While at Colgate, history professor Jason Petrulis was partially tasked with researching the history of the university in advance of the 2019 bicentennial.
With Black History Month coming to a close, Petrulis (now a professor at Cal Poly Pomona) recently took to Twitter to post an important fact from Colgate’s past: four early African-American Colgate students went on to become college presidents.
William J. Simmons
Simmons attended Colgate from 1868–69 and was the second president of the eponymous Simmons College of Kentucky.
Matthew Gilbert
Gilbert graduated from Colgate in 1887 and was the president of Selma University.
John Brown Watson
John Brown Watson attended Colgate from 1900–01 and was president of Leland College and what is now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.