Alexander Crummell
modernPan-Africanism, African American Philosophy, Episcopal Theology1819 – 1898
Alexander Crummell (1819–1898) was an African American Episcopal priest, Pan-Africanist, and philosopher who became one of the most influential Black intellectuals of the nineteenth century. Educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, he spent nearly two decades in Liberia promoting African civilization and cultural development before returning to the United States. He founded the American Negro Academy in 1897, establishing an institutional home for Black scholarly life, and was a formative influence on W.E.B. Du Bois.
Notable Achievements
1
Founded the American Negro Academy (1897), the first major Black scholarly society in the United States
2
Articulated an early systematic philosophy of African civilizationism and racial uplift
3
Promoted the intellectual and cultural development of Liberia during nearly two decades of residence
4
Became a central intellectual forefather of W.E.B. Du Bois and early twentieth-century Black thought
5
First African American to earn a degree from Cambridge University