William sanders scarborough biography of michael

  • This illuminating autobiography traces Scarborough's path out of slavery in Macon, Georgia, to a prolific scholarly career that culminated with his presidency.
  • William Sanders Scarborough learned to read and write and developed an interest in classical languages.
  • This is an inspiring autobiography of one of the most successful African-American educators of his time.

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    Williams Sanders Scarborough, an 1875 graduate of Oberlin College, was a pioneering African American scholar who wrote a university-level Greek textbook. Kirk Ormand, who now teaches at Oberlin, interviewed Prof. Michele Ronnick, who has recently published a facsimile edition of Scarborough’s Greek textbook, First Lessons in Greek (1881), with Bolchazy-Carducci press. Prof. Ronnick is the world’s leading expert on Scarborough. She found, edited, and published Scarborough’s autobiography in 2005, and has researched Scarborough’s time at Oberlin and as President of Wilberforce University.[1]

    Kirk Ormand: You are publishing a facsimile edition of William Sanders Scarborough’s First Lessons in Greek.Tell us a bit about why Scarborough’s book is important to the history of the profession.

    Michele Ronnick: Scarborough was a former slave, and his life could have been limited to manual labor – fixing shoes or doing some sort of menial job. So the very fact that he

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    The Autobiography of William Sanders Scarborough: An American Journey from Slavery to Scholarship

    An important autobiography that reveals the story of William Sanders Scarborough who rose out of slavery to become a renowned classical philologist and African American icon.

    "If W.E.B Du Bois, the antecedent of today's black public intellectuals, himself has an antecedent, it is W. S. Scarborough, the black scholar's scholar." – Henry Louis Gates Jr.
    This illuminating autobiography traces Scarborough's path out of slavery in Macon, Georgia, to a prolific scholarly career that culminated with his presidency of Wilberforce University. Despite the racism he met as he struggled to establish a place in higher education for African Americans, Scarborough was an exemplary scholar, particularly in the field of classical studies. He was the first African American member of the Modern Language Association, a forty-four-year member of the American Philological Association, and a true champi

  • william sanders scarborough biography of michael

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    Scarborough, William Sanders

    Classical scholar, college president

    While U.S. laws denied African Americans the right to education, William Sanders Scarborough learned to read and write and developed an interest in classical languages. When allowed to further his education, he pursued that interest, becoming the nation's first prominent African American classical scholar. During his career in higher education, Scarborough served as president of Wilberforce University, took active roles in politics and religion, and steadily worked toward the betterment of his race.

    On February 16, 1852, Jeremiah and Frances Gwynn Scarborough welcomed son William Sanders Scarborough into their Macon, Georgia home. Scarborough's father, freed bygd his mästare in 1846, worked for Georgia's huvud Railroad as a trainer for new employees and sometimes as a ledare. Scarborough's mother remained the slave of Colonel William DeGraffenreid, a lawyer. He allowed the family to live in their own home. Sca