I’ve asked before with respect to race relations, what am I missing? Well, I found out. When the current issue of Clemson World arrived by email, the lead article’s teaser read:

English professor Rhondda Robinson Thomas has committed her professional research to the history of African Americans on Clemson’s campus, much of which has yet to be brought to light.

I thought, no problem! I remember vividly and with pride that Clemson’s president told us that we had the first black freshman in our class and “there will be no problems at Clemson University.” And there weren’t.

But Dr. Thomas’ research has nothing to do with such recent history (1964). She’s writing about six generations of black people at Clemson, beginning with the slaves on the Calhoun and Tillman plantations going back to at least 1831. I like that she seems to be doing her research and telling the stories without bitterness and that she is 12 years into what she thought was a 3-year contract. Dr. Thomas has not only earned tenure at Clemson University: she also has been named the Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature.

The article, The Power of Calling a Name, is compelling. It reminds us:

The history of Clemson University is inextricably tangled with the triumphs and transgressions of its founders. Thomas Green Clemson was a European-educated engineer who inherited the estate of his wife’s father. Calhoun himself was a prominent planter, a former vice president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, and one of slavery’s most passionate proponents.

I heard nothing of this when I was a student. When I saw the Calhoun mansion, I probably thought, that’s a nice, big house. When Dr. Thomas saw it, she thought, “I cannot believe I am working on a plantation.”

The Bible contains history, and not all of it is pleasant. Everyone matters. People are flawed.

I like to end all blogs with applicable scripture, but I don’t know if these are appropriate or not. Thoughts?

[Jesus] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2.2, NIV) (Jesus died for the sins of Calhoun and Thomas Clemson as well as for all the slaves they held.)

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. (Luke 1.68…74, 75, ESV) (Israel was an oppressed and enslaved people at the time of Jesus’ birth.)

Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. (Judges 16.28 – 30, ESV) (God uses flawed people.)