Journal Article

“The Season of Exaggerated Hopes”: Richard T. Greener in the Reconstruction University

Harrelson, Kevin J

2024

Overview

Richard T. Greener was the first Black graduate of Harvard College in 1870, and he served briefly as a professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina from 1873 to 1877. Historians and biographers have uncovered many of the facts of his unusual life, but to date his philosophy has remained unappreciated. This essay reconstructs his philosophy from published and archival sources, evaluating it in relationship to the work of his better-known mentor, Frederick Douglass. I argue that Greener’s account of Reconstruction politics, especially his arguments on land redistribution, race, and Black intellectual history, possess notable advantages over Douglass’s views. Of particular importance is that he defended a more robust republican state than did his hero, while rejecting the originalism and constitutionalism that characterize Douglass’s liberalism.

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Subject: Abolition of slavery / Abolitionists / Anglophones / Assimilation / Black people / Constitutionalism / Douglass, Frederick (1818-1895) / Education / Equality / Greener, Richard T / Heroism & heroes / Historians / History of ideas / Idealism / Liberalism / Philosophy / Political leadership / Race / Reconstruction period-US / Redistribution / Republicanism / Sumner, Charles (1811-1874)