James Monroe Gregory

James Monroe Gregory
Gregory in 1887
Born	(1849-01-23)January 23, 1849 Lexington, Virginia
Died	December 17, 1915(1915-12-17) (aged 66) Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Alma mater	Howard University, Harvard University
Occupation	Professor
Political party	Republican

James Monroe Gregory (January 23, 1849 – December 17, 1915) was a Professor of Latin and Dean at Howard University. During the American Civil War, he worked in Cleveland for the education and aid of escaped slaves. He initially attended Oberlin University. He transferred to Howard and was the valedictorian of Howard's first graduating class in 1872. He then became a member of faculty, where he served until the late 1880s. During that time he was active in civil rights, particularly related to the education of African American children. He fought to desegregate Washington DC schools in the early 1880s and participated in the Colored Conventions Movement and was a delegate to the 1892 Republican National Convention. In 1890 he founded the American Association of Educators of Colored Youth. In 1893 he published a biography of Frederick Douglass. In 1897 he was removed at Howard and moved to New Jersey where he became principal of Bordentown Industrial and Manual Training School.

James Monroe Gregory was born in Lexington, Virginia on January 23, 1849 to Maria A. (Gladman) Gregory and Henry L., a local minister. During that year they moved to Lynchburg, Virginia. In 1859 they moved to Cleveland, Ohio where James entered public schools. The family moved to La Porte, Indiana and then Chicago, where James attended private and public schools respectively, before returning to Cleveland where he finished grammar school and entered high school. In 1865 he entered the preparatory department of Oberlin College. During his summer vacations, Gregory taught at Freedmen's Bureau schools in La Porte, in Mt. Tabor, Maryland, and in Lynchburg. One of his teachers in Cleveland was Laura Spelman. As his studies ended, he was recommended for a cadetship at West Point by General Benjamin F. Butler, but President Andrew Johnson refused to appoint him. While visiting Washington DC to get his appointment papers from Butler, he met General Oliver O. Howard, who was impressed by Gregory and suggested that he (Howard) would like to work with him. Less than a year later, Howard had a letter sent to Gregory offering him a position of instructor in the preparatory department of Howard University, and suggesting he finish his undergraduate studies at the same time at Howard, which Gregory accepted. While still in Ohio, Gregory worked to help escaped and freed slaves, and was secretary of the Fugitives Aid Society in Cleveland, later renamed the Freedmen's Aid Society in Cleveland. When Gregory started at Howard in September 1868, he was the first student in the collegiate department, which had two professors, Eliphalet Whittlesey and William F. Bascom, and the course was based on classical studies of New England colleges.