Friday, October 21, 2011

Cambridge University's 'first' black student pioneer


From The BBC (Crummell was eventually ordained in the Episcopal Church)

The story of Cambridge University's first officially recorded black student is being told as part of the university's Festival of Ideas.

Alexander Crummell was an American minister and the son of a freed slave who studied at Queens' College, Cambridge, in the late 1840s.

While it appears he was not the first black student at Cambridge, he is the first for whom official records exist.

Cambridge lecturer Sarah Meek said he was seen as an "object of curiosity".

She continued: "One of his servants, when she was dismissed by his wife Sarah, called the Crummells 'black devils', so they were obviously not immune to the kind of prejudice we might imagine."

But at the same time he was a mature student who "was a respected, grown-up figure".

During his university vacations he toured the country delivering anti-slavery lectures, and as a minister gave sermons in local churches.

more here-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-15386436

No comments: