William G. Allen
One such person of African descent who graduated before slavery was abolished was William G. Allen. He was born in 1820 in Urbana, Virginia to a Welsh American father and a mixed-race mother. He was an acclaimed academic who rose to become a lecturer and intellectual authority. According to the African American Registry, what made Allen’s story inspiring was that he was schooled by federal French and German soldiers because there was no school for Black children in Fort Monroe.
He furthered his education at the Oneida Institute following a recommendation from a teacher to Gerrit Smith who facilitated the transition for Allen to gain admission into the notable school. He graduated from the institute in 1844 and moved to Troy, New York where he continued his Black empowerment advocacy. In 1850, he became a professor of Greek and Rhetoric at New York Central College.
