“G” is for Greener, Richard (1844-1922). Teacher, diplomat. Greener was reared in Boston and in 1865 was admitted to Harvard. In 1870 he became the first Black American to earn a degree from Harvard. In 1873 Greener accepted a professorship at the University of South Carolina, becoming its first Black faculty member. He also served as the school’s librarian. In 1877, when the university was closed, Greener resigned his position. He served as dean of the Howard Law School and was active in Republican Party politics. From 1898 to 1905 he served as the U.S. commercial agent in Vladivostok, Russia. Returning to the United States in 1906, he settled in Chicago. Although Richard Greener lived in South Carolina for only three and a half years, he considered himself a South Carolinian in exile since 1877.
“G” is for Greener, Richard (1844-1922)
