S. S. (Samuel Silas) Curry

Born in Tennessee in 1847, Samuel Silas Curry became an American educator, author, and influential teacher of elocution and vocal expression. He studied at Grant University and later at Boston University, where he earned advanced degrees before building his career around the teaching of speech, literature, and oral interpretation.

In 1879, he and Anna Baright founded a Boston school devoted to elocution and expression, an institution that became known as the School of Expression. Curry developed a teaching approach that treated voice, body, and feeling as connected parts of communication, and he also taught in university settings, including work associated with Harvard and Boston University.

Curry wrote widely on speech, reading, and interpretation, with books that explored public speaking, poetry, and the expressive reading of literature and scripture. He died in Boston in 1921, and his name lives on through Curry College, which honors his contribution to education and the spoken word.