Thomas Nelson Baker Sr.

alt=A portrait of Thomas Nelson Baker, Sr. as a student at Yale Divinity School A portrait of Thomas Nelson Baker, Sr. as a student at Yale Divinity School

Reverend Dr. Thomas Nelson Baker, Sr. was a minister, author and philosopher. Born into slavery, Baker was the first African-American to receive a PhD in philosophy in the United States.

Biography Baker was born in Eastville, Virginia, on August 11, 1860. His parents were Thomas Chadwick and Edith Nottingham Baker, who were slaves on Robert Nottingham's plantation in Northampton County, Virginia.

His father became a Union soldier, and after the Civil War, Baker's mother taught him to read, which was a crime during slavery.

My mother taught me my letters, although I well remember when she learned them herself. My first reading lesson was the second chapter of Matthew, the Bible being the only book we had. I never read a bad book in my life which is one of the blessings I got by being poor. I began to attend the common schools at eight and learned to love books passionately. I used to read through my recesses. Evenings I read the Bible to my parents and grandparents, while they listened with weeping eyes, thankful that I had the great blessing of being able to read. His dissertation topic: "The Ethical Significance of the Connection Between Mind and Body."

He left New Haven for Pittsfield to become the minister at Second Congregational Church August 1, 1901, a position he held for 37 years. He succeeded the Rev. Dr. Samuel Harrison. predeceased him. Rev. Dr. Baker died at home from an accidental gas poisoning on February 22, 1941. Newman Taylor Baker, his second grandson, and Andrea Baker, one of his great-grandchildren, are international musical artists.