The Academy is a way out and up for a young man. 在这里他可以获得第一笔资金，进入第一轮. No capital is more valuable, more safe and more easily won. 每个人都帮助认真的学生，因为有一天他可能会帮助世界. The battle is to have the faith to make the start.” – Some Features of the Academy at Beloit – 1890’s-era brochure

Laurence Ousley certainly had “the faith to make the start.1890年秋，伯洛伊特学院最早的一名非裔美国学生进入了学院, 他在那里的科学部学习和工作了三年, leaving just before graduating. 但事实证明，“出路和上升”是一场斗争，他必须平息自己对上大学和追求事业的任何雄心壮志.

Both of his parents were born in the South, before the Civil War. 他的母亲玛丽·安·康纳于19世纪70年代初来到伯洛伊特，在那里她嫁给了威廉·奥斯利. They moved to Chicago, lived for a time in North Dakota, and after William died, Mary Ann brought her children, William Jr.她回到伯洛伊特，在那里做洗衣工. They lived near the college at 731 Church Street, the only African-American family in the neighborhood, 三十多年前，工业需求导致非裔美国人大量迁移到伯洛伊特和其他中西部城市. Determined to educate her children, Mary Ann gave them whatever opportunities she could afford, despite limited options.

劳伦斯1893年离开伯洛伊特学院后，在费尔班克斯-莫尔斯工厂当工人. 1900年，他的妹妹格蕾丝成为第一位从伯洛伊特高中毕业的非裔美国人. Laurence helped her through four years at Beloit College, where in 1904 she became its first African-American woman graduate, just nine years after the college embraced coeducation. 她在伊利诺斯州哈维的一所孤儿学校教书，但在生病后回到了家. She died in 1908 at only 26. 十大菠菜台子校长兼教堂街邻居阿尔蒙·伯尔主持了葬礼. An obituary in the Round Table revealed, 自毕业以来，她唯一的愿望就是与她种族中不幸的成员分享她的知识.”

In 1905, 劳伦斯接替他的哥哥威廉成为伯洛伊特公共图书馆的看门人, a post he held until his death 38 years later. The Beloit Daily News commemorated his twenty-five years of service, 他指出，多年来，“他见证了它从几摞书发展到大约500册甚至更多, to a large modernly equipped library of over 12,000 books.” Laurence apparently made good use of his access to the collection, according to an unpublished memoir by diplomat Robert C. Strong, class of 1931 and future ambassador to Iraq. “The janitor of the Public Library was Lawrence Owsley [sic],” he wrote, “a graduate [sic] of Beloit College in the early 1900s. He lived a block down the street from us, 这是城里唯一一个不在铁路旁的黑人家庭. 有好多年的冬天，他在清晨和傍晚时分照看我们的焦炉, 为我们做了很多维护工作……我和劳伦斯谈过很多次, 他能就我感兴趣的任何话题进行聪明的交谈. 他告诉我，尽管他受过大学教育，但他从未找到一份更好的工作, and that he had read every book in the library. That gave me my first understanding of racism, of how unfair people could be, which has troubled me ever since…”

The Beloit Daily News 将劳伦斯描述为“一群受人尊敬的有色人种公民的代表……他们早些时候在社区中为自己争取了一席之地。.” He was involved in the Bethel A.M.E. church and was a member of the “Chicago Elks lodge for colored men”. 1920年的一份剪报显示，他曾担任哈丁-柯立芝集会的主席, 一位演讲者“敦促他的听众支持共和党的直接候选人……理由是……这个党已经表现出对黑人事业的友好态度?.”

Laurence Ousley died on June 24, 1943. 几天后，伯洛伊特学院收到消息说，他已经离开了位于教堂731号的家和他全部10美元的财产,000, “这笔钱将用于帮助贫困的黑人学生……”6月30日^th edition of the Beloit Daily News featured an editorial devoted to Laurence Ousley, 这既是令人不安的评论，也是感人的致敬:“我们可以从劳伦斯·奥斯利(Lawrence Ousley)身上学到一些东西. This gentle colored man, 他生活低调，一生都在工作，很多人会认为他很卑微，不重要, 他的远见和慷慨远远超过了我们大多数人的远见……劳伦斯·奥斯利做了什么需要做的事情, quietly and inconspicuously. And all the while as he grew old in the community’s service, he thought large thoughts that no one knew about.