On this day in Labor History the year was 1833.
That was the day that the Oberlin Collegiate Institute was founded in northcentral Ohio.
Today it is known as Oberlin College.
The college was the project of two Presbyterian ministers John Jay Sipherd and Philo Stewart.
Their goal was to form a college based on Christian principals.
In the early days, tuition was free and students were expected to give their labor to help sustain the school and community.
The College motto “Learning and Labor” harkens back to that time.
From early on the college was different than many other institutions of higher learning of its day.
In 1835. Oberlin became the first predominantly white college admit black male students.
Two years later, Oberlin broke new ground again, letting in women and becoming the first coed college in the nation.
By opening its doors to black and women enrollees, Oberlin gave these students a chance to study and pursue careers that might otherwise have been closed to them.
By the turn of the twentieth century, one third of all black professionals in the United States had graduated from Oberlin.
In 1862, Mary Jane Patterson became the first African American woman to earn her bachelorette degree from Oberlin.
She became a teacher and principal.
Another black graduate, John Mercer Langston, would become the first black lawyer in Ohio and the first black congressman to represent Virginia in Washington, D.C.
Oberlin College was also known for its stance supporting the abolition of slavery and later for supporting Civil Rights.
The school was a stop on the Underground Railroad, which helped enslaved people escape into freedom in Canada.
Oberlin gave people the opportunity of an education.
February 27 - The 1937 Woolworth Sit-Down
February 26 - The Battle at Bethlehem
February 25 - The Paterson Silk Strike Begins
February 24 - Muller v Oregon Decided
February 23 - Black Workers Lead Historic Strike at UNC
February 22 - Labelling Teachers as Terrorists
February 21 - The First Female Telephone Operator
February 20 - Angelina Grimke is Born
February 19 - Philly Street Car Workers Spark General Strike
February 18 - Anti-Slavery Begins in America
February 17 - Standing Up By Sitting Down
February 16 - The Wisconsin Uprising Begins
February 15 - The Uprising of the 20,000 Comes to a Close
February 14 - Kansas City Laundresses Walk Off the Job
February 13 - Martial Law Declared to Crush the UAW
February 12 - The NAACP is Founded
February 11 - Cutting Corners on Safety at Sequoyah I
February 10 - Forty-Three Workers Buried Alive
February 9 - Organizing Bloody Harlan
February 8 - Butte Copper Miners Join the 1919 Strike Wave
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