Could black men graduate from Oxbridge?

Cole at Oxford

History Extra

The first black man recorded as graduating from Cambridge was mixed-race violinist George Augustus Bridgetower (1778–1860). He was elected to Royal Society of Musicians in 1807, and att­end­ed Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he earned the degree of Bach­elor of Music in 1811. He was the first West Indian graduate recorded in university records.

The second black man was New Yorker Alexander Crummell (1819–1898) who was sponsored by American Anglicans and admitted to Queens’ College, Cambridge as a family man in 1848. He cer­t­ainly experienced verbal racism, even as late as the day of his grad­uat­ion ceremony in 1853. Crummell then went to Liberia as a mis­sion­ary, successfully spending the next 20 years there as a par­ish rec­tor and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Science at Liberia College.

Had no African student applied to Oxford before 1870? Perhaps had some app­lied and were rejected Christian Frederick Cole (1852-85) was born in the village of Wat­erloo, in the British colony of Sier­ra Leone. His adopted fat­her, a Church of England minister, gained a scholarship for their son to attend the best college in sub-Saharan Africa, a Freetown missionary school with high stand­ards in the Classics. Prin­­­cipal Rev E Jones had been the first African-Amer­ican to grad­uate from Amherst College in the USA and it was he who encour­aged young Cole to apply for Oxford Uni. So Cole applied, sat for Greek, Latin, arithmetic & alg­eb­ra exams, and was accepted.

In 1872 Cole’s father died and his uncle took over the guardianship responsibility. Despite Britain’s racist colonial views, Cole enrolled at Univ­ers­ity College to read for an honours degree in Classics, bec­oming the first black African to study at the university. He was constantly subject to ridicule and sarcasm verbally and in writing, but apparently was never physically harmed.

Christian Cole was not a residential student, but his uncle did pay for lodg­ings in the city and for university fees. Cole’s pre­sence attract­ed attention both inside and outside the university. As a member of Oxford Union debating society, Cole actively debated in the giv­en topics. His academic essays were commended by his tutors and lecturers, and after 4 years of hard study, Cole got his hon­ours degree in 1877. It only fell ap­art when his uncle ran out of money to support his lov­ed nephew. Instead Christian used his great musical talent to teach music to some undergrad­uates, and prepared ot­h­er under-grad­uates for their divinity exams. Eventually he sought the ass­istance of the Master of University College in win­ning exempt­ion from paying fees, but the request failed and Cole had to return to Africa.

By 1879 his friends in Sierra Leone had raised enough money to return him to London and to make a career in Law. He became the first black African member of the Honour­ab­le Soc­iety of the Inner Temple, one of London’s prestig­ious Inns of Court. After 4 more years, he was called to the bar as the first African barrister to practise in British courts.

How sad that despite being called to the bar, Cole couldn't secure any chambers in Britain and so took a barristership in Zanzibar instead. Even that success was short lived. Just a year lat­er Cole contracted smallpox and died in Dec 1885 aged 33. In his brief life, Cole had carefully worked his way through the racial and cultural barr­iers of Vict­or­ian Britain to create two hist­or­ic firsts. Who knows what oth­er remarkable successes this young man might have achieved? 

Cole's plaque, Oxford, 2017

BBC

A plaque to honour Cole’s successes was placed on Uni­v­ersity College’s exterior wall, opposite the College’s Law Lib­rary Oxford. What a very long time to make the honour happen!