Albion Native Was University of Rochester's First African American Student

Abstract

Henry Austin Spencer, a son of Henry Spencer of Albion, attended school in Albion as a young man while working as an errand boy for Asa and William Howard. After attending Miss Foster's boarding school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Spencer enrolled at Brockport Normal School where he became one of the few African American students. Following his graduation in 1880, he was selected as the Gamma Sigma orator, an honor which earned him a scholarship to the University of Rochester.