Richard R. Wright

Military career In August 1898, President William McKinley appointed Wright as a major and paymaster of United States Volunteers in the United States Army. He was the first African American to serve as a U.S. Army paymaster. During the Spanish–American War, he was the highest-ranking African-American officer. He was honorably discharged in December of the same year.

Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth The Second Morrill Land Grant Act of August 30, 1890 provided more land-grant funding to states, but also established federal oversight. It required that Southern and border states, which had segregated public schools, develop land grant colleges for black students in order to receive any funds under this program. Georgia was among the several states that had not done so. On November 26, 1890 the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation creating the Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth.

In 1891, Wright was appointed as the first president of the Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth (now Savannah State University), the first public historically black college (HBCU) in the state. By October 1891, it was having classes in Savannah, Georgia, which became its permanent home. It started with five faculty and eight students, but rapidly attracted more. From the founding of the organization until 1902, Wright remained active among the scholars, editors, and activists of this first major African-American learned society. Their work refuted racist scholarship, promoted black claims to individual, social, and political equality, and published the history and sociology of African-American life.

Banker After moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1921, Wright decided to open a bank. At the age of 67, he enrolled in the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania to prepare for this venture.

Suggested reading Elmore, Charles J. (1996), Richard R. Wright Sr. at GSIC, 1891–1921: A Protean Force for the Social Uplift and Higher Education of Black Americans, Savannah, Georgia: privately printed. Hall, Clyde W. (1991), One Hundred Years of Educating at Savannah State College, 1890–1990, East Peoria, Ill.: Versa Press. Patton, June O. (1996), "'And the Truth Shall Make You Free': Richard Robert Wright Sr., Black Intellectual and Iconoclast, 1877–1897", The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 81.