Black Graduate

Charles Hillinger’s article on Oberlin College (April 30) contains two statements about John Mercer Langston, famous black graduate of Oberlin, that are misleading or erroneous.

Hillinger states that Langston “was one of the slaves who sought refuge in Oberlin.” John Mercer Langston’s father was Ralph Quarles, a wealthy plantation owner in Louisa County, Va., and his mother was Lucy, who was emancipated by Quarles on April 1, 1806. In a remarkable will, Ralph Quarles left a considerable part of his wealth to John Mercer Langston, Charles Langston and Gideon Langston, the youngest children of Lucy.

Following the death of his father in 1834, John Mercer Langston, who was by this time free, accompanied by his brothers and several men who had been freed under the terms of the will of Ralph Quarles, moved to Chillicothe, Ohio. A number of years later, Langston entered Oberlin College.

Hillinger’s statement that John Langston became dean of law at Harvard University is not true. Langston, for several years, was dean at Howard University, a black university in Washington, D.C.

It is true that, as Hillinger points out, in 1862 Mary Jane Patterson, a black graduate of Oberlin, was the first black woman to earn a bachelor’s degree. It is interesting, however, to note that several black women before 1862 were given the literary degree at Oberlin College. One of these was Sarah Jane Woodson, my great-grandaunt who in 1856 received the literary degree.

EDGAR F. LOVE

Professor Emeritus

El Camino College