Renowned Alum Rowan Dies

The Oberlin family lost one of its most respected members last Saturday. Carl T. Rowan, class of 1947, died of natural causes in Washington D.C. He was 75.

Besides long being an outspoken voice on issues as complex and divisive as race relations and urban violence, Rowan was the first African-American columnist to be nationally syndicated. Al Moran, vice president of College Relations said, "Carl Rowan cared for mankind; Carl Rowan cared for everyone. This institution suffered a great loss, as did the nation."

Rowan was born in 1925 in Tennessee, and eventually worked his way out of his small, coal-mining community before he arrived at Oberlin College on an entitlement from the GI Bill. In a College video entitled Follow the Morning Star that describes Oberlin's leading role in educating African Americans, Rowan said, "I was a Navy V-12 student at Washburn University in Kansas, about to become one of the first 15 black Americans to get a commission in the U.S. The Navy wanted to transfer me to Northwestern University. But Northwestern wouldn't let me stay in the dorm with the white Navy guys. So the Navy decided to send me to Oberlin. I've never forgotten that the door was open at Oberlin when it was closed at a lot of other places."

Upon his graduation from Oberlin in 1947, Rowan returned to the South to tackle one of the most pressing issues of the time: the Supreme Court ordered desegregation of public schools. Rowan reported on this issue during a time when the number of African-American reporters covering serious issues could be counted on one hand.

Rowan began to gain national recognition as a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune in the early '50s for his portrayal of racism in the Deep South, including one trip he took with a white colleague to discover what he called "government- sanctioned racism."

It was those early years of Rowan's professional journalistic career that marked him as destined for greatness. Setting a precedent that still stands today, Rowan was awarded the medallion of Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalistic society three years in a row, from 1952 through 1954.

Kay Thomson, vice president for Development in Alumni Affairs, said, "He was an incredibly gifted journalist and a wonderful human being. He epitomized all that's good about Oberlin."

Rowan was further acknowledged in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy appointed him Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in an effort to integrate the administration. Thomson said, "He was so convinced of what he was talking about ‹ civil rights ‹ so passionate, without being overbearing."

Rowan continued to break the color barrier in national politics when Kennedy offered him a post at the U.S. Intelligence Agency, making Rowan the first African American to sit with the Cabinet and National Security Council.

Rowan began writing his column, which was syndicated in over 100 newspapers, in 1965 and wrote his last one only days before his death. Rowan was the first African American to have a nationally syndicated column. He received the Fourth Estate Award from the National Press Club in 1999 for his lifetime commitment to journalism. In its press release, the National Press Club said, "The selection committee unanimously viewed Carl Rowan as a towering figure in our profession. He greatly deserves an award that honors a lifetime of achievement for his outstanding contributions to journalism."

Besides his column, Rowan was a senior panelist on the television program "Inside Washington" from 1967 to 1996. Rowan was also the author of numerous books, including his 1991 autobiography Breaking Barriers, which received critical acclaim and underscored Rowan's belief in the importance of education. This issue has long been on the forefront of Rowan's mind. In 1987 he founded Project Excellence, "with the primary focus of encouraging black high school students to finish high school and go on to college," Thomson said. "I'm sure there are many students who wouldn't have gone to college without it. Many [students] have come to Oberlin and been quite successful."

Project Excellence has awarded more than $26 million in scholarships and helped more than 1,150 students live out their dreams. Rowan was insistent on offering scholarships to African-American students of various talents, not just "typical" scholars. Thomson said, "He did so much to inform people of all kinds of critical and sensitive issues. He believed that if people were given the right information they'd make the right choices. He believed fervently in that."

"He was passionate in helping those that needed assistance, opening doors as they had been opened for him. He was not better than anyone, though he was better than everyone," Moran said.