Richard Theodore Greener ( born Richard Theodore Greener; January 30, 1844, Philadelphia , PA - May 2, 1922, Chicago, Illinois ) is the first African American graduate of Harvard College (a division of Harvard University ) and the dean of law at Howard University . He served as the American representative in Vladivostok during the Russo-Japanese War . [3]
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Childhood and Education
Richard Greener was born in Philadelphia, PA, but moved with his mother to Boston , Massachusetts when he was about nine years old. At this time, his father moved to California , but he disappeared there and was considered dead. Griner received his school education at Broadway Grammar School, where he had to leave at age 14 to help his mother earn a living. However, one of his employers, Franklin B. Sanborn (Franklin B. Sanborn), helped him to register at the preparatory school of Oberlin College (Oberlin College). After three years at Oberlin College, Greener moved to Harvard College and received a bachelor's degree in 1870. His admission to Harvard was an “experiment” of administration that paved the way for many more Harvard African-American graduates. During his studies at Harvard, Greener twice received the Bowdoin Prize for eloquence. [4] Griner was the first African American to graduate from this university.
Personal life
On September 24, 1874, Greener married Genevieve Ida Fleet, they had six children. Greener broke up with his wife, although they never formalized a divorce. The wife and daughters changed their name to Greene to separate from Greener. [5] His daughter Bell became a librarian at the Morgan Library in New York.
Career
After graduating from school, Griner became the director of the men's department at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia, which later became the University of Cheney (Cheyney University of Pennsylvania). In 1873, he became director of the Sumner High School in Washington , DC. At the same time, Griner worked in the abolitionist newspaper The New National Era, and then edited the book of abolitionist Frederick Douglass. He was also the deputy editor of the National Encyclopedia of American Biography.
At the end of 1873, Griner became a professor at the University of South Carolina, where he worked as a librarian, taught philosophy and helped in the department of Latin and Greek languages, mathematics, and lectured on the history of the US Constitution. In 1875, Griner became the first African American to be elected a member of the American Philological Association, the main scientific society of ancient studies in North America.
In 1898, Griner was appointed Consul of the United States in Bombay , India , President William McKinley . He did not go to India because of the bubonic plague that erupted at that time in Bombay.
Time in Russia
Greener was an American diplomat in tsarist Russia for seven years, starting in 1898. He was appointed United States Commercial Agent in Vladivostok. [3] While in Vladivostok, he served as consul, although the Russian side did not recognize this status. [5] Greener realized that this region could be strategically important for his country. When the local authorities conceived the construction of tram tracks, Greener managed to attract American companies to participate in the tender. [6] Impressed by the rapidly growing number of migrants in Siberia, Greener drew the attention of his superiors and newspaper in America to a new consumer market. Many responded and subsequently thanked the consul in the Far East for their help.
In the Far East, enjoying great respect from local authorities, Griner was able to apply his professional knowledge of a lawyer. Three Americans and two Japanese were arrested for illegal seal hunting. They were sentenced to 16 months in prison, and Greener, together with the Japanese consul, appealed. Greener, armed with his lawyer diplomas, was able even in the absence of a Japanese colleague to reduce the term to six months, as reported by the local newspaper Vostochny Vestnik. [6]
In May 1905, Greener was forced to leave Vladivostok. First, he briefly left for Khabarovsk, and was soon recalled to America. He was dismissed from the post of consul on suspicion of abuse of office. [6]
Death
Richard Greener died of natural causes in Chicago on May 2, 1922. He was 78 years old.
Rewards
In 1902, the Chinese government awarded Greener the Double Dragon Order for his service during the Ihetuan Uprising and for helping the starving in Shanxi. [7]
After retiring in 1906, Greener lived in Chicago, Illinois, where he was a member of the Harvard Club, the world's oldest permanent Harvard Alumni Club. [eight]
In 2017, the University of South Carolina erected a monument to Greener. [9]
Notes
- ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica
- ↑ SNAC - 2010.
- ↑ 1 2 Olive Hoogenboom. Greener, Richard Theodore (1844-1922), African-American educator, lawyer, and diplomat . - Oxford University Press, 2000-02. - (American National Biography Online).
- ↑ First Black Harvard College Graduate Honored With Portrait | News | The Harvard Crimson www.thecrimson.com. Date of treatment December 16, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 Musical stories from the letters of Eleanor Prey sounded in Vladivostok . Deita. Date of treatment December 16, 2018.
- ↑ 1 2 3 The black consul cuts a window from America to Siberia . vladnews.ru. Date of treatment December 16, 2018.
- ↑ [archive.fo/20101227075233/http:/www.blackscholarsindex.com/2010/08/richard-t-greener-1st-black-graduate-of-harvard-university/#selection-797.313-797.418 The Black Scholars Index | Celebrating Black Scholarship.] (27 Dec., 2010).
- ↑ Harvard Club of Chicago . hcchicago.clubs.harvard.edu. Date of treatment December 16, 2018.
- ↑ Richard T. Greener . www.sc.edu. Date of treatment December 16, 2018.
Literature
Chaddock, Katherine Reynolds. Uncompromising Activist: Richard Greener, First Black Graduate of Harvard College. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.
Underwood, James L, and William Lewis Burke. At Freedom's Door: African American Founding Fathers and Lawyers In Reconstruction South Carolina. 1st pbk. ed. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2005.