Short answers, pulled from the story.
Mercer University opened on the 14th of January 1833 in Penfield, Georgia. The institution began as the Mercer Institute with thirty-nine boys under the leadership of Billington McCarter Sanders.
Jesse Mercer provided the founding endowment alongside Josiah Penfield to establish the school. Adiel Sherwood helped create the institution while serving as a Baptist minister who previously founded a manual labor school.
Sam Oni became the first Black student to attend Mercer University after the board voted to desegregate on the 18th of April 1963. He intentionally applied to the university to help end racial segregation in the United States.
The Georgia Baptist Convention ended its affiliation with Mercer University in 2006 after 173 years of connection. Friction developed over social issues and the university's resistance to restraints on those matters.
Mercer University enrolls more than 9,000 students across twelve colleges and schools. The institution holds an R2 Doctoral Universities High research activity classification from the Carnegie Foundation.