John R. Blackburn, Wabash College First Black Student

Last February my colleague, Tim Lake, re-introduced John R. Blackburn, the first Black student enrolled at Wabash College, to our campus. Blackburn's story is a tragic one, ending in expulsion just two weeks after his 1857 enrollment.

In the following poem, which I read at a Rite of Return ceremony for Blackburn that we held at the Wabash Avenue Presbyterian Church, I retell Blackburn's story, and a bit of my own.

I hope you'll give it a read, if only to learn about this extraordinary man, our college's past, and Blackburn's future. With thanks to Tim Lake for entrusting me with this figure and to Natalie Solmer and the The Indianapolis Review for keeping this one in Indiana.