William sanders scarborough biography examples list

William Sanders Scarborough February 16, — September 9, was an American classical scholar and academic administrator. He is generally thought to be the first African American classical scholar. Born into slavery, Scarborough later served as president of Wilberforce University between and He wrote a popular university textbook on Classical Greek that was widely used in the 19th century.

Scarborough was born in Macon, Georgia , in to Jesse and Frances Scarborough, a free railway employee, and an enslaved mother. Laws prescribed that he inherit his mother's status.

Biography of William Sanders Scarborough, president of Wilberforce University.

His father had been freed in about but remained in Georgia to be with his mother. Despite prohibitions against educating slaves, he was educated surreptitiously and had mastered the three R's, geography, and grammar by the age of He became an apprentice shoemaker and served as the secretary of a prominent black association at an early age due to his level of education.

After the end of the American Civil War , he was able to complete his education at Lewis High School in Macon before attending Atlanta University in for two years before enrolling at Oberlin College. Scarborough completed his degree at Oberlin in After graduating from college, Scarborough returned as a teacher in classical languages to Lewis High School, where he met his future wife Sarah Bierce, who was the principal.

Arsonists burned Lewis High School in , and the local fire brigade let it burn to the ground.

This collection contains materials pertaining to William S. Scarborough's career.

Scarborough briefly became principal of the Payne Institute in Cokesbury, South Carolina , but found the racial environment in South Carolina made it less hospitable than Georgia. He then returned to Oberlin to complete his master's degree. Scarborough became a professor in the classical department at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio , in Professor Scarborough published a popular Classical Greek textbook, First Lessons in Greek , in and became the first postmaster in Wilberforce in the same year.