WMU to honor Black brick mason who managed construction of school’s first building

KALAMAZOO, MI — Come April, Western Michigan University will be adding an installation to honor the brick mason who oversaw construction of the university’s first building, Heritage Hall.

Heritage Hall was finished in 1905, two years after school was established under the name “Western State Normal School.” It was one of the hallmarks of Albert White’s portfolio.

What makes the contractor and business owner unique? He was an African American man born to formerly enslaved parents. White was born in 1861, two years prior to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Karika Parker, a post doctoral fellow with the Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations, was working on her doctoral dissertation at WMU when she came across White’s legacy.

“This Black man popped up, I just about fell out of my chair,” Parker said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, Albert J. White built East Campus.’”

Parker said there was no reference to White on the university’s website. So she reached out to WMU President Edward Montgomery, who asked her to do more research.

“He said, ‘I want you to keep looking, because we’re going to rectify this,’” Parker said.

Through her research, Parker said she struggled to find accurate primary sources. One article said all of the buildings White constructed were torn down, which isn’t true according to the Kalamazoo Public Library. White also helped build the first Borgess Hospital at 1521 Gull Road and Kalamazoo’s old Central High School at 714 South Westnedge Ave.

White worked on farms In Indiana before moving to Kalamazoo, where he worked for a brick mason, according to the KPL profile on White. White agreed to work for free for several years to learn the trade after his employer initially declined to teach him. At 25 years old, White started his own brick masonry business.

“You’re talking about a people who were deliberately pushed out of society and their contributions aren’t in the history books,” Parker said.

The first Black student, Merze Tate, didn’t enroll at WMU until 1924. The Supreme Court didn’t outlaw segregation in schools until 1954.

“Out of the hundreds of thousands of students that have come through here, (people) do not know that this one man is the anchor of this institution,” Parker said.

Parker said school officials have discussed installing a bust and informational displays in Heritage Hall. Parker also said she wants information to be available in the admissions department.

“Every student comes through admissions, and every student needs to know a Black man built this campus,” Parker said.

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