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WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH |
EARLY LIFE AND YEARS AT WILBERFORCE by FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER The most renowned Negroes in American history have generally been men of vigorous action who in various ways have given spirited leadership to their race and to their country. Such persons include Frederick Douglass, John M. Langston, Booker T. Washington, and William E. B. Du Bois. Other less aggressive individuals, such as Richard Theodore Greener,1 the first Negro graduate of Harvard University and a lawyer of note, and William Sanders Scarborough are not so well known, yet have played an important part in Negro contributions to American life.2 The latter, noted philologist and college president, is the subject of this article.3 He was born in Macon, Georgia, February 16, 1852.4 His father, Jeremiah, born near Augusta, Georgia, about 1822, had been freed by his master some years before the NOTES ARE ON PAGES 287-289 |
204 OHIO HISTORY son's birth.5 The father, said to have been the great-grandson of an African chief, had in his own makeup a strain of Anglo-Saxon blood. He was short of stature, of stocky build, with brown skin, rounded pleasant face, high forehead, kindly observant eyes, and dignified carriage. Scarborough's mother, Frances Gwynn, was a slave of mixed blood. One of her grandfathers was a Spaniard and the other a full-blooded Indian of Muskhogean stock, apparently of the Yamacraws, a tribe friendly to the whites and living along the lower Savannah River. The mother was born about 1829 in Savannah, Georgia, to Henry and Louisa Gwynn. Her Indian ancestry was apparent in her more than ordinary height, high cheek bones, reddish brown complexion, and determined will. Of a smiling disposition, she assisted in bringing up several children outside of her own immediate family. Both of these parents lived in Savannah in their early years, but the mother went to Macon when about twenty years of age, and there the young people were married. The young husband endeavored to secure his wife's freedom but was unsuccessful in the effort, hence the son took his mother's status, as the law required. Her servitude, however, was only nominal, for she was allowed to spend her time as she pleased and was even paid a small wage for her work. Accordingly, after her marriage she lived in her own home and was able to give careful attention to her family, which never felt the harsh, restrictive features of the slave system. Three children were born to the family, but the older boy, John Henry, died in his fourth year and a younger sister, Mary Louisa, in her second year. Both parents, even amidst the restrictions of antebellum days, were able to learn to read and write. In the lower area of Georgia some private schools and much clandestine teaching had provided for instruction which would have been suppressed in many other parts of the South. The father was able to proceed with his education beyond the elementary level. The mother and father thus spurred the son's educational interests. The mother's half-brother, John Hall, whose appearance indicated his Indian blood, also had a great This article is based in large part of Scarborough's incomplete, unpublished lie stor pre- pared by his widow, Mrs. Sarah C. B. Scarborough, Miss Bernice Sanders, and Mr. William F. Savoy. Their mannscrpt in turn is based in large part of Scarborough's own unpublised autobiography, and all references to it are to their excerpts from it. The notes are th wok of the author of this sketch, who has examined approximately 936 pieces in the Scarborug Papers at the Carnegie Library, Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio. For curtesies asso- ciated with the use of these materials, thanks are due to Professor Paul M. McStallworth of Central State College and to Wilberforce University. The author also wishes particularly to acknowledge the kindness of Mr. T. K. Gibson, Sr., chairman of the board of directors of the Supreme Life Insurance Company of America, Chicago, who made available to him the manuscript upon which this article is based and who encouraged the researches that were necessary to produce it. who made available to him the manuscript upon which this article is based and wh encouraged the researches that were necessary to produce it. |
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WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 205
influence on young Scarborough, helping
him not only with his bookish
education, but, also as a master
carpenter, with training in that craft. To
aid in this endeavor, Hall purchased a
set of tools for the lad.
The father had early entered the employ
of the Central Railroad of Georgia
and came to have a responsible position,
instructing new employees--white
and Negro--in their duties, and often
serving as conductor of excursion
trains.6 He was of a retiring
disposition but enjoyed the companionship of
a few close friends. He had firm
religious and moral convictions from which
he refused to swerve. While he made
enemies, he was greatly revered by
his friends, and young people sought his
advice and aid. He had joined the
Methodist Episcopal Church in his early
years but later affiliated with the
African Methodist Episcopal Church when
a congregation was established in
Macon after the close of the Civil War.
A strict and loyal churchman, he
seemingly would rather have missed a
meal than a church service, and he
earnestly sought to keep the
congregation from difficulties of any kind. He
was rather indulgent toward the son,
while the mother insisted on obedience,
good behavior, and good manners. As an
only child the boy had to help with
household chores, even with the sweeping
and dishwashing. As this work
sometimes kept him from playing with his
friends, they often called him
"Miss Sallie."
The mother had been nominally the slave
of Colonel William de Graffen-
reid, an aristocratic gentleman, able
lawyer, and influential churchman, who
had most humane views regarding the
Negro and was thoroughly liked by
all people of color who knew him. He
enabled Scarborough's parents to
have (on Cotton Avenue, Macon) a home
for themselves in which they could
rear their children. Later he provided
all the books for young Scarborough's
college education.
Another helpful individual was J. C.
Thomas, an intense southerner, who
usually opposed any progress for the
Negro, but somehow took a remarkable
interest in Scarborough, building on the
parents' efforts by teaching him to
read and write.7 He gave
private lessons to the lad, in spite of the law which
provided fine and imprisonment for
giving such instruction.8 It would seem
that this tutelage was known to people
of both races, but De Graffenreid's
influence, the father's trusted position
with the railroad company, and the
boy's popularity appear to have
restrained criticism. Later some colored
friends gave him further instruction,
which was made easier by the fact
that the family had a home of their own.
Thus as a boy he was able to write
"permits" for Negro men to
visit their families, justifying the fraud on
basic humanitarian grounds.
Even as a boy of five he carried the
dinner pail to his father in the
206 OHIO HISTORY
railroad yards two miles away, and once
became temporarily lost because
of a storm. His father would sometimes
let him ride in the cab with him on
an excursion train.
Before the boy was eight he had mastered
"Webster's Blue-backed
Speller," and he studied
arithmetic, geography, and history under a free
Negro family in the neighborhood. He
loved to hunt, fish, swim, roam the
fields and woods, and, in general, take
care of himself.
Most of his playmates were Irish boys of
the neighborhood, some of
whom would defend him against larger
boys and annoying outsiders. Boyish
fights were mostly with whites of the
"cracker" class who resented any
advancement of Negro young people.
As he and his friends made youthful
excursions into the pine woods near
Macon, they would often sit among the
branches, talking by the hour. On one
occasion a lad told Scarborough that a
terrible war was on its way. The
latter rushed home, and his parents then
tried to explain the situation to him.
After the war began, Scarborough's
father decided that the lad, while
continuing his studies privately, should
learn another trade, that of shoe-
making, in addition to his training in
carpentry. So the boy was apprenticed
to a friend of his father, a Mr. Gibson,
a skilled workman. Each morning
the boy was supposed to clean up the
shop, get things in readiness for the
day's work, and then read the news
secretly to the workmen. During this
period, which lasted two years, he
learned to make his own shoes and do
work for others, and he sought to read
every book on which he could lay his
hands. Incentive was stimulated as hope
arose that successes of Union arms
would lead to a greatly improved
situation for the Negroes. Food of course
was high in price, and Negroes, unable
to secure sugar, tea, and coffee, used
roasted corn or sweet potatoes as a
substitute for coffee and used sugar cane
for sweetening. The Scarborough family
moved several times, going from the
east to the west side of the Ocmulgee
River in an effort to better their
condition. At last they moved back to
East Macon, where the father's ability
at carpentry enabled him to build a
home, where he lived the rest of his
life on land given him by Mr. Thomas.
During the war years Negro boys in the
Macon area were often threatened
by white ruffians or seized on the
streets and required to serve in the hospitals
where Confederate soldiers lay sick and
dying. Young Scarborough had
several narrow escapes from violence or
compulsion. His father, however,
not only went on the streets at will but
visited the nearby camp to see rifle-
men drill. His important service on the
railroad insured his exemption from
less crucial activity.9
As the war progressed, the family
experienced alternate depression and
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 207
elation, and hoped that if the South
should win, a sum set aside by the
railroad for the father's welfare could
be used to enable him to go North,
and that friends might assist the mother
to accompany him.
In the summer of 1864 Sherman began the
siege of Atlanta.10 The
Scarboroughs in Macon could hear the
gunfire seventy-five miles away. The
father had to labor on the railroad to
help the cause which meant continued
subjection for his people, but it
insured him against being forced on numerous
occasions to perform more dangerous
duties. During the summer, Con-
federate soldiers, entrenched near the
Scarborough home, compelled people
in the neighborhood to bring them water.
On one occasion young Scar-
borough, without compunction, carried
water to them in a dirty pail. As the
situation became more serious for the
Confederates, those in Macon held
frantic prayer meetings on the town
"green." When a Union attack failed,
and General George Stoneman and some of
his cavalry staff passed the
Scarborough home as Confederate
prisoners, the lad could not restrain
his tears.
Long before, of course, word had come of
the Emancipation Proclamation
of January 1863. In September 1864, with
the fall of Atlanta to the Union,
hopes of the family rose in expectation,
but Lincoln's death in April 1865
was a cruel blow, followed by anxious
forebodings. A few days later Macon
again faced alarm as the Union
commander, General James H. Wilson,
once again approached the city.11 In
East Macon the family was living
directly in front of the Confederate
earthworks but did not move. Shells
were flying overhead, and everything was
in a state of turmoil. Finally,
Confederate soldiers rode agitatedly
into the city, giving the alarm that
Union forces were entering. As Union
forces did come, the family slept
little that night. Later, the
Scarboroughs learned that General Howell Cobb
had surrendered the city and that the
bridge over the river had been saved
from destruction only by the prompt
arrival of the vanguard of Union troops.
That the Union soldiers might not get
possession of all of the supplies
provided for Confederate troops, the
Macon authorities allowed the people
to take what they wished, and they
poured quantities of liquor into the
streets. As the Union forces broke into
the rest of the Confederate com-
missary stores, they permitted Negroes
to take what northern soldiers would
not use. The Scarboroughs availed
themselves of many needed articles, and
the lad obtained an abundant supply of
pen points, pencils, envelopes,
and paper.
Soon General Wilson detailed officers to
announce to the people the
effective emancipation of the former
slaves. At a packed meeting in the
Presbyterian church, young Scarborough
sat perched in an open window as
208 OHIO HISTORY
members of his race rejoiced with cries
and tears that their day of liberation
had come. The very next day in the Macon
neighborhood almost every Negro
family which had served a white master
moved out to seek a new life regard-
less of the trying adjustments.12
Macon, like some other southern towns,
experienced a business revival
in 1865-66.13 Soon the youth was hired
to work in a bookstore owned by
Mr. J. Burke, an ardent southerner, a
sturdy Methodist, and a man of
generous human qualities. He allowed the
lad to read widely and even
assisted teachers from the North who
were arriving to advance Negro edu-
cation. A short time later the store was
burned, but subsequently Burke
established another one.
The lad had earned his first greenback
by selling, along with other white
and Negro newsboys, the Macon
Telegraph, the city's chief paper. The boys
had permission to pass through the lines
to sell papers to the soldiers.
Earlier, Scarborough had sold
strawberries for a gardener at one hundred
dollars in Confederate script. Now it
had lost its value, and United States
money was insisted upon. The lad made
considerable profit through his
newspaper sales, the father carefully
keeping it for him in a fine walnut box
with lock and key that had been
fashioned by his carpenter uncle. Union
soldiers were very kind to the lad, as
they often questioned him as to his
life ambitions, which already had been
sharpened by knowledge of the
achievements of Frederick Douglass and
John M. Langston.14
In May, Jefferson Davis was brought as a
prisoner under special guard to
Macon.15 The boy, having
climbed a tree in front of a hotel on Mulberry
Street, was only a few feet away as the
former Confederate president was
taken into the establishment. Boyishly
he exulted because of the turn of
events, but he was disappointed at the
impression he received of the per-
sonality of the leader of the Lost
Cause.16
As military rule under Union authority
was established, young Scar-
borough witnessed the arrival of Negro
troops to take the place of white
contingents in Macon. He also saw the
resentment of southern people,
who nursed a poorly repressed feeling of
disdain. Many times he noticed
white people going into the street
gutters and mud, often to the detriment
of their attire, rather than walk under
the Union flags flying above the
sidewalks.17
Soon, the Freedman's Bureau began to
operate in Macon,18 and after a
time colored postmasters were appointed,
Henry McNeil Turner, becoming
city postmaster and John G. Mitchell,
assistant postmaster. Young Scar-
borough had first met Turner when the
latter came to attend the first con-
ference of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Macon.19 Mitchell,
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 209
an early graduate of Oberlin College
(1858), was one with whom Scar-
borough was later to be associated very
closely in his work in the North
(at Wilberforce). Another prominent
Negro whom Scarborough met during
this period was the previously mentioned
John M. Langston, who had come
to Macon to address a public meeting.
From him the youth made his first
purchase of a significant book, one on
the life and service of Abraham
Lincoln. In the meantime, Scarborough
found employment at odd times
as a clerk in the Freedman's Bureau
office in Macon.
Now, education could be pursued in a way
which was freed from the
strain of the surreptitious, as the
youth entered a school for Negro children,
opened in an upper room of the
Triangular Block in Macon. A small tuition
fee was paid by each of about fifty
students. The work was basically
elementary, but Scarborough had opportunity
to refresh his knowledge of
the work previously done and to
strengthen the weak aspects of it. He did
not remain long in this school, for the
American Missionary Association
soon opened a school which first met in
any available quarters. One of the
youth's teachers, Mrs. Sarah Ball, a
schoolmistress from Townsend Harbor,
Massachusetts, later recalled how
classes had met in the old slave quarters
of her home place near Spring Garden; in
the old stable; in the old Methodist
church; in a former dwelling; in a
chapel; and finally, in a new building.20
She remembered Scarborough "as a
large schoolboy with book ever in
hand, studious, obedient, and
attentive." Scarborough developed enduring
admiration for those men and women who
had left "comfort and ease" to
endure "ostracism, insult and
calumny" from bitter southerners.21
The new building was Lewis High School,
built by the American Mission-
ary Association, aided by the Freedman's
Bureau. It was named for General
John R. Lewis, who, as a bureau officer,
actively promoted its interests.22
It was burned, as were the adjacent
chapel and teachers' home, in December
1876, in the midst of the bitterly
disputed Hayes-Tilden election. Apparently
the fire was of incendiary origin, for
the school had many enemies. Later
it was rebuilt and renamed Ballard
School. Among the teachers were John
R. Rockwell of Norwich, Connecticut, and
the lady whom he subsequently
married. Rockwell, a Yale man of
independent means, was forceful,
accurate, earnest, and a real gentleman,
beloved by his pupils. He estab-
lished regular military drill, and
Scarborough, before the end of his three
years of schooling there, had been made
an officer in the cadet corps. During
these years the youth was absent only
three times from classes, when he
was detained at home to help build the
house.
Among the subjects studied were Latin,
algebra, and geometry. Scar-
borough's advisor was a Dartmouth man,
Samuel G. Haley, a person of
210 OHIO HISTORY excellent character who had graduated from college in 1860.23 During vacation periods Scarborough gave private lessons to grown men and women who were eager to learn. During one vacation he worked in a brickyard, and during another he won a prize in an essay contest, receiving considerable acclaim in southern newspapers. Influenced by a Yale man and by a religious tract, he considered prepara- tion for that college. The tract helped him crystallize his religious views. He joined his mother's church, the Presbyterian, but later affiliated with his father's denomination, the African Methodist Episcopal Church.24 The youth remained in Lewis High School until 1869, when both parents decided that he needed wider opportunities, and in the fall he entered Atlanta University, another American Missionary Association institution, where he spent two years. There he completed the study of nine books of Legendre's Geometry, two years of Latin, and one year of Greek, civil govern- ment, advanced arithmetic, history, and algebra, along with some English prose and drawing.25 In his later years he still preserved a record card (signed by President Edmund Asa Ware, whom he looked upon as his ideal), with a grade of 98 in Greek, as well as in Latin and in mathematics, and 100 in deportment.26 Here his chief mentor was Professor Thomas Chase, a Dartmouth graduate, under whom he continued Greek studies and from whom (as well as from President Ware) he secured a zest for achievement. Dormitory life there was permeated with essentially "the atmosphere of a Christian home," and students looked forward to the inspiration of the Sunday church services. On week days the youth spent two or more hours |
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WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 211
of his spare time working with other
students in leveling the breastworks
and fortifications which remained on the
campus from the wartime activities
of the Confederates.27
While at Atlanta University he took
examinations with a state legislative
committee as visitors. He and others
showed such proficiency in various
branches that the committee frankly
admitted that the Negro could be trained
in such higher studies as Latin, Greek,
algebra, and geometry. During one
vacation period the young man taught at
Cuthbert, Georgia. The Franco-
Prussian War was in progress, and each
afternoon after school he would
go to a friend's grocery store to spend
an hour or more reading to those
who wanted to hear the latest war news.
He was the first graduate of
Atlanta University. At the time there
were no others and no graduation
exercises.28
At once he prepared to enter a northern
college. He had planned to enter
Yale to become a lawyer, but a turn of
events led him to Oberlin, and for
the first time in his life he left the
South. On the journey at Nashville
another Negro attempted to rob him.
At Oberlin he lived with the family of a
deceased professor, Henry E.
Peck, a leading figure in the activities
of the Underground Railroad and a
participant in the famous
Oberlin-Wellington rescue affair of 1859.29 Peck
had been diplomatic representative of
the United States in Haiti before his
death there in 1867.30 Peck had accumulated
a large library, to which the
young man had access. In this home of
generous sympathies Scarborough
resided for the four years of his
college training.31 The family entertained
noted visitors, including Dr. Richard
Storrs, pastor of the influential Church
of the Pilgrims (Congregational),
Brooklyn, New York; Dr. John Hall,
pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
Church, New York City; and Dr.
Leonard Bacon, pastor for a generation
of First Church (Congregational),
New Haven, Connecticut. The indomitable
Charles G. Finney, ex-president
of Oberlin College, was a frequent
caller in the home. Scarborough also
drew inspiration from members of the
Negro community in Oberlin. John
M. Langston, previously mentioned, who
had been arrested for his part in
the Oberlin-Wellington rescue of 1859,
lived opposite the Peck home, and
his son Arthur was an intimate college
friend. Among Scarborough's
college friends were Arthur Langston,
'77; Robert Bagby, '74, later a lawyer;
and Matthew Anderson, '74, who later
attended Princeton Seminary, took
up work at Yale, and subsequently
established a successful industrial school
in Philadelphia under Presbyterian
auspices. Scarborough later recalled
the beginnings of a lifelong friendship
with Mary Church, who later married
Judge Robert H. Terrell.32
212 OHIO HISTORY
The new environment presented a marked
change for him, but he was
admitted to the college without
conditions. Everywhere he met a helpful
spirit, and he was proud to wear the
freshman cap with a blue visor, bearing
the letters "O.C.," and with a
star in the center. He was surprised at the
small number of Negro students, for
expenses were so low that one could
pay all expenses, attend concerts, and
dress neatly on less than $300 a year.
Indeed, the college prospectus indicated
that rooms, completely furnished,
in Council Hall, were free, and that
total expenses ranged from $48 to $73.50
for a twelve-week term in 1874-75.33
His previous preparation had been such
that he was able to assist fellow
students in their difficulties with
Latin, Greek, and mathematics. He en-
deavored to continue at Oberlin his
previously developed systematic habits
of study. After the noonday meal he
spent an hour on the playground, and
somewhat later an hour in the reading
room. Study in his room or a little
manual work followed thereafter. At
night and again in the early morning
he would review his lesson preparations.
The college library was a great aid to
him and he read two or three books
a week. History and biography, including
Prescott's works; the writings of
Emerson and De Quincey; and Tom Brown
at Oxford all brought him
exhilaration and inspiration. There were
some Spanish students in residence,
and he made some progress in the
language with their assistance.
There were monthly
"Rhetoricals" and weekly Thursday "Literary"
gatherings, when all listened to
addresses by faculty members or prominent
visitors. Of the three Greek letter
societies, there being no fraternities or
secret organizations, Alpha Zeta was
that with which Scarborough was
affiliated. Here the students obtained
training in expression and debate, and
Scarborough afterwards recalled clashes
in forensic skill with Theodore
Burton, '72, later congressman and
senator from Ohio.34
He also developed a lasting friendship
with Ernest Ingersoll, who became
a noted naturalist. The Musical Union
helped to promote an interest, which
always remained with him, in vocal and
instrumental music.
He found that socially he was always so
generally accepted that he forgot
differences in color. The students
sometimes attended theaters and other
places of amusement in nearby cities.
Fun at Oberlin included a funeral
ceremony for Thucydides when the
students had concluded their study of
that author. His parents sent him money
regularly, but in his spare time
he added to his resources by sawing wood
for the Peck family.
During a long winter vacation he taught
for a time at Enterprise Academy,
Athens County, Ohio. There a Rev. Mr.
Boles gave leadership to a student
constituency comprised chiefly of
elementary students from West Virginia.
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 213 |
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Among those that Scarborough knew at the academy was Olivia Davidson, who became the second wife of Booker T. Washington.35 He also developed a friendship with E. C. Berry of Athens, Ohio, a young man of character and enterprise who opened a livery stable, then a restaurant, and finally a hotel that figured prominently in the life of the community. During his junior year Scarborough's winter vacation was spent in teaching in the country at Brook Place, near Bloomingburg, in the vicinity of Washington C.H., Ohio. What impressed the young man most about Oberlin was its strong religious spirit and the marked strength of character of various prominent personali- ties. Ex-President Charles G. Finney still served as professor of pastoral theology and loved to tell vividly of his early experiences. His sermons, sometimes three hours in length, and his endless prayers were not always appreciated by the student body. President James H. Fairchild was a noted scholar, whom Scarborough considered to be "another grand man who wore Mr. Finney's mantle as Elisha did that of Elijah." Students were welcome visitors in the home of the president and his wife. Among the professors who especially impressed the young man were Charles Henry Churchill, professor of mathematics and natural philosophy; Giles W. Shurtleff, professor of Latin language and literature;36 and the Rev. William H. Ryder, professor of Greek language and literature. Scarborough looked upon Mrs. Adelia A. Johnston, principal of the woman's department, as "a gifted woman who indelibly impressed herself on Oberlin life."37 |
214 OHIO HISTORY
This phase of the young man's life came
to completion with the college
commencement on August 5, 1875, at First
Church, Oberlin. There were
fifty-three who graduated this year,38
but these exercises were for the
thirty-six members of the classical
course, each of whom spoke, Scar-
borough discoursing on "The Sphere
and Influence of Genius."39
Now at twenty-three the young graduate
faced the problem as to how he
might best use his efforts and even his
life to advance the members of his
race. He decided that after four years
of separation from his family he
would first return home, going via New
York City and there taking a steamer
for Savannah. As he left Oberlin for
Cleveland he was approached by two
Roman Catholic priests, who tried to
interest him in going to Rome to
study for the priesthood. He had some
warm Catholic friends at home, and
he considered the proposal at some
length, but at last decided that his
Protestant background was too much a
part of his makeup for him to follow
such a course.
En route to New York he stopped at
Princeton to visit Matthew Anderson,
an Oberlin graduate. Two other Negro
youths, Francis J. Grimke (from
Lincoln University) and Daniel W. Culp
(from Biddle), were then enrolled
at Princeton Seminary.40 A
rumor got around that he planned to enroll at
Princeton University to take graduate
work, and this created some con-
sternation, for no Negro had ever been enrolled
in the college. In New York
friends offered to seek a scholarship
for him at Harvard Divinity School
so he could prepare himself for the
Unitarian ministry, and he wondered
why various people wished him to join
the ranks of the clergy.
In Macon there was a joyful reunion with
his parents. He brought
testimonials, including one from
President Fairchild commending his "high
character, good scholarship, and
successful experience as a teacher." De-
ciding to remain in Macon and engage in
teaching, he sought a position
at Atlanta University, but his old
friend, E. A. Ware, while deploring the
fact, indicated that the "time was
not ripe" as yet for a Negro teacher in
the university, for the trustees would
not agree to such an appointment. Some
friends in Macon called a meeting to
raise funds to compensate him for
teaching in a private school. Then after
a brief period the American
Missionary Association appointed him as
an assistant in Lewis High School.
In the summer of 1876 he went north,
visiting the Centennial Exposition
in Philadelphia and friends in New York
City. The Rev. Mr. Pike, a secre-
tary of the American Missionary
Association, who was engaged in classifying
for publication records and papers
relating to the Mendi Mission in Africa,
endeavored to interest him in going to
Africa to devote himself to the study
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 215
of the languages and dialects with a
view to the later translation of the
Bible into these tongues. Scarborough
recognized the need for such studies
but decided to return to his work in
Macon.
At the fall elections every effort was
made to intimidate Negroes at the
polls, and it was deemed advisable to
close the school on election day.
Ill feeling stirred up by the contested
Hayes-Tilden election stimulated
much hatred and animosity. Negro
schools, especially those taught by
northern teachers, became the target of
attack, and in December the Lewis
High School was destroyed by fire. Along
with political bitterness an
epidemic of yellow fever raged through
the South during the autumn. Now
the American Missionary Association sent
professors from Atlanta University
to confer with the teachers at Macon
with regard to rebuilding or abandoning
the work there. Rather cramped temporary
accommodations were secured
in the basement of the colored
Presbyterian church, with living quarters in
a room warmed by a stove with the stove
pipe projecting through an opening
made by removing a pane of glass. Two
white teachers from the North
lived in the home of Mrs. John Rockwell
across the street. After the close
of the school year the American
Missionary Association debated whether
to continue the work at Macon or
transfer the white teachers to Fisk Uni-
versity. The former was decided upon,
but privations and overwork made
it necessary for the teachers to remain
in the North for a period, and
Scarborough was forced to find
employment elsewhere.
A new opportunity for him was provided
by two leaders of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop
Richard H. Cain, a vigorous Negro
minister in South Carolina, who had been
a member of congress and a
prominent leader during Reconstruction
days,41 and the Rev. J. M. Brown,
who later became a bishop. The
denomination had established a Negro
school known as Payne Institute at
Cokesbury, and Scarborough was put
in charge. Later it was moved to
Columbia, South Carolina, and eventually
became known as Allen University.
The period was one associated with the
political struggle between Wade
Hampton and Governor Daniel H.
Chamberlain and between the white
supremacists and the carpetbaggers for
control of the state. The air was
rife with conflict, so that it was
unsafe for any Negro to take a prominent
part in any aspect of public affairs.42
Following Hayes's inauguration, of
course, support was withdrawn from the
carpetbag governments in the South
and they collapsed. Now, according to
Scarborough, "many politicians who
had professed great love for the race
and had made use of the Negro for
their personal aggrandizement in riches
and power, turned against him."
A Negro, Richard T. Greener, a Harvard
graduate who had been instructing
216 OHIO HISTORY both Negro and white students at the University of South Carolina, was forced to give up his professorship and return North.43 Amidst the un- certainty and rumors of growing Ku Klux Klan activities, Scarborough left for Oberlin Theological Seminary, where he began the study of Oriental languages, with an eye to the ministry. As he completed his work,44 a letter was forwarded to him from a school in Ohio, asking about his plans for the future. After sending an immediate reply, he awaited developments while visiting friends in Philadelphia. In the Quaker City Scarborough conferred with Bishop Daniel A. Payne of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A slightly built man, Payne as a youth had been forced to leave Charleston, South Carolina, because of his progressive ideas regarding the colored people. Continuing his studies at Gettysburg Seminary in Pennsylvania, he had stirred up much interest among Negroes by a series of articles on Negro education. Indefatigable in his efforts for Negro advancement, he had been the leading founder and then the second president of Wilberforce University at Wilberforce, Ohio.45 His successor, Benjamin F. Lee, had written Scarborough, and now Payne informed the latter that he had been chosen professor of Latin and Greek |
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WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 217
at that university. But with
disconcerting frankness Payne voiced his own
belief that Scarborough was too young
for the position. Scarborough later
asserted that he learned not to take
Payne's "plain speech too much to
heart, and to interpret the twinkling
eye and twitching lip that accompanied
his utterances." The young Oberlin
graduate at this time asserted that he
would do his best to fill the place and
would grow older with time. The
bishop, apparently reassured, abandoned
his objection, and thereafter proved
to be a staunch friend and supporter.
Possibly John Mitchell, an Oberlin
graduate and onetime Macon postmaster
who was living at Wilberforce, may
have suggested Scarborough's name.
Wilberforce University had been a
landmark in Negro education. In
Ohio, when public schools were
established after 1821 and especially
beginning in 1825, Negroes were not
expected to attend, and a law of
1829 even forbade their enrollment.46
By a law of 1849 separate Negro
schools were provided in places where
there were twenty or more Negro
students. Where there were fewer colored
children of school age, the law
permitted them to attend the white
schools, if there was no objection.47
As the Negro population of Ohio
increased,48 the African Methodist
Episcopal Church sought to implement
Payne's concern for Negro educa-
tion. The four conferences of the
denomination took steps to establish a
school on the manual training plan which
would also prepare young men
for the ministry. The result was the
securing of land twelve miles from
Columbus, Ohio, and the chartering of a
school known at first as Union
Seminary. From 1847 until 1863 it
operated under two persons who later
attained eminence as Negro leaders, John
M. Brown, subsequently a bishop,
and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper,
destined to become a poet. In the
meantime, the Methodist Episcopal
Church, North, was also stirred to
action, and in 1853 took steps resulting
in the purchase of property known
as Tawawa ("Sweet Water")
Springs, near Xenia. In the midst of the old
Shawnee Indian country, it had been a
fashionable summer resort. The
school, incorporated as a university in
August 1856, was named for William
Wilberforce, the noted English
abolitionist. A white minister, Dr. Richard
Rust, served as president from 1858 to
1863. At first most of the students
were half-breed children of southern
white planters, but the fathers by
1863 could no longer give financial
support, and the school closed. Bishop
Payne, who had been associated with the
enterprise since its inception,
bought the property for $10,000 in
behalf of the African Methodist Episcopal
Church, although at the time he had no
resources for the project but "faith
in God and friends of the race."
Union Seminary was now merged with
the university. Rechartered, it became,
according to Scarborough, "the oldest
218 OHIO HISTORY |
|
Negro school in the country, as well as the first one organized as a race effort." Valiant endeavors led to the debt on the property being practically liquidated by 1865, when fire destroyed the building. A new one, however, was erected. Payne became president and was the guiding spirit until 1876, when he was succeeded by Bishop Benjamin F. Lee, a recent graduate of the theological department.49 Lee wrote to Scarborough expressing gratification at the latter's acceptance of a professorship and indicating that he would expect him to arrive on September 4. The young teacher spent the summer in Philadelphia and New York, improving his preparation for teaching the classics. Arriving on schedule at Wilberforce, he found the upper floor of the one large building of three stories and a basement as yet unfinished. The lone struc- ture served as chapel, recitation hall, dining room, and dormitory for teachers and students. Part of Scarborough's work was to oversee the boys living in the left wing of the building. On the campus, shaded by many old trees, was a row of cottages on each side stretching to a highway, which was reached by footpaths and two primitive stiles. In one cottage the president resided, the row already having been dubbed "Smoky Row" by the students. In the center of the campus |
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 219
was a well of never-failing water and in
nearby ravines were the "Tawawa
Springs," which were said to have
medicinal qualities derived from iron
and sulfur.
The school was supposedly organized in
four departments. Of the faculty
members, four were Wilberforce
graduates, four were white teachers in
the law department, who lived in Xenia,
and two were white ladies living
at the school. Of the fewer than one
hundred students, some were well
advanced in age. During this period
teachers came from England and
Scotland and from Oberlin and Mount
Holyoke. From the latter came
Mrs. Alice Adams ("Mother
Adams"), whose son Myron later became
president of Atlanta University.
Having undertaken his responsibilities
at Wilberforce, Scarborough sought
to make his class work more effective by
designing cards for parsing and
for verb work in Latin grammar, and he
wrote a textbook, First Lessons in
Greek.50 The head of the firm which published the work was a
trustee of
Adelphi Academy, Brooklyn, New York,
which school led the way in the
adoption of the text.51
During this period Scarborough married a
white woman, Mrs. Sarah C.
Bierce, a graduate of Oswego Normal
School in New York State. The two
had been fellow high school teachers at
Macon, and she was teaching at
Wilberforce at the time of their
marriage. There she served as professor
of natural science (1877-84); professor
of French (1884-87); and principal
of the normal department (1887-1914).
Scarborough later testified, "There-
after I had a faithful, loyal and
untiring comrade, and our interests were
mutually shared."
In 1884 Benjamin F. Lee was made editor
of the African Methodist
denominational paper, the Christian
Recorder, and Wilberforce sought a
new head.52 The very able Dr. John G.
Mitchell was chosen to fill the post,
but circumstances prevented his
acceptance, and the position went to his
brother, Samuel T. Mitchell, then associated
with the Springfield, Ohio,
public school system. Scarborough
considered him to be a "man of ability
and energy." Mitchell was the first
layman elected to the presidency, hence
he was at once ordained to the ministry
to preserve "an inviolable tradition."
Scarborough now considered offers from
other places, but the new presi-
dent and many friends urged him to
remain. He had purchased a few acres
of land and a barn for a horse and
carriage, and he contemplated building
a home. He found his classes and his
student contacts stimulating. He,
moreover, had been promised the
opportunity for literary expression and
additional financial compensation in
helping prepare denominational litera-
ture. These prospects materialized, but
in 1891, after he had been at
220 OHIO HISTORY
Wilberforce for thirteen years of
earnest activity, serious trouble developed.
He later explained that it seemed that
he "had gone too far and too fast
to suit some people." The
difficulties were of long standing and were due
to a clash of personalities and of
educational ideals. Scarborough had
experienced frequent clashes in faculty
meetings with Joseph P. Shorter
of the class of 1871, vice president (1884-92),
and a member of the board
of trustees for over twenty years.
Shorter was brusque, sarcastic, and
somewhat erratic, and was aggressively
combative in faculty discussion.
Scarborough was interested in scholarly
progress, especially in the classics,
while Shorter taught mathematics and
sought to get the faculty to seek state
funds to establish a normal and
industrial department. As a fitting climax
to Shorter's efforts he was made head of
that department in 1892, serving
until his death in 1906.53
Scarborough also clashed with President
Samuel T. Mitchell, who had
been Wilberforce's president since 1884
(and was to serve until 1900),
and who on the whole had harmonious
relations with the faculty. Now, in
1892, the president had difficulty
(arising from personal jealousies) with
Scarborough. After both sides had
presented their case to the board of
trustees, a vote of confidence was given
to Mitchell. Scarborough lost his
position, Horace Talbert being named to
the professorship. The next day,
however, Scarborough was named to a
professorship in a newly established
theological department, separately
organized and governed by its own
board of trustees. It was named Payne
Seminary after Bishop D. A. Payne.54
During his first year in the seminary no
provision was made for regular
salaries, each faculty member being
expected to do what he could to raise
the necessary funds. Scarborough owed
money on his home and could not
collect his back salary from the
university. He later commented: "Had the
movement, taking me from college work,
been an attempt to cripple me at a
critical time, it came near
succeeding." But fortunately his wife's income
remained steady, for her position in the
normal department had come under
state authority.
Scarborough later recalled: "My pen
was my sole dependence. It looked
dark, but friends and creditors gave a
helpful hand, as they realized the
situation with indignation. My wife and
I redoubled our literary efforts."
Magazine work came to them. Bishop
Payne, moreover, put in Mrs. Scar-
borough's hands the task of compiling
from his voluminous diaries and
letters materials for the first volume
of The History of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church and then for his Recollections. Scarborough's
seminary
colleagues were on the whole congenial
and cooperative. The new work,
however, called for the unpleasant task
of begging for money, with frequent
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 221 absences from home and humiliating experiences when stranded without funds in embarrassing situations. He was deep in debt at the time and had to obtain loans which became a real burden over the years. In 1896 new legislative acts of the state of Ohio placed the state-supported work at Wilberforce under a reorganized board of trustees, with a newly created office of superintendent. The new arrangement was to lead to end- less friction. Scarborough refused to be considered for the superintendency, but gave advice as to appointments to the board and successfully urged the retaining of Mrs. Scarborough as principal of the normal department. |
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222 OHIO HISTORY
In 1897 Scarborough's services at Payne
Seminary came to a close, as he
was appointed to his old professorship
at Wilberforce and was made vice
president of the institution. He later
said that he felt that his years at the
theological school had been years of
spiritual growth, for he had come to
see that, like the Israelites, his own
race had to go through trying experi-
ences. He had learned, he thought, the
wisdom of the philosophy of Samuel
C. Armstrong, founder of Hampton
Institute, that what one cannot change
he must endure.
The death of Bishop Benjamin Arnett, a
close friend, in October 1906
was a severe blow to Scarborough,
especially since plans were underway
for Wilberforce's golden jubilee in
1906-7. The observance, nevertheless,
took place, and during the festivities a
reception was given at the Scar-
borough home for Booker T. Washington.55
Soon a drastic change was to take place
in Scarborough's basic situation.
From 1900 to 1908 Joshua H. Jones had
served as president of Wilber-
force, but growing dissatisfaction with
the administration led to the appoint-
ment of Scarborough, who was to serve
from 1908 to 1920. Since the
financial condition of the university
was precarious, many friends advised
against his acceptance of the
appointment. The welfare of the school,
however, was at stake, and the large
amount of accumulated back pay (with
interest) owed to Scarborough would not
be forthcoming unless the institution
could be placed on a sound financial
basis. He accepted the position and
immediately saddled himself with
personal obligations to meet university
debts and make university repairs.
Quite the antithesis of President Joshua
Jones, Scarborough was "mild-
mannered, dignified, scholarly,
impractical and eccentric. Moreover he
was a layman."56 He
received warm congratulations from William Howard
Taft, Senator Joseph B. Foraker, and
others. Booker T. Washington, during
the previous year, in a national
magazine, had paid tribute to Scarborough,
his "beautiful and well-kept"
home, and his extensive library, associated
with the "refined, studious atmosphere
of a scholar."57
Wilberforce not only lacked funds for
adequate educational services and
necessary expenses but faced suits for
the payment of old debts. The
historian of Wilberforce tells us that
Scarborough lacked outstanding
executive qualities, but his reputation
as a scholar proved a valuable
asset. Scarborough was able to secure
the advice and endorsement of
influential Negro and white friends, and
he traveled extensively in the
East, meeting philanthropic individuals
and boards and delivering addresses.
Thus he became "the best public
relations officer that the school ever had."58
Beginning in 1909, moreover, there had
been a notable increase in financial
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 223
support from the African Methodist
Episcopal Church conference. Reporting
to the university trustees in June 1911,
Scarborough stated: "The problems
this year have been much the same as
last. Many of the difficulties, however,
that we met in the past year have been
overcome, and I am glad to say
that the future is bright. Through our
efforts in the East many friends have
become interested in our institution and
have promised tentative help....
Our great drawback has been the lack of
advertisement."59
As early as 1908 Scarborough had been
able to interest Andrew Carnegie,
whom he had met at Tuskegee, in
providing help in erecting a badly needed
girls' dormitory. In March 1909 Carnegie
had agreed to give half the
cost if the other half would first be
raised elsewhere. Scarborough met
with major success in this effort. Miss
Hallie Q. Brown of Wilberforce
had gone to a missionary convention in
Scotland, and while in London
had conferred with a former Cincinnati
resident, Miss E. J. Emery, who
wrote for detailed information regarding
Wilberforce and later promised
to give a sum equal to the amount which
she had provided for a building
at Tuskegee Institute. Booker T.
Washington aided with his influence, and
the financial efforts were so successful
that it was decided to build a larger
structure than the $35,000 one
previously contemplated. Costing over
$50,000, the dormitory was named Kezia
Emery Hall after a member of
the family of Miss Emery.60
Presidential responsibilities involved
not only financial matters but efforts
to raise scholastic standards, duties in
connection with commencement
exercises, and activities in the
interest of alumni clubs. At the Wilber-
force commencement of 1909 Scarborough
had delivered the baccalaureate
address, taking a Biblical text as the
basis for his remarks. This had led
to considerable criticism by Wilberforce
trustees, who considered that only
ordained clergymen should preach.
In stimulating alumni interest he
arranged in 1910 for the Wilberforce
University Club of Washington, D.C., to
join in a large meeting in the
capital attended by President Taft and
other notables, an occasion which
brought widespread attention to the
concerns of the university. In May
1912 he attended a reception in his
honor given by the Wilberforce alumni
of Kansas City. These are illustrations
of Scarborough's efforts to develop
an effective alumni association, but the
years of his presidency did not
meet with success in this respect.61
During Scarborough's administration the
Ohio flood of 1913, which was
especially disastrous in Dayton, cut off
the Wilberforce community from
telephone, telegraph, and railroad
connections with the surrounding country
for ten days. Pecuniary losses caused
some parents to withdraw their
224 OHIO HISTORY
children from the university, and
financial aid to the school was impaired
by the catastrophe.
At the Wilberforce commencement in June
1915 Scarborough had as
his house guest and commencement speaker
his Oberlin classmate Dr.
Hastings H. Hart, a brother of Professor
Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard
and a leader in the work of prison
reform.62 During the early part of the
same year he had spent some time in
Florida, recuperating from an accident,
and in the summer had made a trip to
California. Returning from the
West he had met with Wilberforce alumni,
reaching home in time to speak
on "The Educational Value of
Environment" at the opening convocation
of the university. Scarborough's absence
from a meeting of the bishops
of the church, an absence due to his
convalescence in Florida, had pre-
vented him from meeting some criticisms
which they had made of the
operation of the school. Now he found it
necessary to reply with considerable
vehemence to the attacks upon his
administration.
Since 1914 Europe had been involved in
the First World War, with all
of its devastating fury, and in April
1917 the United States entered the
fray. With America's entry into the
struggle, Scarborough became much
involved in affairs relating to it.
Wilberforce students had received military
training since 1894. Indeed, it was the
only Negro college in the country
with a military department supported by
the national government and
with a regular military officer detailed
as instructor. Now Wilberforce
became a center for the examination of
applicants for the officers' training
camp at Des Moines, Iowa, and after
examination thirty young men were
sent there for training. Many
Wilberforce male students left school to
assist in food production. The
university of course joined in various
wartime activities. Scarborough became a
member of the Ohio Council
of National Defense, in reality the
governor's war cabinet. He also served
as one of the staff of Frederick C.
Croxton, federal food administrator for
Ohio; as one of three labor advisors in
Ohio to represent Negro labor in
the interests of food conservation; and
as a member of a special "Committee
of One Hundred" to assist in
mobilizing public opinion in enthusiastic
support of the war aims of the nation.
During the summer of 1917 about 180
Negro soldiers were trained in
the Wilberforce University training
detachment of the United States Army.
Scarborough also secured the
establishment of a unit of the Student Army
Training Corps, which began its
activities in September 1918. In general
the war department did not locate Negro
and white trainees in the same
barracks, so Ohio Negroes who entered
the corps were generally advised to
go to Wilberforce.
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH 225
Professors and students from Wilberforce
also went to a training camp
at Howard University to take intensive
preparation for service as clerks in
France. Scarborough, interested in those
from Wilberforce who went to
the officers' training camps, visited
such centers and was always well re-
ceived.63
After the signing of the armistice in
November 1918, the S.A.T.C. was
soon demobilized, and a reserve
officers' training unit was provided in its
place. For a time such training was
unpopular, as the war spirit had defi-
nitely waned. Now Wilberforce also
became a rehabilitation center for the
instruction of disabled soldiers in
various lines of vocational work.64
By this time the financial status of
Wilberforce had improved. Not only
gifts from alumni and other Negro donors
but also a gift of about $28,000
in assets from the closing of the Avery
Institute in Pittsburgh had been
extremely helpful. At the same time at
Wilberforce, local rivalries and
differing ideas of educational
objectives found expression in attacks on the
college department, and even a few
alumni were persuaded that it was their
duty to keep alive dissension between
the church-supported department and
that which received state aid.
Scarborough and his friends, however, were
able to prevent the passage of proposed
state legislation which would have
cut the $5,000 annual appropriation to
the university; to prevent the reduc-
tion of the number of Wilberforce
trustees so that the college itself would
have had but two of seven members of the
board, this proposal being vetoed
by the governor; and to defeat a measure
which would have made the normal
and industrial department an independent
institution with a head of its own.
This last proposal had resulted in a
legislative committee being created that
spent two days at Wilberforce looking
into the situation, but the legislature
took no further action and the status of
the institution at this time remained
as before.
The strain of the war and of contentions
on the campus had drawn heavily
on Scarborough's strength. During the
war the influenza had broken out
among those in the student training
corps, and every available hall had been
turned into a hospital. Scarborough had
taken two preventative serum injec-
tions, and for some reason these had
induced convulsions.
In March 1919 the death of Bishop
Cornelius Shaffer, who presided over
the affairs of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church in the Wilberforce
area, was a severe blow to Scarborough,
who had found in Shaffer a trusted
friend. The way was now paved for
attacks on Scarborough by those wishing
to advance the interests of others.
By this time the condition of the
university made the presidency a desir-
able one, and interested parties groomed
their candidates for the place.
226 OHIO HISTORY
Having served twelve years as a
conscientious president, Scarborough could
give a favorable report of his services
at the board meeting of the general
conference of the church. A modern
system of accounting had been insti-
tuted; bank credit had been restored;
considerable alumni interest had been
aroused; Founders' Day had been
developed as a contribution to financial
success; and the curriculum had been
revised, standards raised, and courses
enlarged and increased in numbers. Debts
had been reduced to $25,000;
the endowment fund had been increased;
state appropriations for the univer-
sity had been increased from $3,500
annually to $5,000; and Emery Hall
had been built and furnished.
Yet there was opposition to Scarborough.
A long feud had existed be-
tween Joshua H. Jones, president of the
board of trustees, and Scarborough.
Many believed that Jones now forced
Scarborough's retirement in an effort
to secure the place for his son, Gilbert
H. Jones. After two days of wrangling
among the board members, however, the
post went to John Andrew Gregg,
then president of Edward Waters College,
Jacksonville, Florida. Thus Scar-
borough's long official relations with
Wilberforce had come to an end.
[To be concluded in the next issue]
THE AUTHOR: Francis P. Weisenburger
is a professor of history at Ohio State
Uni-
versity. His latest book, Triumph of
Faith:
Contributions of the Church to
American Life,
1865-1900, was published earlier this year.
|
WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH |
EARLY LIFE AND YEARS AT WILBERFORCE by FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER The most renowned Negroes in American history have generally been men of vigorous action who in various ways have given spirited leadership to their race and to their country. Such persons include Frederick Douglass, John M. Langston, Booker T. Washington, and William E. B. Du Bois. Other less aggressive individuals, such as Richard Theodore Greener,1 the first Negro graduate of Harvard University and a lawyer of note, and William Sanders Scarborough are not so well known, yet have played an important part in Negro contributions to American life.2 The latter, noted philologist and college president, is the subject of this article.3 He was born in Macon, Georgia, February 16, 1852.4 His father, Jeremiah, born near Augusta, Georgia, about 1822, had been freed by his master some years before the NOTES ARE ON PAGES 287-289 |