active 1849-1853 William G. Allen

Born free in Virginia around 1820, William G. Allen became an African American academic, lecturer, and antislavery writer at a time when those roles were extraordinarily hard-won. He studied in New York and later in Boston, where he lectured widely on abolition, equality, and integration.

Allen went on to teach at New-York Central College, where he is remembered as one of the first Black college professors in the United States. He also co-edited The National Watchman, an abolitionist newspaper, and became known for clear, forceful arguments against slavery and racial prejudice.

His most famous book, The American Prejudice Against Color, appeared in 1853. Written in part from personal experience, it combines memoir and argument, showing how deeply racism shaped everyday life in America. After intense public hostility surrounding his interracial marriage, Allen and his wife left the United States and settled in Britain, where he continued to lecture and teach.