Editing Berea College (section)

==History==
Founded in 1855 by the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] and [[Augusta College (Kentucky)|Augusta College]] graduate [[John Gregg Fee]] (1816–1901), Berea College admitted both black and white students in a fully integrated [[curriculum]], making it the first non-segregated, [[coeducational]] [[college]] in [[Southern United States|the South]] and one of a handful of institutions of higher learning to admit both male and female students in the mid-19th century.<ref name=":1" /> The [[college]] began as a one-room schoolhouse that also served as a church on Sundays on land that was granted to Fee by politician and [[abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] [[Cassius Marcellus Clay (politician)|Cassius Marcellus Clay]]. Fee named the new community after the biblical [[Berea (Bible)|Berea]]. Although the school's first articles of incorporation were adopted in 1859, founder John Gregg Fee and the teachers were forced out of the area by pro-[[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] supporters in that same year.

Fee spent the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] years raising funds for the school, trying to provide for his family in [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], and working at [[Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park|Camp Nelson]]. He returned afterward to continue his work at Berea. He spent nearly 18 months working mostly at Camp Nelson, where he helped provide facilities for the freedmen and their families, as well as teaching and preaching. He helped get funds for barracks, a hospital, school and church.

In 1866, Berea's first full year after the war, it had 187 students, 96 Black and 91 white. It began with preparatory classes to ready students for advanced study at the college level. In 1869, the first college students were admitted, and the first [[bachelor's degree]]s were awarded in 1873. Almost all the private and state colleges in the South were racially segregated. Berea was the main exception until [[Day Law|a new state law in 1904]] forced its segregation.<ref>Richard Allen Heckman and Betty Jean Hall. "Berea College and the Day Law." Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 66.1 (1968): 35–52. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23376786 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007131458/http://www.jstor.org/stable/23376786 |date=2016-10-07 }}</ref> The college challenged the law in state court and further appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in ''[[Berea College v. Kentucky]]''. When the challenge failed, the college had to become a segregated all-white school, but it raised funds to establish the [[Lincoln Institute (Kentucky)|Lincoln Institute]] in 1912 in [[Simpsonville, Kentucky]], to educate Black students.<ref name=":1" /> In 1950, when the [[Day Law]] was amended to allow integration of schools at the college level, Berea promptly resumed its integrated policies.<ref name=":1" />

[[File:BereaCollegeAd1900.png|thumb|170px|An advertisement for Berea College from 1900, placed in a [[African American newspapers|Black newspaper]] in [[Minnesota]]]]
In 1911 the college restricted students to eating at college-owned facilities. A local businessman sued but the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that the college's restriction was legal. ([[Gott v. Berea College]]).

In 1925, famed advertiser [[Bruce Barton]], a future congressman, sent a letter to 24 wealthy men in America to raise funds for the college. Every single letter was returned with a minimum of $1,000 in donation. During [[World War II]], Berea was one of 131 colleges nationally that took part in the [[V-12 Navy College Training Program]] which offered students a path to a navy commission.<ref name="berea">{{cite web |url=http://www.berea.edu/alumni/navyv12/deceased.asp |title=Navy V-12 List of Deceased |publisher=[[Berea, Kentucky]]: Berea College |access-date=September 25, 2011 |year=2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331124016/http://www.berea.edu/alumni/navyv12/deceased.asp |archive-date=March 31, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Prior to 1968, Berea provided pre-college education in addition to college level curriculum. That year, the elementary and secondary schools (Foundation School) were discontinued in favor of focusing on undergraduate college education.<ref name=History_ArchivedVersion>{{cite web |url=http://www.berea.edu/about/history/ |title=About Berea College - History |publisher=Berea College |access-date=2014-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217105519/http://www.berea.edu/about/history/ |archive-date=2014-02-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Presidents===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! Name !! Years as president
|-
| 1 || [[Henry Fairchild]] || (1869–1889)<ref name=":1" />
|-
| 2 || [[William Boyd Stewart]] || (1890–1892)
|-
| 3 || [[William Goodell Frost]] || (1892–1920)
|-
| 4 || William J. Hutchins || (1920–1939)
|-
| 5 || [[Francis S. Hutchins, Berea College President (1939-1967)|Francis S. Hutchins]]|| (1939–1967)
|-
| 6 || Willis D. Weatherford || (1967–1984)
|-
| 7 || [[John B. Stephenson]] || (1984–1994)
|-
| 8 || [[Larry Shinn]] || (1994–2012)
|-
| 9 || [[Lyle D. Roelofs]] || (2012–2023)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lyle Roelofs: A Presidential Report Card – Berea College Magazine |url=https://magazine.berea.edu/winter-2023/lyle-roelofs-a-presidential-report-card/ |access-date=2023-05-28 |website=magazine.berea.edu}}</ref>
|-
| 10 || [[Cheryl Nixon]] || (2023–Present)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Berea College names 10th president|url=https://www.berea.edu/news/berea-college-names-10th-president\|access-date=2023-07-01|website=www.berea.edu}} {{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
|}
Source:<ref name="History">{{cite web |title=Berea College Early History |url=http://www.berea.edu/about/history/ |access-date=2020-07-10 |publisher=Berea College |archive-date=February 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217105519/http://www.berea.edu/about/history/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>