The celebration of Founders’ Day on Friday, was one of the most comprehensive and informational Founders’ Day that Alabama State University has celebrated in recent years.
The acknowledgement of the founders by announcing their individual names and ringing a bell between each founder and president, was very educational and enlightening for the university family who attended the celebration.
However, there was one major detail that was not acknowledged during the Founders’ Day Convocation, and this staff would be remiss if we did not call attention to this major oversight.
June 14, 1866, the newly freed slaves of Marion held a supper and raised $335 to suport their own school and formally requested teachers from the American Missionary Association (AMA). In January 1867, a white former soldier from Ohio, who had attended Ohio Wesleyan University, was sent by the American Missionary Association to Marion, Alabama to teach newly freed slaves (inlcuding grandmothers and mothers) how to read and write.
This white school teacher, whose name is Thomas C. Steward, knew that he was entering the south, where racism was rampant, and people were killed for assisting former slaves with anything that was antithetical to white privilege.
Despite the prevailing threats on his life, Steward arrived in Marion, secured an old building that looked like a dilapidated barn, and rounded up about 425 Black students, and began the arduous task of teaching former slaves how to read and write.
And while the university may not give Steward the accolades that he deserves for taking this tremendous risk and serving as the first educator of the Lincoln School of Marion, this staff realizes his value and understands the risks that he took to educate African Americans in a hostile climate.
According to Joseph Caver’s book, “From Marion to Montgomery – The early years of Alabama State University 1867-1925,” Steward and the other teachers that were sent to Marion by the AMA were treated as carpetbaggers, and they were targeted by the newly formed white terrorist group, the Klu Klux Klan.
Despite the terrorism that existed during that time period, the Marion Nine’s ( founders of the university and first board of trustees) task was even more daunting as these were nine Black men who were taking on the values of the hostile south who had just fought and lost a civil war to keep slavery as a main institution.
After incorporating the Lincoln School of Marion in July 1867, the Marion Nine had enough faith in Steward to appoint him as the principal of the school and the teacher of the intermediate grades. The Marion Nine even followed Steward’s lead when building the new school that they had just incorporated.
According to Caver’s research, in appreciation for Steward’s advocacy and leadership, Black voters overwhelmingly elected him to the Alabama Legislature in 1868. He served as a Republican House member from 1868-1870 and one term as a Perry County senator, 1871-1872.
However, despite Steward’s success as a politician, he was constantly harassed by local whites for establishing and operating the Lincoln School, the forerunner of Alabama State University.
While in the Alabama Legislature, Steward realized the Lincoln School needed additional funds, if it were to survive.
To force public funding of Lincoln, Steward succeeded as a state representative in getting a bill through the Legislature Feb. 16, 1870, requring Marion to levy an annual property tax of one half of one percent of assessed value to support education in the town.
White citizens of Marion were furious that their property would be taxed to support the education of Blacks. Elias Dunkin filed a lawsuit challenging the legislative act. Judge Reuben Saffold enjoined collection of the tax and was applauded by the conservative white Democratic newspaper, the Marion Commenwealth.
Steward’s legislative act was repealed a year later when the conservative Democrats regained control of the Legislature.
After several attempts to hang Steward by the Klu Klux Klan, he was fired as Lincoln’s principal.
In October 1872, Steward was dismissed as the principal and eventually moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he and his wife were hired by Fisk University as educators. He would eventually stop teaching and direct the construction of Fisk University’s Jubilee Hall.
After the completion of Jubilee Hall, he and his family moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee where he became engaged in a box and keg manufacturing business.
There is no question that without Steward’s commitment and involvement with the growth of the Lincoln School, the evolution of Alabama State University may not have moved as rapidly. He deserves recognition, and this editorial board wanted to take a moment to recognized Steward and his accomplishments.