James L. Farmer, Sr.

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James Leonard Farmer (June 12, 1886 – May 14, 1961) was an American author, theologian, educator, and the first African-American Texan to earn a doctorate. Farmer served as a deacon in the Methodist Episcopal Church and as an administrator at several historically black colleges and universities in the U.S. South, most notably Howard University, Rust College and Wiley College.

Farmer was born on June 12, 1886 in North Carolina. After graduating from the Cookman Institute in Jacksonville, Florida he came to Massachusetts on foot to attend college. In 1918 he earned his Ph.D. from Boston University becoming one of only twenty five African-Americans who held Ph.D.s at the time.

Farmer could read English, Aramaic, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin.

Farmer Sr. was also the father of James L. Farmer, Jr., a notable leader in his own right in the 1950s and 1960s American Civil Rights movement.

Farmer Sr. was portrayed by Forest Whitaker in the 2007 movie The Great Debaters.

He was also a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

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