Robert Thomas Kerlin (1866-1950) served as a professor, minister, soldier, author, and civil rights activist. He was born on March 22, 1866, in Harrison County, Missouri to Thomas Lindsay Kerlin (1830-1874) and Nancy Jane Jeffries (1837-?). His father owned several small farms that specialized in the raising and selling of Berkshire hogs and Southdown sheep. Following his father’s death in 1874, eight-year-old Kerlin went to work on the family farms.

Despite his family’s financial woes, the young Kerlin attended school for up to five months each year. In the spring of 1882, he earned his teaching certificate and began his educational career at the Albany County Public School, Massachusetts. In the fall of 1884 he began his pursuit of higher education at Central College in Fayette, Missouri.

Over the next several years Kerlin completed graduate work in the fields of English, history, and philosophy at Johns Hopkins University (Maryland), Harvard (Massachusetts), and Yale (Connecticut), where he earned his PhD in 1906. Kerlin went on to serve as a Professor of English at several institutions, including:

• Missouri Valley College, Missouri
• Southwestern University, Texas
• Yale
• The State Normal School in Farmville, Virginia
• Virginia Military Institute (VMI)

From 1895 until 1898 Kerlin served as a minister in the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church where he later participated in compiling a new church hymnal. He extended his ministry into the armed forces by serving as a chaplain with the Third Missouri Volunteers during the Spanish-American War. His time in the military inspired Kerlin to write “The Camp Life of the Third Regiment,” which is one of his many internationally renowned books. Kerlin’s other writings include:

• “Mainly for Myself” (1897)
• “The Church of the Fathers” (1901)
• “Theocritus in English Literature" (1910)
• "The Voice of The Negro” (1919)
• “Contemporary Poetry of the Negro” (1921)

VMI Controversy

Kerlin served as a Professor and Department Head of English at VMI from 1910 to 1921. In June 1921 his troubles began when his “Open Letter to the Governor of Arkansas” appeared in the anti-segregation publication, The Nation. He wrote this letter in response to the news that 92 African American men had been sentenced to life in prison or execution following the Elaine Riot in Arkansas. The riot was an uprising that ensued after a gathering of African American men, women, and children were attacked by the Ku Klux Klan at their church in Hoop Spur, Arkansas. In the days following the attack, 50 to 60 African Americans were killed while attempting to defend themselves from their attackers.

Six of the African Americans arrested were sentenced to death by the Governor of Arkansas, Thomas C. McRae. In his letter, Kerlin urged McRae to “take the matter into [his] private chamber and give it an hour’s consideration, as before the Eternal Judge.” By quoting sections of the Bible, the Magna Carta, and the Bill of Rights, Kerlin hoped to dissuade McRae from executing the prisoners.

In 1921, when the VMI Board of Visitors learned of his letter, Kerlin was dismissed from the faculty of VMI. Other charges brought against Kerlin by the Board included: 

• Subsequent “protests of citizens of Arkansas”
• “Protests of VMI alumni in Detroit”
• Kerlin’s “lecturing in Lynchburg, Petersburg, Norfolk, and Richmond to African Americans in African American churches.”

Even after his harsh treatment, Kerlin continued to serve as an advocate for racial equality, which led to his unpopularity throughout the South. Despite his poor reception at VMI, he played a major role in the civil rights struggle in Virginia.