When Central Methodist University was established as Central College in 1854, no rule in its charter prohibited the admission of African Americans.  However, at that time, the enslavement of African Americans in the United States was in full force. The American Civil War had not yet begun, and those African Americans who were free lived as second-class citizens. 

Furthermore, Central College was established by the Missouri conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South—a branch of Methodism that embraced the practice of slavery, contrary to founder John Wesley’s teachings.  So while no written rule prohibited the entry of African Americans as students or faculty, an unspoken cultural rule did.

This unspoken rule remained in effect until the 1950s, when the tide of white Americans' public opinion was beginning to turn in favor of integration—of African Americans entering spaces considered “white” by either law or culture.  The petition that circulated among Central’s students and faculty, while undated, probably dates to around 1950 to 1952.  In 1953, the first African-American students began to attend classes, and the first African-American graduate, Fielding Draffen, walked with the class of 1957.