. R. M. Howard’s Fight for Civil
Rights and Economic Power (Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 2009), 15.
3
cause me to get through Union with
friends, I sure mean to do that.’4
This was Howard at twenty-one: a
man keenly aware of his surroundings and
unfortunately treated as an outsider due
to his color. The “color line” was not to be
challenged, because to do so would cause
trouble for Howard who, being from the
south, had witnessed lynched blacks and
burnt corpses on drives through Emilia,
Alabama.
This “color line,” at first invisible,
became the official rule, according to
Howard, during his second year at
Union. He wrote to Thiel and Tucker,
stating that “segregation is becoming
an administrative policy of the school .
. . some of these things are awful hard
to drink down.”5 Howard was correct
in asserting that segregation was an
official school policy, as President Paul L.
Thompson “required that black students
sit at a separate table in the dining
room.”6 One reason for Thompson’s
insistence on the enforcement of a
segregated cafeteria was his fear of white
southern parents. He feared that parents
from the South might pull their kids from
school if the “color line” was not strictly
enforced.
4 Beito and Beito, Black Maverick, 15.
5 Beito and Beito, 18.
6 Beito and Beito, 18.
The only handbook Union College
owns close to 1930 is one from 1934.
When scouring over this handbook and
the handbooks of future years up to 1962,
I found no indication that a segregation
policy was ever formally written. There is,
however, a clause that states, “Regulations
announced or written from time to time
carry the same force of those printed
in this and other regular bulletins.”
This statement provides for new rules
announced throughout the school year
for whatever purpose the school saw fit
at the time, such as policies enforcing
segregation.
What is interesting about this
segregation policy is that it is mentioned
by other authorities on the subject as well.
Dr. Everett Dick, a graduate of Union
College, began his career as a professor in
the 1930s teaching science courses. He
also authored more than thirty books,
articles, and papers, including a Seventhday Adventist denominational history
book specifically on Union College. Dick
gives mention to the segregation policy
of the cafeteria in his book Union: College
of the Golden Cords but does not name
Thompson specifically, instead referencing
a “President from the South.”7
Dr. George Gibson, student of Union
College in the late 1960s and current
7 Everett Dick, Union: College of the Golden
Cords, (Lincoln, Neb.: Union College Press,
1967), 237.
4
professor at the college, co-authored with
Dick a second book on Union College’s
history called Union College: Light upon
the Hill. This book does not mention
details about the cafeteria segregation like
Dick’s book; however, it does mention
that a “President from the South” was
responsible for the segregation policy,
again declining to identify who he was.8
When interviewing Gibson about
why the president’s name was left out,
Gibson stated that it was most likely
omitted out of respect for the president.
It was then that Gibson stated, “When
researching Union College history, you
tread lightly.”9 He had never asked Dick
much about the civil rights movement
when working on the updated Union
College history book, explaining that it
was a difficult time and a sensitive subject
to bring up.
The “Removal” of Segregation
Dick and Gibson do name the
president responsible for repealing the
segregation policy: E. E. Cossentine, who
served on Union’s campus from 1942 to
1946.10 Cossentine’s decision to reexamine
the segregated cafeteria stemmed from the
8 Everett Dick and George Gibson, Union
College: Light upon the Hill (Lincoln, Neb.:
Union College, Alumni Association, 2004).
9 Interview with George Gibson.
10 Dick and Gibson, Union College: Light upon
the Hill.
wording of the rule, although it had never
been formally written in any handbook.
The rule stated that only American
Negros had to sit at separate tables. This
did not extend to foreign blacks whose
skin tone was the same or darker than
those born in the States.
According to Dick, African American
students were upset that Jamaican
students were treated fairly despite being
similar in color. Cossentine agreed to
address this idea and called a meeting
with southern-born faculty and students.
After the meeting, Cossentine noted,
“The response of the group was liberal
and unprejudiced.”11 It would seem that
finally the walls of segregation on Union’s
campus were coming down, and even a
full twenty years before the civil rights
movement. This was, however, only the
appearance of change, and a meager start
at most.
Oscar Harriott, a student from
Kingsway, Jamaica, was encouraged by
student missionaries to come to Union
College. Union’s missionaries were
welcoming and extended the hand of
fellowship to many Jamaican students
while abroad; however, when back on
48th Street in Lincoln, Nebraska, the very
same hand was withdrawn. Harriott’s
experience as a student in 1947 and
11 Everett Dick, Union: College of the Golden
Cords, (Lincoln, Neb.: Union College Press,
1967), 237-238.
5
1948 is recalled by his son of the same
name, who states that his father had to
stand with his cafeteria tray in hand and
wait to be invited to sit down by a white
student.12
How could this be? Why would
Harriott have to experience this if the
segregation policy had been repealed
by Cossentine just a few years prior? It
would seem that the outward expulsion
of policy does not quickly dispel the
inward prejudice of backwards thinking.
Harriott, due to the unjust nature of the
school, left Union in 1948 and began
attended the University of Nebraska,
Lincoln (UNL). Oscar Harriott’s son said
that many students of color chose UNL
over Union College, including himself,
on the basis that if they were going to be
discriminated against, they would rather
be discriminated by a non-Christian
institution than a Christian one.13
The Golden Cords 1946
To begin research on the
discrimination and segregation at Union
College’s campus during the 1930s and
on through the civil rights movement,
one can examine the Golden Cords, which
are the Union College yearbooks located
at the college library. The 1946 Golden
Cords edition has a particularly interesting
format. In this edition the students
12 Interview with Oscar Harriott, April 3, 2014.
13 Interview with Oscar Harriott.
are staggered male/female and are not
alphabetized, which is unlike many of the
previous and future editions. The students
of color are also placed at the end of every
class section, effectually segregating the
freshman through senior classes. The
editor of the Golden Cords that year was
Josephine Griffin, class of 1947.14
In an editorial from CORDmagazine,
editor Tanya Lee writes, “Josephine came
to Union College from the segregated
South in 1944 . . . Segregation was a
way of life and—sad to say—accepted
even within the Adventist church.”15 For
Benton it was the way things were, the
way she was raised—but not how she
stayed. In the 1970s Benton became an
advocate for racially integrated Seventhday Adventist churches, working hard
to fully integrate the Sligo Seventhday Adventist church in Takoma Park,
Maryland. She is quoted as saying,
“Several of us felt strongly concerning the
mistreatment of black people in the SDA
denomination.”16 Benton also became
an advocate for women’s ordination and
served on a crucial General Conference ad
hoc committee which studied the role of
women in ministry at Camp Mohaven in
14 Josephine Griffin later married and is referred
to as Josephine Benton throughout the remainder
of this paper.
15 Tanya Lee, “Editorial,” CORDmagazine,
Winter 2001, 4.
16 Interview with Oscar Harriott.
6
1973.17
Benton felt so strongly about equality
and race relations that, according to Lee,
she “was stunned when a close friend
told her someone had asked whether or
not she was the Josephine Griffin who
had edited the Golden Cords edition in
which minority students’ pictures were
segregated.”18 Floored at first, she wanted
to respond with an emphatic “no”;
however, she was struck with horror when
she remembered it to be true. She stated,
“I wish some of them had said ‘Josephine,
we can’t do this!’ However, no one did.”19
Benton was the editor, but not the sole
person responsible for the publication of
the Golden Cords. It wasn’t just a college
student from the South who set about
separating black students from white
students. It was a mentality, and perhaps
in some ways a sin of omission rather
than commission.
Union College in the Early 1960s
When Oscar Harriott’s son came to
Nebraska from Kingsway, Jamaica, he met
his wife Barbara Taylor. She was a student
at Union College from 1962 to 1963 and
17 Taashi Rowe, “How Josephine Benton Blazed
the Trail for Women in Ministry,” Columbia Union
Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, November
19, 2012, http://www.columbiaunion.org/
article/1173/news/2012-news-archives/november19-2012-josephine-benton#.U0IF1vldUgM.
18 Lee, 4
19 Lee, 4
again in 1965 and 1967. Barbara had
two older brothers, Gabe and Raymond
Taylor, who started attending Union
College in 1958 and 1959 respectively.
Harriott’s son recalls several stories
of discrimination and segregation from
his late wife’s and brothers-in-law’s time
at Union College in the late fifties and
early sixties. His wife lived in Rees Hall,
the girls’ dormitory, which has a chapel
connected to the first floor lobby. In this
chapel, Harriott’s son recalls, a golden
cord stretched across the aisles to the wall
of the third row of seats in the chapel.
This cord was a barrier and a reminder
that students of color were not allowed
to sit in the front three rows of Rees Hall
Chapel.20
One day, Barbara Taylor was tired of
looking at the golden cord of segregation.
Walking into chapel before the service
had started, she strode firmly to the wall
and ripped the cord from it. She was sent
to the president’s office and her father
was called immediately. The president
explained what had happened and that
Barbara needed to be picked up from the
college and taken home. Her father asked
several qualifying questions before giving
his response: Was her school bill paid for?
Was she showing up to class? Was she
passing her classes? The president’s
responses confirmed that her school bill
had been paid and that she was doing
20 Interview with Oscar Harriott.
7
quite well in all her classes. Barbara’s
father then informed the president that he
would not remove her from Union, and
that she would be staying in school.21
Another instance of segregation
on Union College’s campus occurred
in the dormitories. The men’s dorms,
according to Harriott’s son, were still
segregated in the early sixties during the
time his brothers-in-law attended. Before
beginning his senior year, Raymond
Taylor had worked all summer with
a white friend and they both wanted
to room together that fall. When they
brought this request to the deans, they
were denied. Taylor and his white friend
were deeply wounded by this and left
Union College. To this day, Taylor has not
stepped foot into an Adventist church or
on Union’s campus.22
Along with Harriott’s son, I also
interviewed Union College professors
Stan and Angie Hardt, who attended
Union as students in the late sixties. It
was difficult for them to recall definite
segregation on Union’s campus. In Stan’s
memory, everyone got along quite well.
He played intramural sports on integrated
teams and saw nothing wrong with it, and
to his knowledge there were no issues. The
only distinct memory of discrimination
at Union College they recalled was the
way the resident’s hall deans handled
21 Interview with Oscar Harriott.
22 Interview with Oscar Harriott.
interracial dating. Angie stated that if the
deans knew of interracial couples they
would call the white student into their
offices and explain to them that it “looks
bad” and “it is not right” to date a person
of color.23
In an interview with Gibson, I
received a surprising response when
I asked what the atmosphere was like
between the students of color and the
white students. Sitting in his chair,
with a slightly uneasy look, he retold
a conversation he had in the hall of
the dorm one evening as a student. He
was checking on rooms to make sure
everyone was in bed when he came across
a student who was from a southern state.
At one point the conversation went to
the topic of race, and this student said,
“The only good nigger is a dead nigger.”
Gibson looked at him and retorted, “I
see how you can say that as a person I
guess, but I can’t see how you can say
that as a Christian,” at which point the
conversation was over.24 This is a small but
significant sample of what Union College
was like during the early 1930s and late
1960s.
Call to Action
Looking back on Union College’s
history, there is no excuse for the way
23 Interview with Angie and Stan Hardt, March
22, 2014.
24 Interview with George Gibson.
8
faculty, staff, and students treated
people of color. Nothing justifies the
mistreatment of another human being,
especially as lovers of and believers in
Jesus Christ. Today in the Union College
2012–2013 a clause states, “The college
is committed to equal education for men
and women of all races and does not
discriminate on the basis of disability, age,
gender, race, color, or national origin in
its educational and admissions policies.”
Between the 1930s and 1960s there was
never such a statement.
The blatant and open discrimination
and segregation of minorities and
students of color is over at Union
College, however, the gross mistreatment
of the past should not be ignored. If
Union College is to continue to grow
and become an advocate for equality
and justice, an apology needs to be
made. These stories recounted above are
but a small handful, and most of the
people who experienced such hate and
discrimination are asleep in Christ Jesus.
Yet this does not excuse the absence of
an apology to the families and friends of
those who suffered at the hands of hatred.
There are still those like T. R. M.
Howard who sat with clenched teeth and
“toed the color line.” There are those like
Oscar Harriott who left Union College
because it did not hold up to the standard
Christ demands His people to live by.
There are those like Raymond Taylor who
were so wounded that they not only left
Union College, but the Adventist church
as well.
And there are also those like
Barbara Taylor who, being sick of the
mistreatment and the inequalities of this
campus, tore down the golden cord to
uphold the Golden Rule.
To “tread lightly” on the history
of Union College’s campus, or for the
history of any institution, only allows for
the sins of omission and commission to
hide in the shadows. One must be willing
to take a hard look at the past and shine
a light, not with haphazard disregard
or abandon, but with steady hands of
precision. It is with prayer and hope that
this research does not create defensive and
closed minds, but rather opens them to
the goal of creating awareness of a subject
on which little has been recorded. It was
a dark time in the Adventist church’s
history, and by illuminating it the
reconciliation process can begin.
9
Bibliography
Beito, David T., and Linda Royster Beito. Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard’s Fight for
Civil Rights and Economic Power. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009.
Dick, Everett. Union: College of the Golden Cords. Lincoln, Neb.: Union College Press,
1967.
Dick, Everett, and George Gibson. Union College: Light upon the Hill. Lincoln, Neb.:
Union College, Alumni Association, 2004.
Gibson, George. Interview. March 27, 2014.
Hardt, Angie, and Stan Hardt. Interview. March 22, 2014.
Harriott, Oscar. Interview. April 3, 2014.
Lee, Tanya. “Editorial.” CORDmagazine, Winter 2001.
Rowe, Taashi. “How Josephine Benton Blazed the Trail for Women in Ministry.”
Columbia Union Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, November 19, 2012. http://
www.columbiaunion.org/article/1173/news/2012-news-archives/november-192012-josephine-benton#.U0IF1vldUgM.
Schwarz, Richard W., and Floyd Greenleaf. General Conference of Seventh-Day
Adventists, and Department of Education. Light Bearers: A History of the SeventhDay Adventist Church. Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Association, 2000.