MU founder's descendant donates to Black Studies

By Jake Carah

Published Jan. 29, 2008

James Rollins, a longtime UM system curator who donated much of the land that MU rests upon, is known as a founding father of the university. But like many in his time, Rollins was a slave owner.

Clay Mering, a decendant of Rollins, decided that he wanted to confront his family’s history and help atone for it.

“I got the realization that I wanted to do something after the name of my ancestor that owned a lot of slaves,” Mering said.

In confronting his family’s history, Mering decided to contribute to MU’s Black Studies program. His donation created the $25,000 James S. Rollins Slavery Atonement Fund.

The idea for the contribution came to Mering back in 2006. Inspired by local news stories and even a Neil Young song.

“I was at work and taking a break when I saw that there were not one, but two stories about slavery,” he said. “One was about Al Sharpton that his genealogy, it came out that many of his ancestors were owned by the late senator from South Carolina, Strom Thurmond. The second was that the state of Virginia put out a statewide apology for slavery.”

At the same time, Mering said, he was listening to a Neil Young CD a friend gave him.

“It was the song ‘Southern Man,’ the part that goes, ‘I saw cotton and I saw black/tall white mansions and little shacks/southern man when will you pay them back?’ and it all kind of hit me at once,” Mering said.

Mering said he has known since a young child that he had an ancestor who was a slave owner.

“It had always affected me,” he said.

Mering said he knew he wanted to find a way to make up for his family’s past.

“I didn’t know exactly what, but that it would involve the University of Missouri,” Mering said.

He said he first tried to contact the former head of the Black Studies program, Julius Thompson, who passed away before Mering could reach him about the contribution. But he was able to reach MU to finalize the contribution by the end of last year, he said.

“As a university, we are very grateful to the donor,” Deputy Chancellor Mike Middleton said. “Anything that can supplement our resources for research is helpful and much appreciated.”

The endowment fund will be used to fund student trips, conferences and projects for the students in the Black Studies Program, Mering said. The subject matter would pertain mostly to slavery, civil rights and black culture, Mering said.

The endowment fund provides a mechanism through which students and faculty can address the issue of slavery, Middleton said.

“The atonement for the transgressions of our forefathers is a whole academic by itself,” he said. “Slavery has been a part of human history since the very beginning, and whether one can atone for such a societal flaw, a human flaw.”

Legion of Black Collegians Vice President Porscha Kirkwoocd said the donation is a good step.

“I think it’s an attempt in the right direction, but monetary funding cannot replace what happened during slavery,” Kirkwood said.

She also said the donation’s effectiveness is limited by the state of the Black Studies program.

“Black Studies is still only a minor here at the university, so it still is a limited resource, and there are still a limited amount of black studies classes available each semester,” Kirkwood said.