No Cause for Comment in 1868
THE INITIAL ADMISSION OF NEGRO
STUDENTS TO THE UNIVERSITY
OF MICHIGAN
BY ELIZABETH GASPAR BROWN'
W HATEVER THE PROBLEMS encountered in the seventh decade of the
twentieth century by some southern
universities over the end of a system of
higher education segregated by race, The
University of Michigan had its problems in
the same decade of the nineteenth century,
but they arose over the end of a system of
higher education segregated by sex. Although the admission of the first Negro students to Michigan occurred in the midst of
the bitter controversy over the admission of
women, Negroes were admitted without
argument, without publicity, and without
any official record of the fact. However
much this may reflect to the credit of University students and faculty, it has made
somewhat difficult determining just when
Negro students first did enroll at Michigan.
No official source has been located to indicate that when John Summerfield Davidson of Pontiac and Gabriel Franklin Hargo
of Adrian enrolled respectively in the Literary and Law departments, in the fall of
1868, anybody paid any attention. They
ELIZABETH GASPER BROWN, research associate
in law under the W. W. Cook Endowment Income,
has previously twice contributed to this journal, with
papers on student conduct in the Law School and the
first hall of the University, which appeared in the
Winter and Summer issues of 1960. Mrs. Brown has
two degrees, A.B., '35, Rockford College, and LL.B.,
'52, University of Wisconsin. She taught economics
at Pennsylvania State College, 1946-50, and came
here first in 1938 and again in 1951. In 1959, in consultation with Professor W. W. Blume, her book.
Legal Education in Michigan, 1859-1959, was published by the Law School.
SThe assistance of Dr. Clever Bald, Director of
the Michigan Historical Collections, is gratefully
acknowledged.
were, in the best sense of the term, just two
more students. The University Catalogue
for 1868-1869 noted their respective places
of residence and the department in which
each was enrolled. It has been possible to
identify them as Negro students only by
piecing together bits of evidence on deposit
at the Michigan Historical Collections of
The University of Michigan.
The first clue that some Negro students
had enrolled in the University about this
time appeared in Elizabeth Farrand's History of the University of Michigan, published in 1884. She stated:
Immediately after the close of the
Civil War the number of students in
the University was greately increased;
S.. and in October, 1868, came the
first one of that race for whom the war
had gained so much; he entered the law
department and took his degree in
1871.
Since the law course at that time lasted only
two years, Miss Farrand (or the printer)
erred in the date on which the Negro student
received his degree. However, the identity
of this man still could not be established
from her brief comment.
Examining class albums, many of which
have been deposited in the Michigan Historical Collections, was considered a possible source for identifying Negro students.
It was interesting, if confusing, to ascertain
that among the freshmen enrolled in the Literary Department for 1868-1869 was John
Summerfield Davidson, a Negro. Was there,
or was there not a law student too, or had
Miss Farand been misinformed?
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