During the Civil War Era, Black Americans understood the importance of education within their communities. Education was difficult to access, and white Americans used the uneducated status of Black Americans to reinforce racial stereotypes that harmed them. For more on the importance of education, see this page. Because of the importance of education, many educated Black Americans would pursue careers as educators.

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When John Blackburn attempted to start his college education in Cincinnati in 1857, he attended for only two weeks before he was barred from attending due to his race. Blackburn had come to Ohio with his mother and eleven siblings after their emancipation in Virginia in 1847. Determined to continue his education, he was tutored privately by Lane Theological Seminary students before receiving his degree from Dartmouth College in 1863.[1] While Blackburn struggled to start his advancement in Ohio, he had a prolific career as an educator, serving as a mathematics professor, a principal at several schools and a trustee and mathematics professor at Wilberforce University.

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In 1885, he was elected as an Ohio University trustee, the first Black man to fill that role, which he did for six years.[2] The OU Mirror depicted his service in a positive light, noting “The people of the city have reason to congratulate themselves in their possession of such an efficient, capable and distinguished educator as Prof. John R. Blackburn to teach, instruct and oversee the education of their sons and daughters.”[3] Professor Blackburn gave a speech during his time at Ohio University that observed “the time when he, as a member of the colored race, would have been unable to find instruction at any college in Ohio, Oberlin excepted.”[4] Blackburn’s career is one of many that shows both the social barriers that prevented advancement for determined Black Americans and their ability to contribute professionally in spite of these structural roadblocks.

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