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

by William Sanders Scarborough, Michele Valerie Ronnick (Introduction), Henry Jr. (Foreword by)

Overview

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 champion of higher education. Scarborough advocated the reading, writing, and teaching of liberal arts at a time when illiteracy was rampant due to slavery's legacy, white supremacists were dismissing the intellectual capability of blacks, and Booker T. Washington was urging African Americans to focus on industrial skills and training.

The Autobiography of William Sanders Scarborough is a valuable historical record of the life and work of a pioneer who helped formalize the intellectual tradition of the black scholar. Michele Valerie Ronnick contextualizes Scarborough's narrative through extensive notes and by exploring a wide variety of sources such as census records, church registries, period newspapers, and military and university records. This book is indispensable to anyone interested in the history of intellectual endeavor in America, Africana studies and classical studies, in particular, as well as those familiar with the associations and institutions that welcomed and valued Scarborough.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814348895
Publisher:	Wayne State University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2021
Series:	African American Life Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Michele Valerie Ronnick is Distinguished Professor of Greek and Latin at Wayne State University.

What People are Saying About This

Professor of Classics, University of Virginia - Jenny Strauss Clay

Expertly presented by Michele Valerie Ronnick, Scarborough's autobiography constitutes an important and timely contribution to the history of Classical Studies in America and to the story of African-American intellectual life in the century after Emancipation. Scarborough believed passionately that classical education was a critical component of African-American advancement and understood that a liberal education is liberating and the property of all free human beings.

Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and Director of the Program in African Ameriacn Studies, Princeton University - Valerie Smith

This fascinating book tells the remarkable story of William Sanders Scarborough's rise from his origins in slavery to a distinguished career as the first African American professional scholar of classical languages and literatures. Michele Valerie Ronnick is to be commended for making this compelling account available to a wide reading public.

Professor of History, Vanderbilt University, Historiographer of the A.m.e. Church - Dennis C. Dickerson

This autobiography presents to a new generation the career of William Sanders Scarborough, among the earliest black Ph.D.s. He was a precursor to W. E. B. Du Bois, and someone whom the famed intellectual admired and emulated. The complicated ties between Scarborough and the A.M.E. sponsored Wilberforce University showed that those who valued the life of the mind drew substantial support and encouragement from black religious and educational institutions. Scholars in the classics, history, African American Studies, and other subjects will find much relevant information in this valuable volume

Professor of Greek and Latin, Harvard University, Trustee of the Loeb Classical Library, and Author of Virgil and the Au - Richard F. Thomas

It is uplifting to discover in this fascinating life, so compellingly narrated, a refutation of the racist view that a black man was genetically incapable of learning Greek, and at the same so clearly to see precisely the effects of such learning on this likable and able man. Like the Roman poet Horace, he too the son of an ex-slave, Scarborough reveals to us a personality imbued with culture, humanism and compassion.

Edwards Professor of American History, Princeton University - Nell Irvin Painter

William Sanders Scarborough, a respected classicist when the classics represented the ultimate in learned knowledge, embodied the living refutation of white supremacy in the late nineteenth century. The twentieth century was all too quick to forget him. Michele Ronnick's edition of Scarborough's Autobiography brings him back to life, with all its promise, achievement, and frustration. We need to know it all.

Editorial Reviews

This book emerges as an unambiguous exemplar of the rigor and vigor that is characterizing the African American nonfiction canon in this 21st century. Michele Ronnick has made a significant contribution to the African American nonfiction canon.

Dunbar on Black Books Online Review - Harry B. Dunbar

Expertly presented by Michele Valerie Ronnick, Scarborough's autobiography constitutes an important and timely contribution to the history of Classical Studies in America and to the story of African-American intellectual life in the century after Emancipation. Scarborough believed passionately that classical education was a critical component of African-American advancement and understood that a liberal education is liberating and the property of all free human beings.--Jenny Strauss Clay "professor of classics, University of Virginia"

It is uplifting to discover in this fascinating life, so compellingly narrated, a refutation of the racist view that a black man was genetically incapable of learning Greek, and at the same so clearly to see precisely the effects of such learning on this likable and able man. Like the Roman poet Horace, he too the son of an ex-slave, Scarborough reveals to us a personality imbued with culture, humanism and compassion.--Richard F. Thomas "professor of Greek and Latin, Harvard University, Trustee of the Loeb Classical Library, and author of Virgil and the Augustan Reception"

This autobiography presents to a new generation the career of William Sanders Scarborough, among the earliest black Ph.D.s. He was a precursor to W. E. B. Du Bois, and someone whom the famed intellectual admired and emulated. The complicated ties between Scarborough and the A.M.E. sponsored Wilberforce University showed that those who valued the life of the mind drew substantial support and encouragement from black religious and educational institutions. Scholars in the classics, history, African American Studies, and other subjects will find much relevant information in this valuable volume--Dennis C. Dickerson "professor of history, Vanderbilt University, historiographer of the A.M.E. Church"

This book emerges as an unambiguous exemplar of the rigor and vigor that is characterizing the African American nonfiction canon in this 21st century. Michele Ronnick has made a significant contribution to the African American nonfiction canon.--Harry B. Dunbar "Dunbar on Black Books Online Review"

This fascinating book tells the remarkable story of William Sanders Scarborough's rise from his origins in slavery to a distinguished career as the first African American professional scholar of classical languages and literatures. Michele Valerie Ronnick is to be commended for making this compelling account available to a wide reading public.--Valerie Smith "Woodrow Wilson Professor of literature and director of the Program in African Ameriacn Studies, Princeton University"

William Sanders Scarborough, a respected classicist when the classics represented the ultimate in learned knowledge, embodied the living refutation of white supremacy in the late nineteenth century. The twentieth century was all too quick to forget him. Michele Ronnick's edition of Scarborough's Autobiography brings him back to life, with all its promise, achievement, and frustration. We need to know it all.--Nell Irvin Painter "Edwards Professor of American history, Princeton University"

From the Publisher

William Sanders Scarborough, a respected classicist when the classics represented the ultimate in learned knowledge, embodied the living refutation of white supremacy in the late nineteenth century. The twentieth century was all too quick to forget him. Michele Ronnick's edition of Scarborough's Autobiography brings him back to life, with all its promise, achievement, and frustration. We need to know it all.

Edwards Professor of American history, Princeton University - Nell Irvin Painter

This fascinating book tells the remarkable story of William Sanders Scarborough's rise from his origins in slavery to a distinguished career as the first African American professional scholar of classical languages and literatures. Michele Valerie Ronnick is to be commended for making this compelling account available to a wide reading public.

Woodrow Wilson Professor of literature and director of the Program in African Ameriacn Studies, Princeton University - Valerie Smith

This autobiography presents to a new generation the career of William Sanders Scarborough, among the earliest black Ph.D.s. He was a precursor to W. E. B. Du Bois, and someone whom the famed intellectual admired and emulated. The complicated ties between Scarborough and the A.M.E. sponsored Wilberforce University showed that those who valued the life of the mind drew substantial support and encouragement from black religious and educational institutions. Scholars in the classics, history, African American Studies, and other subjects will find much relevant information in this valuable volume

professor of history, Vanderbilt University, historiographer of the A.M.E. Church - Dennis C. Dickerson

Expertly presented by Michele Valerie Ronnick, Scarborough's autobiography constitutes an important and timely contribution to the history of Classical Studies in America and to the story of African-American intellectual life in the century after Emancipation. Scarborough believed passionately that classical education was a critical component of African-American advancement and understood that a liberal education is liberating and the property of all free human beings.

professor of classics, University of Virginia - Jenny Strauss Clay

It is uplifting to discover in this fascinating life, so compellingly narrated, a refutation of the racist view that a black man was genetically incapable of learning Greek, and at the same so clearly to see precisely the effects of such learning on this likable and able man. Like the Roman poet Horace, he too the son of an ex-slave, Scarborough reveals to us a personality imbued with culture, humanism and compassion.

professor of Greek and Latin, Harvard University, Trustee of the Loeb Classical Library, and author of Virgil and the Au - Richard F. Thomas

This book belongs on the shelf of every historian, student, scholar, and the general reader of American letters.

Essex County Historical Society

The Autobiography of William Sanders Scarborough takes its rightful place amid the outstanding volumes of the publisher's African American Life series. Editor Ronnick has unearthed and meticulously edited this scholar's life story. For those with interest in African American, social, or cultural history, this book will be instructive.

Choice Review

Thanks to the book's editor - Michele Valerie Ronnick, an associate professor of Greek and Latin at Wayne State University - readers will finally hear this inspiring story that got lost in the annuals of history. Ronnick successfully revived a man, once a great leading classicist and scholar in her field to his rightful position among the great classicists (including Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois) of his time. Now readers will know the story of William Sanders Scarborough, the man with a penetrating stare who lived an extraordinary life. His story is a testament that the will of the human spirit can overcome just about any obstacle.

Grand Rapids Press