Thomas Sewell Inborden

Born in Virginia in 1865, he made his way north as a teenager, studied at Oberlin, and later earned a B.A. from Fisk University. He then joined the American Missionary Association, beginning a long career in education and school-building.

He helped organize schools in Helena, Arkansas, and Albany, Georgia, and became the organizer and first principal of the Joseph Keasbey Brick Agricultural, Industrial and Normal School in North Carolina. There he spent many years expanding enrollment and creating practical educational programs for Black students.

Inborden was also a writer on education. His book Suggestions to Teachers was published in 1900, and his career is remembered as part of the larger story of Black education in the United States after emancipation.