Travel in Time with Dan: The HBCU That Never Was—Courage When the Vote Is 700 to 4
Hey everybody, how are you doing? It’s Dan Blanchard here with another edition of Travel in Time with Dan, where we mix travel with history, with leadership, and… of course… with me, Dan Blanchard!
Today, we are standing in New Haven, Connecticut, near the roaring interchange of Interstate 95 and Interstate 91. To most drivers, it is just concrete and traffic. To those who know the history, this stretch of highway sits on top of a vanished dream. In 1831, the New Haven Gymnasium stood here. That building was poised to become the first Historically Black College or University in the English-speaking world—a bold experiment in education and human dignity that was stopped cold by fear.
I’ve traveled back in time to 1831 to meet the man who proposed it: the Reverend Simeon Jocelyn, a white minister of influence, conviction, and remarkable grit. He is standing with me near the site of the old Gymnasium, looking out over the ground that almost changed American history.
Here is our fictional conversation.
The Interview: Dan Blanchard Meets Simeon Jocelyn
Dan Blanchard: Reverend Jocelyn! Dan Blanchard here from Travel in Time with Dan. Thank you for meeting me on this ground. Most people driving overhead today have no idea what almost happened here.
Simeon Jocelyn: (Standing with quiet intensity, eyes steady) Mr. Blanchard. This place was meant for something greater than silence.
Dan: Or even the noise of cars passing by…
Simeon Jocelyn: Yeah…. Well, in 1831 we proposed a college for Black men—right here in New Haven. No such institution existed anywhere in the English-speaking world. We were not offering charity. We were demanding the tools of intellect so that free Black men could dismantle the systems that oppressed them. Education, not uplift by pity. That was the vision.
Dan: Why New Haven? Why did this city seem like the right place?
Simeon Jocelyn: New Haven possessed rare advantages. It was home to Yale and held the highest rate of matriculated college students in the nation. Connecticut led the country in literacy. The city’s involvement in the West Indian trade brought a measure of diversity and global awareness uncommon for the time. If a serious institution for Black higher education could take root anywhere in Antebellum America, it should have been here.
Dan: Yet this was still Antebellum Connecticut. Slavery remained legal in the state. Black Americans were widely regarded as property in those days. How did you navigate that climate?
Simeon Jocelyn: With open eyes. We knew the prevailing attitudes. We also knew that progress never waits for perfect conditions. The proposal was a direct challenge to the idea that Black minds should remain limited. It asked white New Haven to decide whether it truly valued learning…. or only learning for some.
Dan: Then came the terrible timing. In the summer of 1831, Nat Turner’s rebellion erupted in Virginia. How did that affect the proposal?
Simeon Jocelyn: (Voice tightening) The newspapers did not simply report the violence. They placed accounts of the rebellion side-by-side with stories about our proposed college. The juxtaposition invited the public to connect the two. Suddenly the question was no longer whether Black men deserved education. It became whether educating them would arm them for insurrection. Fear spread faster than reason. A debate about a school was transformed into a perceived struggle for survival.
Dan: In September, the city held a town meeting. The vote was 700 to 4 against the college. Only white male property owners were allowed to cast ballots.
Simeon Jocelyn: Seven hundred to four. That tally reveals the true nature of Antebellum democracy in this place. The majority of the population… Black residents, women, non-property owners… had no voice at all. The “No” was not the will of the whole community. It was the will of those who already held power and feared losing it. Southern plantation interests added pressure. They lobbied, influenced the press, and celebrated when New Haven voted against the college. A successful Black institution in the North threatened the ideology that sustained slavery in the South.
Dan: The backlash was immediate and harsh. Black property owners were targeted. You yourself were driven from your position.
Simeon Jocelyn: Yes. The professional cost was real. Yet the defeat did not end the work. I continued in the cause of abolition, in the Underground Railroad, and later in the Amistad case that unfolded right here in New Haven. Grit is not the absence of defeat. It is the decision to keep moving after it.
Dan: Two years later, the state passed the 1833 “Black Law.” It prohibited any school for the instruction of Black persons in Connecticut and barred out-of-state Black individuals from entering the state for education. That law was then used against Prudence Crandall when she opened her school for young Black women in Canterbury.
Simeon Jocelyn: The law was designed to make certain the idea could never rise again in Connecticut. It was a legal wall built on the foundation of that 700-to-4 vote. Prudence Crandall paid a personal price for crossing it. The state had chosen tradition and fear over truth and possibility.
Dan: Because New Haven faltered, the recognition of the first HBCU went elsewhere. Cheyney University in Pennsylvania was established in 1837. Standing here with you, the leadership lessons feel sharp. Popularity is not the same as correctness. Tradition is not the same as truth. And sometimes leadership means using your voice even when you are outnumbered four to seven hundred.
Simeon Jocelyn: Exactly, Mr. Blanchard. The four who voted “Yes” stood in the lonely place. They faced ostracism. Yet history has judged their courage more kindly than the comfort of the seven hundred. Real leadership often requires proposing something new, questioning what has always been, and accepting the cost of being right when the crowd prefers the familiar wrong. The ethical path is rarely the easiest. It is simply the one that leaves a legacy worth keeping.
Dan: Boom. That hits deep. Reverend Jocelyn, thank you for your vision, your grit, and for reminding us what almost was… and what still needs doing.
Simeon Jocelyn: The highways above us are loud, Mr. Blanchard. Let them not drown out the quieter truth: a bold experiment was proposed here, and fear paved over it. May those who pass this ground remember the four, and may they find the courage to stand with truth even when the vote looks hopeless.
The Travel in Time Wrap-Up
Standing near the I-91/I-95 interchange with Simeon Jocelyn made one truth impossible to ignore: Popularity and correctness are not the same thing. Tradition and truth are not the same thing. And leadership often means speaking up even when you are badly outnumbered.
In 1831, New Haven had the chance to establish the first HBCU in the English-speaking world. The city possessed the academic reputation, the literacy rates, and the cosmopolitan connections to make it possible. Simeon Jocelyn’s proposal was not charity. It was a demand for intellectual power. Then Nat Turner’s rebellion, sensational newspaper coverage, Southern political pressure, and deep-seated fear combined to produce a 700-to-4 rejection. Only white male property owners voted. The aftermath brought violence against Black residents, the professional ruin of Jocelyn, and the 1833 Black Law that tried to lock the door permanently. Six years later, Cheyney University in Pennsylvania claimed the title of the nation’s first HBCU.
Today there is no plaque on this ground. The highways themselves have become the monument… a concrete reminder of a “No” that altered the course of American education. The four who voted “Yes” remind us that the ethical path is often lonely, costly, and right.
So, where in your life or your community are you confusing popularity with correctness, or tradition with truth? And do you have the courage to stand with the four when the seven hundred are loud?
Until next time, this is Dan Blanchard with the Travel in Time with Dan show… where we mix travel with history, leadership, and me! Take care, and have a wonderful day!
Enjoyed this journey into the HBCU that never was? Don’t forget to check out our companion book chapters, YouTube videos, and podcasts to keep uncovering history and inspiring leadership!
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