Laurentians Inspire: The Reverend Jeffrey Campbell, Class of 1933
In honor of Black History Month, our Laurentians Inspire series for the month of February celebrates Black Laurentians who have made a difference and left their mark on St. Lawrence.
“In every age and generation, there has been a quota of those who dared—dared to face odds for the sake of achievement; the self-supporting student is one incarnation of that spirit in our age.” These are the words of Rev. Jeffrey Worthington Campbell, the first African-American graduate of St. Lawrence University in 1933 and the first Black Laurentian to be ordained as a Universalist minister by the St. Lawrence School of Theology in 1935.
Jeffrey Campbell’s remarkable life began with his birth on March 1, 1910, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of Lillian, his white mother, and Jeffrey Campbell Sr., his Black father. Their interracial marriage proved a divisive and controversial union for Lillian’s family, leaving the young couple with little support. In 1916, Campbell became a brother when his sister Marguerite was born, and in 1919, the family relocated to Nashua, New Hampshire. In 1922, Jeffrey and Marguerite became fatherless and Lillian became a widow when Jeffrey Sr. was killed in a racially motivated assault.
Soon after his father’s murder, Jeffrey developed a lifelong passion for social justice. In high school, he joined protests in support of organized labor and also wrote letters to local officials pleading them not to cut down a beloved neighborhood tree, exhibiting the beginnings of a passion for community that would define his life.
After matriculating at St. Lawrence University in 1929, on the eve of the Great Depression, Campbell’s commitment to social justice grew and manifested in multiple outlets at the University.
“Spirit such as St. Lawrence stands in need of, cannot be forced; it must be inspired,” stated Campbell in a 1932 article in The Laurentian. And inspire he did. He participated in multiple extracurricular activities. As a writer and editor for numerous campus publications, he shared his voice in The Hill News, The Laurentian, Scarlet Saint, and The Gridiron. He was president of the Student Union as well as a member of the Glee Club, men’s debate team, and the Saints track and field team. Campbell was also inducted into Pi Delta Epsilon and Tau Kappa Alpha honor societies for journalism and public speaking respectively.
As an English major, Campbell was a prolific writer. Many of his themes and observations remain applicable to today’s political and social climate and reveal his advocacy for racial justice. In one allegorical work titled “Animalities: A Bedtime Story,” Campbell tackles the accessibility of higher education with the story of a pig, a raccoon, and a sheep who decide they want to go to college and expand their world view.
My first act would be to emancipate my institution from the ignorance, sham, and stupidity of the outside world. Any attempt of that existing society to foist its prejudices, shibboleths, and emotional biases upon my students by such subtle media as bequests, endowments, trustee-prestige, or social sanction would be hailed by me as a signal to sever incriminating relations with that particular part of the octopus known as the status quo. —"How I Would Achieve the Ideal University," Rev. Jeffrey Campbell '33
an English major, Campbell was a prolific writer. Many of his themes and observations remain applicable to today’s political and social climate and reveal his advocacy for racial justice. In one allegorical work titled “Animalities: A Bedtime Story,” Campbell tackles the accessibility of higher education with the story of a pig, a raccoon, and a sheep who decide they want to go to college and expand their world view.
In 1933, Campbell penned "How I Would Achieve the Ideal University,” in which he explained: “My first act would be to emancipate my institution from the ignorance, sham, and stupidity of the outside world. Any attempt of that existing society to foist its prejudices, shibboleths, and emotional biases upon my students by such subtle media as bequests, endowments, trustee-prestige, or social sanction would be hailed by me as a signal to sever incriminating relations with that particular part of the octopus known as the status quo.”
As the Great Depression ended, Jeffrey Campbell graduated from St. Lawrence, and his career in social justice was just beginning. Campbell briefly served as an executive member of the American Student Union and organized the first-ever student-led anti-war demonstration, but racial inequities of the United States in the 30s and 40s crippled his professional pursuits as a young Black graduate. Campbell also defended the 1939 marriage he officiated between his sister Magueritte and her fiancé, a white friend and classmate from the Theology School. His article, titled “Personality, not Pigmentation,” was published in The Christian Leader in 1940 and prompted a fierce debate over interracial marriage in the Universalist community.
In every age and generation, there has been a quota of those who dared—dared to face odds for the sake of achievement; the self-supporting student is one incarnation of that spirit in our age. —Rev. Jeffrey Campbell '33
After a brief run for governor in Massachusetts (in which he finished fourth out of 11 candidates), Campbell secured a fellowship to study theology in England from a peace organization. He journeyed to England, where he remained as a conscientious objector throughout World War II.
Once abroad, he continued his studies at the London School of Economics until eventually finding a position tutoring American history and literature at The University of Cambridge for four years. He spent another four years at The University of Oxford before ultimately returning to the United States in 1951. He traveled back to the U.S. on a cattle boat and upon his return, hitchhiked his way to Putney, Vermont. There, he found a career teaching literature at the Putney School, a progressive private high school. He taught there for 31 years until retiring in 1981. Despite his search, Campbell was never afforded a permanent position as a Unitarian minister. However, he did continue his ministry in a variety of settings.
I wanted to be involved as much as I could to try to give to the community as much as I could. And Jeffrey Campbell tried to do the same thing... I was honored to live in [his] legacy without knowing it and be recognized for it. —Mark Featherston '20, recipient of the 2020 Jeffrey Campbell Award
Jeffrey Campbell’s remarkable life ended in 1984, and he was buried with his mother and sister in Brattleboro, Vermont. His gravestone reads, “I would still undertake the call had I my life to relive.”
Every year, St. Lawrence commemorates Jeffrey Campbell’s legacy by recognizing one individual with an award in his honor. During the Spring 2020 semester, the award was given to Mark Featherston ’20, a philosophy and biology double major, a member of Men in Color, and an active Laurentian within the International House, the Hub, and the University orchestra.
“I wanted to be involved as much as I could to try to give to the community as much as I could. And Jeffrey Campbell tried to do the same thing,” says Mark. “I was honored to live in [his] legacy without knowing it and be recognized for it.”
About the Author
Henry Herbold '21 was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and grew up across the Piscataqua River in the small, rural town of Eliot, Maine. In addition to being an English major with a focus in literary studies as well as an Italian minor, Henry has studied a number of other subjects during his tenure at St. Lawrence including film, politics, and music theory.