as told by Mary Eva Tredway

photo by steed media service

Before December 1962, Samuel Oni and John T. Mitchell were complete strangers. Yet their separate journeys would soon intersect to make history. Oni, a native of Ghana, was encouraged by a Mercer University-trained missionary to apply to the all-white university. Mitchell was the school’s director of admission. Blown away by the young man’s potential, Mitchell thought he would be a perfect fit for the institution. There was just one problem: it was the 1960s, and he knew Oni would not be admitted because of the color of his skin. Mitchell took immediate action, according to his daughter, Mary Eva Tredway. She says Mitchell confronted Mercer’s then-president, Rufus C. Harris, and voiced his concern. “ ‘We’re a Christian school; we’re going out teaching the Word of Christ, yet we have an applicant who is well-qualified and we’re not going to let him in because he’s black?’ ” the daughter recalls her father saying. On the advice of Harris, Mitchell wrote the board, demanding that Oni be granted admission. Despite death threats and rampant bigotry, Oni became first black student to ever receive admission into Mercer.

Tredway, who was a child during this historic occasion, says her father wasn’t trying to be a hero as much as he was obeying his conscience. “[My father] thought he was doing the right thing for one student,” she says. “He had no idea he was doing the right thing for one student that was going to impact generations to come.”

On Tuesday, when Mitchell is honored by the Harriet Tubman Museum with the “Act of Courage” award, he will probably tell the audience in attendance what he once told his daughter. “ ‘I didn’t do it for the fame; I didn’t do it for the notoriety,’ ” Tredway remembers her father telling her. “ ‘God knows what I’ve done and Sam Oni knows what I’ve done and that’s all that really matters.’ ” - gavin p. godfrey

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