Oakland College (Lorman, Mississippi)

Oakland College was a Presbyterian-affiliated four-year college reserved for whites; it operated from 1830 to 1861 near Lorman, Mississippi. After years of closure during the American Civil War of 1861–1865 and a failure to reorganize following the war, it was closed down.

Oakland College

Oakland Memorial Chapel
Type	Four-year college
Active	1830–1871
Affiliation	Presbyterian Church in the United States of America
Endowment	US$100,000
President	Jeremiah Chamberlain Robert L. Stanton James Purviance William L. Breckenridge John Calvin
Location	Lorman , Mississippi , United States

The property was sold to the state. The legislature renamed the institution as Alcorn University, after the Republican governor of the state, and established it as a land grant institution and historically black college. This was the first black land grant college in the nation. After the Reconstruction era, the legislature renamed it as Alcorn Agriculture and Mechanics College, to express their emphasis that it should train students for their roles in the rural and largely agricultural state.

In the 20th century, it developed new programs and graduate studies, and was renamed as Alcorn State University, gaining university status in 1974. Some historic buildings and a cemetery of the 19th-century period remain.

Location

The college was located in Claiborne County, Mississippi, seven miles northwest of what became known as the town of Lorman.[1][2] It spanned 225 acres (91 ha) of land.[1] It was near Rodney and Port Gibson, and was 40 miles (64 km) from Natchez. These historically significant towns had large plantations owned by members of the Southern elite.[1][3]

History

The college was founded in 1830 by leaders of the Presbyterian Church.[2][4] They hired Reverend Jeremiah Chamberlain, a Presbyterian minister educated at Dickinson College and the Princeton Theological Seminary, as the first President.[2][5] Chamberlain had served as the President of Centre College and Louisiana College.[2][5] More recently, he had served as the pastor of Bethel Presbyterian Church in nearby Alcorn, Mississippi.[6]

The college was endowed by planters such as Rush Nutt of the Laurel Hill Plantation, Smith Daniell of the Windsor Plantation, and Isaac Ross of Prospect Hill Plantation, as well as David Hunt.[2][7][8] Moreover, John Ker donated US$25,000 for a Professorship in Theology.[8] The land, spanning 250 acres (100 ha), was donated by planter Robert Cochran.[9] The Oakland Memorial Chapel was built in 1838.[10] (The wrought iron staircase was moved from the Windsor Plantation to the chapel in 1890.[2][10]) It served not only as a chapel, but also as a library, with additional space for classrooms and offices.[2] The chapel became a National Historic Landmark in 1976.[10] Over the years, more buildings were erected, such as a president's house, three professor's houses, and 15 cottages, which served as dormitories for students.[2][8]

The first class took place on May 14, 1830 at the private residence of Mrs John E. Dromgoole, the wife of a slave trader,[2] with three students attending.[2] Six months later, 22 students were enrolled.[2] Over the years, more than 1000 students were educated at the college.[2] According to historian Mary Carol Miller, its alumni pool included "twenty-one ministers, thirty-nine attorneys, and nineteen physicians."[2] John Chamberlain taught English and Mathematics.[8] In 1837, Reverend Zebulon Butler became Professor of Theology.[8] He was later replaced by Reverend S. Beach Jones.[8]

The first student to graduate in 1833 was James M. Smiley; he went on to serve as Vice Chancellor of the state of Mississippi.[2] Notable alumni include Henry Hughes, who developed the economic notion of 'warrantism.'[11] Another notable alumni was James S. Johnston, later a bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America and the founder of TMI — The Episcopal School of Texas, a private school in San Antonio, Texas.[12] Hiram B. Granbury, an attorney who served as a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War, was also an alumni.[13]

Tensions arose regarding slavery in the early 1850s. President Chamberlain was a Unionist and an abolitionist.[3] President Chamberlain was stabbed to death by George Briscoe, a pro-slavery local planter. Briscoe apparently felt remorse and committed suicide a week later.[14][3][15]

The college stayed open until the American Civil War of 1861–1865, despite financial difficulties.[2] The second President was Robert L. Stanton, from 1851 to 1854.[8] The third President was James Purviance (1807–1871).[8] In 1860, William L. Breckenridge (1803–1876) became the fourth President, serving until the Civil War.[8]

The college closed during the war, as students and faculty either joined the Confederate States Army or were slain for their pro-Unionist views.[2] The campus was used as a military camp and its infrastructure was badly damaged.[2] Shortly after the war, Reverend John Calvin became the fifth President.[8] He died shortly after being appointed, and the college fell into abeyance again.[8]

Legacy

The cemetery in 2009.

In 1871, in the aftermath of the war and during the Reconstruction era, the campus was sold to the state of Mississippi for US$40,000.[16][17]

The legislature renamed the campus as Alcorn University in honor of James L. Alcorn, Republican Governor of Mississippi.[15][17] It established this as a land grant institution and historically black college. It was the first black land grant college in the nation. Congress required states with segregated educational systems to establish black land grant colleges so that all students had opportunities in order for the state to qualify for gaining land grant benefits.

After the Reconstruction era, the Presbyterian Church established Chamberlain-Hunt Academy in 1879, a military private school located in Port Gibson, Mississippi. It was named in honor of minister and educator Jeremiah Chamberlain and planter David Hunt.[12][16]

The cemetery is still located on the western end of the campus, alongside a historical marker.[18] Burials include Jeremiah Chamberlain, his wife, and his four daughters.[2] Chamberlain's tombstone reads, "the beloved father of Oakland College."[2] A memorial obelisk was erected in honor of Chamberlain.

Two reports about Oakland College from the faculty the trustees and the Presbyterian synod of Mississippi are preserved at the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.[4]

The curriculum is preserved at the Mississippi Department of Archives & History in Jackson, Mississippi.

References

1. Alcorn State University: The History of Alcorn State University
2. Mary Carol Miller, Must See Mississippi: 50 Favorite Places, Oxford, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2007, pp. 41-44
3. Gordon L. Olson, The Notorious Isaac Earl and His Scouts: Union Soldiers, Prisoners, Spies, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014, p. 166
4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Special Collections
5. "Centre College: Jeremiah Chamberlain". Archived from the original on 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2014-10-26.
6. Natchez Trace Travel
7. Dunbar Hunt, "Sketch of David Hunt," Fayette, Mississippi: The Fayette Chronicle, 29 May 1908, Volume XLI, Number 35
8. Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 1999, Part 1, p. 310
9. John A. Limerick, A History of Rodney MS and Oakland College, August 16, 1901
10. Oakland Chapel, Alcorn State University, Preservation in Mississippi
11. Drew Gilpin Faust, The Ideology of Slavery: Proslavery Thought in the Antebellum South, 1830—1860, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1981
12. Founder of TMI: Bishop James Steptoe Johnston Archived 2014-10-26 at the Wayback Machine
13. Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Gray, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959, p. 114. ISBN 0-8071-0823-5
14. "Jeremiah Chamberlain", Dickinson College Archives
15. Mary Carol Miller, Lost Landmarks of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2002, p. 11
16. Samuel J. Rogal, The American Pre-College Military School: A History and Comprehensive Catalog of Institutions, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009, p. 63
17. John C. Cothran, A Search of African American Life, Achievement and Culture: First Search, Texas: Stardate Publishing, 2006, p. 109
18. William L. Sanders, Carved in Stone: Cemeteries of Claiborne County, Mississippi, Dorrance Publishing, 2014, pp. 11-13