W. S. (William Sanders) Scarborough

William Sanders Scarborough was an American classical scholar, educator, and academic leader born in 1852 and died in 1926. He is widely remembered as a pioneering Black classicist at a time when higher education in the United States offered very few such paths to African Americans.

After gaining an education in the years following emancipation, he built a distinguished career teaching the classics and writing on Greek language and literature. He later served as president of Wilberforce University, and his career became a powerful example of intellectual achievement despite the racial barriers of his era.

Scarborough's story has continued to draw attention because it links personal perseverance with major questions about education, race, and scholarship in America. His autobiography and later studies of his life have helped restore his place as an important figure in both African American history and the history of classical studies.