1892: Southern founded by George W. Colcord (Industrial drive is now named Colcord Drive)
1899: First black instructor Anna Knight taught nursing and cooking in school’s preparatory program. She worked at Southern for a summer and was the first female black missionary to go to India.
1870s-80s: Adventist leaders struggled to have a spiritual influence with Southerners because of three things: This is right after the civil war; Northerners were coming as evangelists and teachers and wanted to worship on the Sabbath instead of Sunday (this was illegal at the time); Northern Adventists were coming to the South and wanted to integrate blacks and whites.
1961: General conference urged Southern Missionary College (SMC) to prepare for integration.
1965: Board voted to accept qualified applications “regardless of race, color or national origin.”
1967: SMC had made the first steps towards integrating. To remind the university of the various threats that integrating posed, local Klansmen (KKK) monitored the university including sleeping arrangements of visiting musicians from Oakwood College and reportedly burning crosses from time to time.
After integrating, the expected backlash never materialized. When the new integration policy was passed in chapel, the students gave it a standing ovation. However, some constituents had difficulty adjusting to the overthrow of a long-term social custom. Ultimately, the university believed ethnic diversity was beneficial.
1969: First African American to graduate from Southern, she was a nursing professor for many years and a director of nursing. Southern adopted a racially nondiscriminatory employment policy.
1970s: Southern began celebrating Black History Week.
1973: Southern implemented policy for affirmative action in the employment of women and members of minority groups.
1974: Southern students elected first black and first female student association president, Gale Jones Murphy.
1975: Southern hired first black professor, Garland Dulan, PhD.
By this time, the black population at Southern was growing. Increasing 5 students in 1967-68 to 111 in 1980-81.
1980s: Black history assemblies were a small portion of the college’s efforts, not just for enrichment but also to broaden students cultural horizons through both mandatory assemblies and voluntary Saturday night programs. By late 1980s, the morning assemblies were taking place less frequently.
1990: The International Club and the Beta Kappa Tau (now known as BCU) originally “Be kind to one another;” later, “Brotherhood, Kinship, Togetherness,” the black students club, sponsored a basketball team, club parties, weekly Adventist Youth Society (AYS) meetings, and the Black History Week program each February. The club had a choir that traveled to several churches for many years putting on weekend services. Among special Black History week were Terrence Roberts and Actress Alice McGill portraying Sojourner Truth.
1997: President Gordon Bietz and Oakwood President Delbert Baker initiated the Diversity Education Exchange Program (DEEP) in which universities would exchange students for a semester to achieve cultural awareness. The event has now become DEEP Sabbath, in which one student body visits the others’ university.
2005: Southern students elected Melvin Taylor as their first male, black president.
2013: Southern’s cultural club sponsors mutually decided to no longer allow cultural dancing in student club events.
2016: Yik Yak banned due to racial slurs posted anonymously during BCU Vespers. Discussions, forums, and diversity committees ensued.
2018: Enrollment of minorities at Southern reaches 51 percent. Racist snapchat story incites intense debate.