Richard Theodore Greener

Richard Theodore Greener (1844–1922) was a pioneering African-American scholar, excelling in elocution, philosophy, law and classics in the Reconstruction era. In 1870, he became the first black undergraduate at Harvard University to receive a bachelor's degree. The previous year, Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine awarded degrees to their first black graduates in 1869.

After graduating with honors from Harvard, Greer worked as a high school teacher and principal. In 1873, he was recruited by the University of South Carolina (USC) to become the school's first black professor. While on the USC faculty, he enrolled in and graduated from USC's Law School. He also served as associate editor for the ''New National Era'', a newspaper owned and edited by Frederick Douglass. In 1875, Greener became the first black elected to the American Philological Association, the primary academic society for classical studies in North America. In 1876, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of South Carolina, and the following year he was also admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia. He went on to serve as dean of the Howard University School of Law.

In 1898, he became America's first black diplomat to a white country, serving in Vladivostok, Russia. In 1902, the Chinese government honored him for his service to the Boxer War, and his assistance to Shansi famine sufferers. He served as an American representative during the Russo-Japanese War, but left the diplomatic service in 1905.

In 2018, Phillips Andover honored Greener (Andover, Class of 1865) by renaming the campus quad, the Richard T. Greener Quadrangle. That same year, the University of South Carolina unveiled a nine-foot statue of Greener that stands outside the school's main library, and Harvard established the Greener Scott Scholars Mentorship Program in honor of Greener and Alberta Virginia Scott, the first Black graduate of Radcliffe College. In 2020, the 101st Illinois General Assembly adopted House Resolution 0638 to honor Greener, and in 2021, the Cook County Board of Commissioners (Illinois) passed a similar resolution to salute Greener for his achievements. Provided by Wikipedia