Setting the Scene
When Dr. Francine Childs joined Ohio University in 1974, the university was at a significant moment in its history with Black people. It had been 150 years since the university admitted its first Black student—John Newton Templeton in 1824 and six years since the launch of the Black Studies program at Ohio University.
Over those 150 years, there has been a continued presence of Black people (native born and foreign-born) at Ohio University in Athens County, Ohio. Seems that Athens County has been a destination in Ohio for Black people seeking higher education during the early decades of the 19th century! The Albany Manual Academy and Albany Enterprise Academy were other important educational destinations for Black Americans in Athens County, Ohio.
During the first decades of the 20th century, Ohio University administrators and Board members were concerned that the continued presence of Black people (African Americans) in numbers that were perhaps intensified by the continuing geographic migration of American Blacks from south to north could lead to the loss of student enrollment from other demographics. In response to this concern, on June 11, 1923, the university’s Board of Trustees resolved to restrict admission of Black students from states that by law would not admit black students to be enrolled in their respective state colleges and universities. It was about aligning with the dominant racist ideology of the time.
Despite the racist ideologies that were accepted and implied by this Board resolution and despite being segregated in everything from on-campus and off-campus housing to local restaurants and other public services, Ohio University enrollment of Black students from Ohio and other northern states continued. Fraternities, sororities, and the Black community in and around Athens supported this persistence. In 1919, a chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, a Black fraternity, was established at Ohio University. For decades, Black Athenians rented rooms in their homes to Black students and other people of color at Ohio University. Institutions such as the Mount Zion Baptist Church, established in 1872, were among those that provided the spiritual, social, and cultural supports needed for academic success at Ohio University.
The end of World War II in 1945 and the educational benefits afforded under the G. I. Bill triggered growth in the Black presence at Ohio University. These post-War students were more socially and politically assertive and increasingly connected to the Civil Rights struggle. By the end of the 1960s Black students at Ohio University demanded a Black Studies presence at Ohio University. As articulated by the late Dr. Nathan Hare at San Francisco State College, the basic objectives of Black Studies were to “teach black experience with special attention to history and culture; develop a body of knowledge and use it in interest of black people; Create individuals who are dedicated to community service; Bring community to the campus and community.”
Responding in 1969 to black student demands for their higher education to address black historical, social, cultural, and political backgrounds, the Ohio University under President Vernon R. Alden and the Board of Trustees promised a quarter of a million dollars toward a new Black Studies program from which the Center for Afro-American Studies was created. With Willie Sutton named as its first director, The Center for Afro-American Studies at Ohio University was the second such program in the state of Ohio and the 5th in the nation.
By the 1970s, there were more than 1,000 Black students enrolled at Ohio University. The creation of the Center for Afro-American Studies was indicative of the churn and changes taking place at post-World War II Ohio University during a three-decade period (1945 – 1975) Under the presidencies of John Calhoun Baker (1945-1961), Vernon Alden (1962 – 1969), Claude Sowle (1969-1974) and Harry B. Crewson (1974-1975).
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Starting in the late 1950s, Ohio University had developed and sustained USAID-sponsored programs in educational development in Nigeria and other nations in Africa. This, and other programs in different global geographies, including Southeast Asia and Latin America, had led to the increasing internationalization of the university. The Center for International Studies was established in 1964.
Concurrently, attention was given to developing curriculum to address the changing needs of America, especially the development of citizen leaders for the then anticipated 21st century. In the early 1960s, Ohio University had started to recruit Black academics. E. Curmie Price joined the Department of English in 1963. In 1964, James Barnes and Ronald Williams joined the Department of Political Science and Hearing and Speech, respectively.
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By the early 1970s, the national anti-Vietnam war ferment was evident at Ohio University. Within the Center for Afro-American Affairs, there was also dissatisfaction with the university’s level of support for the Center. This became the rallying call for members of the Black Student Action Coordinating Committee and a “coalition of student organizations” when they confronted President Sowle on May 14, 1974 about the state of the Black experience at Ohio University—the “Sowle encounter.”
Among their many demands were demands for increasing funding for the Center for Afro American Studies, expanded presence of Black faculty and students on university committees, the creation of dedicated spaces for Black students to gather, for increased efforts to make on-campus cultural programming more “cosmopolitan,” and ensuring that courses offered by the Center for Afro-American Studies were recognized by other academic units. Another demand was the resignation of University President Claude Sowle. Due to Sowle’s frustration with continued social, political, and economic unrest on campus, he resigned on May 19, 1974.
On September 27, 1974, Harry B. Crewson, the new President, sent a memorandum to “Concerned Black Students” with the subject “Response to the Proposals Presented to President Claude R. Sowle Near the Close of the Spring Quarter, 1974.” In this memo, President Crewson indicated that there was going to be a modest increase in the budget for the Center for Afro-American Studies, expansion of Black representation on all university committees, increased efforts to “make the university’s cultural programming look more cosmopolitan,” as well as “to endorse the efforts of the Center for Afro-American Studies to have its courses fulfill area requirements in academic areas.” The Dean of the Center for Afro-American Studies in the fall of 1974 was Professor James Barnes.
It is at this moment that Dr. Francine Childs entered Ohio University in 1974. As she would recall in 2012, “we … struggled for legitimization.” By the time she died in 2023, she had left an indelible mark at Ohio University and the wider Athens community.
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This page references:
- Proposals submitted by Concerned Black Students to Ohio University administration, May 15, 1974
- Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Ohio University, 1973
- Peace Corps training, Ohio University, 1963
- Alpha Phi Alpha group snapshot, circa 1925
- Black students confronting Ohio University President Claude Sowle, 1974
- Center for Afro-American Studies brochure, circa early 1970s
- African studies program overview, Ohio University, 1968