Richard Theodore Greener

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 328

Born in Philadelphia in 1844, Greener was educated at Oberlin College and Phillips Academy. In 1870 he received his B.A. degree from Harvard University, the first black to do so. After some 10 years as a teacher and professor, he turned to a career as a lawyer and diplomat. He was the first black member of the American Philological Association (1875).