Edward Wilmot Blyden

William J. Simmons, Men of Mark (Cleveland: George M.
Rewll and Company, 1887, reprint New York: Arno Press and New
York Times, 1968 facing page 920

Blyden was born in the West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands) in 1832. He was brought to the United States by Reverend John P. Knox to study theology, but when no school would accept him he went to Africa. He was professor of classics at Liberia College (1862-1871) and then president before embarking on a career as a diplomat. He was the second black member of the American Philological Association (1880).