In his new book, Forever in the Path: The Black Experience at Michigan State University, professor Pero Dagbovie explores the history of Black life at MSU from the 1890s through the late 20th century.
Dagbovie is the university's vice provost for graduate and postdoctoral studies and is dean of the MSU Graduate School.
He spoke with Michigan Public Morning Edition host Doug Tribou.
Doug Tribou: Could you tell us a bit about the book's title, Forever in the Path?
Pero Dagbovie: That title Forever in the Path actually comes from the Black national anthem or the quote unquote, "Negro National Anthem" written by James Weldon Johnson in the very early 20th century — in about 1900. And that notion of being forever in the path speaks to the legacy of those who charted new terrain for Black people to be at Michigan State University. So whoever comes in the future will be following in the path that was laid by those pathfinders, quote unquote.
DT: You open the book with some of the stories of the first black students to graduate from MSU around the turn of the 20th century. What were some of the obstacles they faced when they got there?
PD: Segregation in the North wasn't the same as it was in the South, but there still was something called Jim Crow North. And so these early students who came to Michigan Agricultural College usually didn't stay on campus, right? They usually stayed in Lansing. So it meant they had to have transportation early in the morning and late at night. Beyond that, there was just that notion of cultural isolation, that there weren't many Black people in Lansing at the time, and certainly there was very few Black people in East Lansing, which was called Collegeville back in the day.
DT: The Michigan Agricultural College commencement in 1900 featured Booker T. Washington, one of the leading African-American authors and speakers of that time. But his influence at the school went far beyond the ceremony. Can you describe his thoughts around land grant institutions and how he fostered talent?
PD: Yeah. Booker T. really respected the high technological advancements that MAC made in the agricultural arts. And he reached out to several MAC presidents inquiring if Michigan State had any, quote unquote colored or Negro students who had recently graduated who could come to Tuskegee, his institute, and teach. And there were several who ended up doing that. You had Charles Augustus Warren. You had William Ora Thompson. And those connections between [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] and Michigan State would continue to thrive through the first half of the 20th century.
DT: When did MSU start to have more significant numbers of Black students on campus?
PD: You saw the big increase in the number of black students in the late 1960s, particularly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. For example, in 1967, there were 700 African Americans enrolled in Michigan State. By 1972, it had reached more than 2,500, which was not unique. This was something that was happening across the nation at predominantly white universities.
DT: Large institutions — like MSU — often have communities within communities. And you document many instances in different eras of Black students coming together and supporting each other. But it also extended beyond students.
In the 1970s, the Black Faculty and Administrators Association organized a Black Student Orientation Program. Could you tell us a bit about that and other efforts around that time to help students adapt to life on campus?
PD: Black students in the late 1960s gave a host of demands indicating that they needed more [Black] faculty. And so the university responded by hiring more faculty. And so those faculty were there by virtue of the activism of the students. And the faculty really never forgot that. And so they created different orientation programs, different tutoring programs. It was kind of like a college within a university because there was a critical mass of Black students. And the number of Black faculty would increase significantly from the '60s to the '70s into the early '80s.
DT: Do you have a sense that there was a feeling of being othered in that moment, or was there also a feeling of of being part of the greater campus-wide community?
PD: That's a great question. It makes me ponder W.E.B. Dubois' The Souls of Black Folk and his notion of double consciousness that people often elicit. And I would argue that African Americans at Michigan State at this time had a sense of double consciousness. On the one hand, they were quote unquote, marginalized Black students on a predominantly white campus university setting. And on the other hand, they were Spartans and they took pride in their university. And they took so much pride in it as citizens of the university that they felt it was their duty to help change it and reform it for the better.
"Connections between HBCUs and Michigan State would continue to thrive through the first half of the 20th century."Professor Pero G. Dagbovie on relationships fostered, in part, by Booker T. Washington
DT: We’re here in 2025 and you’ve just made this great effort to document Black life at MSU. You relied on other efforts before you to record that history. Can you tell us about the Black student publication the Grapevine Journal?
PD: Yeah, the Grapevine Journal was amazing. It was an award-winning newspaper that was created for and by Black students that provided budding Black journalists with a safe space to hone their craft and to write about not only the Black community on campus, but also the global and national Black community.
The archives for this newspaper are amazing. Thousands of pictures, thousands of drafts of articles, research that was done on the history of Black students that was never published. They're all in this Grapevine Journal Collection that is at the university archives in historical collections. And I think that I might be one of the first historians to really probe into these documents with a fine-tooth comb.
DT: Is there a story or moment that you uncovered in your research that surprised you — or has stuck with you — more than others?
PD: I guess, generally speaking, if I were to talk about like what I was most intrigued by, it would be the role that Black students played as activists long before the 1960s. I mean, most people acknowledge that Black students on campuses like MSU were very active during the Civil Rights Movement, the post-Civil Rights Movement.
But I found scores of examples of Black students individually and semi-collectively challenging the university to live up to its ideals before Brown v. Board of Education, even. Whether it was dealing with the desegregation of the dorms or challenging the university to issue a statement indicating that they wouldn't discriminate against people based upon color or race.
Editor's notes: In this interview, there are multiple references to the Michigan Agricultural College (MAC). That was MSU's official name from 1909 to1925, but MSU had also previously been known as State Agricultural College and before that, Agricultural College of the State of Michigan. Michigan State University is the school's sixth official name.
Quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full interview near the top of this page.
