Kelly Miller was the first Black man to attend John Hopkins University, and he changed the American curriculum to include social sciences.
July 18 , 1863
29 December 1939
South Carolina
African American
Kelly Miller was born in Winnsboro, South Carolina on 18 July 1863. His parents were Kelly Miller Sr (a free African America tenant cotton farmer) and Elizabeth Roberts (a former slave). Kelly Miller was sixth of ten children. At the time of his birth his father was a solider in the American Civil War (1861-65). When he was two years old (1865), he witnessed a large part of Winnsboro demolished by the Union troops led by General Sherman. It is speculated that this event inspired him to pursue equality.
Miller attend Fairfield Institute from 1878 to 1880 where his talent for mathematics was noticed by Reverend Willard Richardson (who taught Miller humanities and classics). The Reverend recommended that Miller continue his education in Fairfield Institute, where he continued to study for two years before earning a three year scholarship to Howard University in Washington DC to study a Preparatory Course covering Latin, Greek, and mathematics. He went on to attend the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard. Miller was able complete the course in two years and study at the College of Arts, where he was recommended to attend Johns Hopkins University in 1887. He continued to study mathematics, physics, and astronomy for two years, making Kelly Miller the first African American to study and graduate in mathematics in the USA.
From 1889 to 1890 Miller taught mathematics in M Street High School in Washington DC to ease his financial situation due to increasing tuition fees.
In 1890 he returned to Howard University, where he was appointed Professor of Mathematics. In 1895 Miller was the first person in the university to teach sociology, adding it to the curriculum the same year and earning the title Professor of Sociology. Miller served as the Professor of Sociology between 1895 and 1934, while modernising the curriculum to include more diverse subjects such as natural sciences and social sciences. In 1914 he planned the Negro American Museum and Library. He persuaded the minister and community leader Jesse E Moorland to donate his private library on Black history in Africa and the USA to Howard University.
Links to wider Resources: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Miller_Kelly/ – last updated January 2013
https://www.biography.com/scientist/kelly-miller – last updated May 19, 2021
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Miller_(scientist)#Death_and_legacy – last updated February 24 2022
Credits (where info sourced from)
Photo: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/kelly-miller-us-mathematician-schomburg-center-for-research-in-black-culturenew-york-public-library.html – Kelly Miller, Us Mathematician is a photograph by Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culturenew York Public Library which was uploaded on May 7th, 2013.
https://localwiki.org/oakland/African_American_Museum_and_Library/_files/DSC00804.JPG/_info/
