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Joseph Lee Spurlarke (Class of 1889)

Overview

Joseph Lee Spurlarke (Class of 1889) is documented as the first African-American student to graduate from Hamilton College. A photographic portrait of Spurlarke was unveiled in the Stryker (“All-Night”) Reading Room of Burke Library in September 1990, in a ceremony commemorating his place in Hamilton’s history. Six weeks later, the portrait was vandalized — an act that sparked one of the most significant campus protests of the early 1990s and became a focal point for discussions of race and community at Hamilton.

Key Details

Class year: 1889
Significance: First African-American student to graduate from Hamilton College
Post-graduation: Following graduation, Spurlarke became a pastor of a Presbyterian church; he later died of typhoid fever
Portrait: Photographic portrait unveiled in Burke Library, September 14, 1990

In the Sources

Portrait unveiled, September 1990: The portrait of Spurlarke was unveiled in the Stryker Reading Room of Burke Library on September 14, 1990, in a commemorative ceremony. The unveiling appears to have been organized in connection with broader campus multicultural initiatives during the Hank Payne presidency.

Vandalism, October 1990: On or around Tuesday, October 23, 1990 — between 6:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. — the portrait was defaced. Vandals attached a sanitary napkin bearing the words “lick me” to the portrait. A note criticizing the act was also left nearby. The librarian who discovered the defacement discarded the napkin before it could be used as evidence.

Institutional response: President Payne (who was out of town when the incident occurred) was notified on Friday, October 26. A joint statement from Payne, Dean of Students Jan Coates, and Dean of the Faculty Gene Tobin described the act as “an intolerable and contemptible act of desecration” and called for anyone with information to come forward.

Student protest: Members of the Black and Latin Student Union (BLSU), led by President Darin Hickman ‘91, organized a protest march during the half-time of a football game that coincided with Parents’ Weekend — with marchers dressed in black and wearing red and green armbands (the colors of the African national flag). On Monday, October 29, approximately 200 students, faculty, and administrators marched from Bristol Campus Center through campus to McEwen Dining Hall, where Hickman delivered a speech. President Payne stood behind Hickman holding an African national flag. The march was described in Spectator coverage as multiracial, and participants continued wearing the black-and-armband combination for weeks afterward.

Hickman’s speech included: “I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand here, and stand by, and let something like this go by without doing something about it. If someone is trying to suggest that they don’t want us [students of color] here, be forewarned. We’re here to stay.”

Investigation: Dean Coates conducted interviews and narrowed the timing of the incident but the perpetrator was never publicly identified in Spectator coverage.

Open Questions

Was the perpetrator of the 1990 vandalism ever identified?
What is the fuller biography of Joseph Lee Spurlarke after Hamilton — his ministry, family, community?
Is the portrait still displayed in Burke Library?
Was there additional commemoration of Spurlarke in subsequent years?

Sources