Gregory W. Hayes

Gregory W. Hayes (died December 2, 1906) was a prominent leader in the Baptist community of African Americans in Richmond, Virginia.He graduated from Oberlin College. In 1899 he was involved in a leadership struggle with Z.D. Lewis over issues of operations and autonomy of an educational institution. The G. W. Hayes School of Arts and Sciences, a division of Virginia Seminary and College, named in 1988 in honor and memory of Professor Gregory W. Hayes, the college's second President. Hayes intervened to provide Ota Benga, an Mbuti pygmy former slave who was exhibited at anthropological exhibitions, the opportunity to live and study at the seminary.

Rev. Hayes became president of the school in 1891 after a leadership struggle. He served until his death in 1906. His wife, Mary Rice Hayes Allen, was the daughter of a Confederate general and an African American mother. She served as the seminary's president after Hayes' death until 1908. She is the mother of author Carrie Allen McCray.

An annual Hayes Day celebration has been held at the seminary in his honor and a statue commemorates his life and leadership.

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