James Monroe Gregory

James Monroe Gregory (January 23, 1849 – December 17, 1915) was an American 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 College. 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, D.C., 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.

Early life James Monroe Gregory was born in Lexington, Virginia, on January 23, 1849, to Maria A. (Gladman) Gregory and Henry L., a local minister. One of his teachers in Cleveland was Laura Spelman.

Career

Howard University Gregory moved to Washington, D.C., and graduated first in a class of three from Howard in 1872 (the other two were A. C. O'Hear and Josiah T. Settle) and was made tutor of Latin and mathematics in the preparatory department, In the winter of the next year, he married Fannie E. Hagan of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, who had earlier been a student of his. Three years later he was appointed Professor of Latin in the college. In the 1880s, he was made Dean of the collegiate department. but did not receive the appointment. On February 27, 1886, Gregory was appointed to the board of trustees of public schools in Washington DC against vehement protest of Democrats and the conservative press, and the next year was made chairman of the committee on teachers and janitors by the board president. In 1887 he was a candidate to replace James Campbell Matthews as Washington, DC Recorder of Deeds, although the position went to James Monroe Trotter. Gregory was again a candidate for the position to succeed Trotter in late 1889, but the position went to Blanche Bruce. Gregory was president of the American Association of Educators of Colored Youth which was he founded in 1890 and led throughout its existence.

Removal from Howard and principalship in Bordentown In 1891, Gregory was in debt and was accused by Daniel Murray and a group of other individuals of inappropriate financial dealings with his students, but the charges were dropped. The accusations resurfaced in 1895, and Gregory was removed as professor at Howard by the board led by University president Jeremiah Rankin, although the move was opposed by black members of the board. Gregory was, at the time, the senior professor of the institution, and the institution was itself in debt, which was used as a reason for the dismissal. Gregory appealed, and his cause was widely supported by students and alumni, but his dismissal was upheld.

In 1897, he became principal of the Bordentown Industrial and Manual Training School in Bordentown, New Jersey. Gregory was very successful in this role, and the school grew in enrollment and in quality of facilities during his tenure. The school was based on the methods Booker T. Washington advocated and applied at the Tuskegee Institute Gregory served until February, 1915.

Family and personal life Gregory married Fannie Emma Hagan of Williamsport, Pennsylvania on December 29, 1873, in Williamsport. Fannie was born in Frederick, Maryland, on July 4, 1856. Fannie's mother, Margaret A. Hagen, was born and raised on the property of Judge Roger B. Taney and had been freed by the purchase of her husband. Margaret's mother, Jane, was a daughter of Judge Taney. Margaret's father was Po Mahammitt. His oldest son was Eugene M. Gregory, who graduated from Harvard University and was a member of the Harvard Law School. was captain of the Amherst College baseball team in 1898, the first African American to be elected captain of a baseball team in any eastern college His daughter, Margaret B. Gregory, was a teacher at Bordentown School (also known as Ironside school). In 1908, James and Thomas went to London to attend the Olympic Games there.

His great-grandson through James Francis was astronaut Frederick Drew Gregory, the first African-American to pilot an American spacecraft. His great-great-granddaughter is actress and comedian Aisha Tyler.

For many years, Gregory attended Jeremiah Rankin's Washington's First Congregational Church. With Gregory in the congregation were Douglass, John Mercer Langston, Blanche Bruce, and William T. Mitchell and their families.

Death Gregory died December 17, 1915, at the home of his daughter in Baltimore, Maryland. His funeral was held at the People's Congregational Church in Washington, D.C., and was conducted by Rev. Francis James Grimké. He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.