Fifty years make a difference for Sam Oni

Every semester I end my history courses by asking students to look back fifty years and imagine having adult children and perhaps grandchildren. The next step is to imagine what changes might have taken place. Is there something you value enough to dedicate your life to it so that the world changes for the better half a century from now?

The last few years have seen the fiftieth anniversary of key events in the Civil Rights Movement. I remind students of the sacrifices made by vast numbers of students and adults in the 1950s and 1960s to bring about a world with more racial equality than most Americans thought possible in earlier days.

Several people in Georgia are now honored for their leading roles. In 1961, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter entered the University of Georgia as a result of a court ruling. Shortly thereafter, Rufus Harris, president of Mercer University, began looking for a way to voluntarily join Mercer University, a private school funded by Georgia Baptists. This resulted in the admission of Sam Oni from Ghana, a product of the Baptist mission field, in 1963. The University of Georgia and Mercer University recently celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of those events as a major step forward in the history of those institutions.

One point that has received little attention is that Sam Oni is an African who played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. He participated in a number of renowned historical events and got to know some of the most famous leaders. He today remains relatively unknown, even as the number of Africans has grown significantly in Atlanta and surrounding communities.

Sam arrived in 1963 after a year-long battle with Baptists over his college admission. He was assigned a room in the freshman dorm with popular basketball player Don Baxter, who was a ministerial student. About fifty yards down the street from the dormitory was the Tatnall Square Baptist Church on the university campus. His first visitor was the pastor of that church who came to tell him that he would be turned away if he tried to visit his church. Don and Sam went to another church in town that most of the Mercer professors attended and sought membership. Sam was selected to be voted on. Three packs were needed before open opponents were defeated. However, Sam never felt welcome when he attended church there.

Fast forward fifty years. Over Valentine’s Day weekend, Amy-Jill Levine gave a series of three lectures at Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia. The series was sponsored by a variety of the city’s Protestant churches in conjunction with the university. Sam had met Levine a few weeks earlier while she was lecturing at Mercer University and they quickly became great friends. I invited Sam to attend the Brenau lectures, to attend my church on Sunday morning, and then to have lunch with Levine at the Episcopal Church in town.

These events took place in a town noted for its political and religious conservatism. A few years ago, Gainesville was the heart of a congressional district that was identified as the most conservative district in the United States. Today it remains very conservative but also includes a growing population of retirees who come from all over the eastern United States. The main Baptist church in the city was one of the main sponsors of conferences in which a Jewish scholar spoke about Jesus.

I’m waiting at the great Presbyterian Church. Sam joined me for a short business meeting in a large social hall before Sunday school, which gave him the opportunity to introduce him to many people. I can’t express how Sam felt, but the warmth and enthusiasm of the greetings from the people he knew warmed me up inside. We then attend the class I teach and find ourselves even more welcome. As we entered the traditional morning service, we saw an African family in the congregation, about six black children sitting with other children in their special part of the service, and an African-American family visiting. These families and my friend Sam were treated as warmly as anyone else who walked through the church doors.

My history students live in a world where they see people of all ethnicities around them in restaurants, public transportation, churches, wherever they go. They have no idea what it was like to have separate restrooms and seating areas to protect whites from contact with blacks. This is a big change from the situation fifty years ago. The change was the product of the sacrifice of many people, including my friend Sam. My hope is that they, too, will dedicate themselves to something that will change the world for the better, as can be seen in Sam Oni’s treatment in a southern church last time. Sunday morning.