Professor Lake and the search for Wabash’s first Black student
“Who was the first African American student to be admitted to the College?,” asked Associate Professor of English Tim Lake when he began his role as director of the Malcolm X Institute.
In the decade since he asked it, this question led Lake on a journey across America and back in time — to 1857 — to uncover the hidden truth of Wabash’s first-admitted African American student: John R Blackburn.
“I was told that we knew the first African American graduate, and that was John Evans, who graduated from the College in 1908,” said Lake. “ I asked again, ‘Who was the first one to be admitted?’”
Until now, it had been rumored and assumed that Wabash did admit an African American student, but there hadn’t been any concrete evidence to identify the student.
“In 1857, the College admitted an African American student, but because of the racial backlash from the Crawfordsville community, it kicked up such a firestorm of racism and hostility that he wasn’t allowed to stay and left the College,” said Lake. “I was told that he’s lost to history.”
After more than a decade of research, Lake only recently (about two years ago) identified Blackburn as the student. His efforts will culminate on February 5, 2024, when he — joined by seventeen of Blackburn’s living descendants — will present his research to campus at 7 p.m. in Salter Hall,.
Lake spent years combing through the archives with former Wabash Archivist Beth Swift H’06, and repeatedly hit dead end after dead end, but he never gave up hope that the student was hidden somewhere in the pages of those books.
“I came across a book they called the Triennial of the College, and it turns out that every 30 years the institution or other establishments would take an inventory of their past,” said Lake. “In the back of the book were all of the students who didn’t graduate.”
After this discovery, Lake quickly began to research the students and found the name he was looking for. Eventually, Lake was able to corroborate his findings by using the Howard Library at Howard University where he found a paper that referenced and proved Blackburn’s admittance to Wabash.
After the elation from his initial discovery wore off, the question that came to mind was what to do next.
Lake immediately shared his findings with Swift and then made an appointment to talk with President Feller.
“I came to talk to him and I said ‘We have to make this right,’” said Lake. “Part of that is to see if we can find any descendants. President Feller said ‘Okay,’ and he supported the research trip I made that summer to Virginia to try and trace [Blackburn’s] history back.”
However, after the initial research trip, Lake was unable to find any descendants of Blackburn.
“I came back to President Feller, and I said, ‘I think I’ve done everything that I can do,’” said Lake.
In one last attempt to find descendants of Blackburn, Lake contacted genealogy company Ancestry.com and, working together, they found multiple living descendants. The descendants agreed to have a conversation, and last summer, Lake traveled to see them. When he arrived, he found that Blackburn’s granddaughter is still alive at 103 years old.
“It was a thrill and a joy,” said Lake. “I’ve never met anybody who is 103. I don’t think many people have. She was affable and loving. You could tell that she’s the treasure of the family.”
After explaining the research that he conducted and what he found, Lake experienced a moment of clarity that rewarded all of his efforts.
“The moment of actually seeing these people was a ‘history is alive’ moment,” said Lake. “I was speechless.”
On Monday, February 5, these descendants will be on campus and learn what the Wabash of today looks like. Various events have been planned for the family that culminate in Lake’s address to campus to showcase his findings. One of those events is a ceremony taking place with the MXI.
“We’re going to make him [Blackburn] an honorary member, which is where we look for people that have impacted the Malcolm X Institute or helped in some type of way,” said Jordan Thomas ’24, chairman of the MXI.
The impact of Blackburn’s descendants coming to campus can’t be understated. Lake and others plan to roll out the proverbial red carpet and ensure that their experience is positive.
“I’m excited to give them the positive perspective of Wabash as a young Black man,” said Thomas. Maybe I can paint the picture of what could have been for Blackburn.”
Following the research that Lake did, the path to finding living descendants of Blackburn and now the celebration of this discovery, Lake is left with a familiar question: What now?
“We’ll see,” said Lake. “An object at rest tends to stay at rest until it’s met with some kind of external force. We want to be purposeful in using the history. Other schools who have faced similar issues of having to come to terms with injustice have started some kind of scholarship program or created a center or institute in dedication to the individual. By doing this, it becomes a prominent part of the culture.”
“I think that it can be a domino effect, and hopefully it can open the doors for us to dig into the archives a little bit more and find other people like Blackburn,” said Thomas. “I’m sure there’s no way he was just the only one. I think being intentional when it comes to Black history as a whole can also attract more young African American males to come here. At the end of day, when transitioning into college, you want to know that you’re valued and that you’re going to be taken care of and that you’re going to be comfortable with whatever environment you’re in.”
Following the research of Lake, Wabash is able to recognize the truth of its past — for better and worse. For the first time on February 5, John Blackburn’s story will be told.