Arad Simon Lakin

Rev. Arad Simon Lakin (May 10, 1810–January 22, 1890)[1] was an American minister, and university president. He was a Methodist minister from New York state, sent to Alabama in order to reestablish the national Methodist Church in the state, and was labeled a "carpetbagger" by Southerners.[2]

Arad Simon Lakin
BornMay 10, 1810
Hancock, Delaware County, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 22, 1890
Rockport, Rooks County, Kansas, U.S.
Occupation(s)Methodist minister, missionary, university president

He was appointed president of the University of Alabama for a period during the Reconstruction era.[3][4]

Biography
Cartoon from September 1, 1868, published in the Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor. Lakin ("Ohio") and Cloud were the subject's hanging from the tree
Cartoon from September 1, 1868, published in the Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor. Lakin ("Ohio") and Cloud were the subject's hanging from the tree

Arad Simon Lakin was born in 1810 in Hancock, Delaware County, New York.[5] He grew up in New York state in rural poverty.[6] Lakin served as the Chaplain of the 8th Indiana Cavalry, Union Army, during the American Civil War.[7][2]

He was a reverend from Ohio and had been active in the political organizing of freed slaves. The Bishop of Ohio send minister Lakin to Alabama as a missionary for the national Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC).[6] His goal was to establish a biracial congregation at MEC in Alabama and as a result, the Ku Klux Klan targeted Lakin.[4][6] On September 1, 1868, Lakin and Alabama School Superintendent Noah B. Cloud were the subject's of a Klan cartoon published in the Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor.[8] The cartoon featured images of the two educators lynched and hanging from a tree in the "City of Oaks" (or Tuscaloosa), with a KKK-labeled donkey below them, walking away.[8]

He resigned as president of the University of Alabama after Professor Wyman, who served on the university's board and who had refused to serve as president himself, and also refused to turn the keys over to Lakin.[9][10]

He died on January 22, 1890, in Rockport, Kansas, and was buried in Alabama.[5]

See also

References
  1. Robey, Diane; Johnson, Dorothy Scott; Jones, Jr., John Rison; Roberts, Frances C. (1995). Maple Hill Cemetery, Phase One (PDF). Huntsville, Alabama: The Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society. p. 122.
  2. Hubbs, G. Ward (2015). Searching for Freedom After the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817318604.
  3. "America's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War, section 5". Digital History. Valentine Museum in Richmond. 2003.
  4. Foner, Eric; Mahoney, Olivia (1997). America's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War. Louisiana State University Press. p. 118. ISBN 9780807122341.
  5. "Arad S. Lakin". Wayne County Herald. February 20, 1890. p. 2 – via newspapers.com.
  6. "Book Note: A Scene in the City of Oaks: Searching for Freedom after the Civil War, by G. Ward Hubbs". School of Law, University of Alabama. May 27, 2016.
  7. Official Army Register of the Volunteer Force of the United States Army for the Years 1861, '62, '63, '64, '65 ...: Indiana, Illinois. United States Adjutant-General's Office. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1865. p. 14.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. "Klan Cartoon, 1868". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
  9. Sellers, James Benson (31 March 2014). History of the University of Alabama. ISBN 9780817357696 – via books.google.com.
  10. Cobb, Mark Hughes (March 30, 2017). "The little-known story of Tuscaloosa's first black lawmaker". Houma Today.
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