Kelly Miller (scientist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the educational figure.

For the basketball player, see Kelly Miller (basketball player).

For the hockey player, see Kelly Miller (hockey).

Kelly Miller (b. July 23, 1863, d. December 29, 1939) was a mathematician, sociologist, essayist, newspaper columnist, author, and an important figure in the intellectual life of black America for close to half a century.

Miller was born in Winnsboro, South Carolina in 1863, and graduated from Howard University in 1886. He was the first black admitted to Johns Hopkins University when he began his graduate studies in mathematics,physics, and astronomy. Appointed professor of mathematics at Howard in 1890, Miller introduced sociology into the curriculum in 1895, serving as professor of sociology from 1895 to 1934. As dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, he modernized the classical curriculum, strengthening the natural and social sciences. Miller graduated from Howard's School of Law in 1903.^[1]

Miller was a prolific writer of articles and essays which were published in major newspapers and magazines, and several books including Out of the House of Bondage. Miller assisted W. E. B. Du Bois in editing The Crisis, the official journal of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).^[1] In the 1920s and 1930s, his weekly column appeared in more than 100 newspapers.

On African American education policy, Miller aligned himself with neither the "radicals" — Du Bois and the Niagara Movement — nor the "conservatives" — the followers of Booker T. Washington.^{[citation needed]} Miller sought a middle way, a comprehensive education system that would provide for "symmetrical development" of African American citizens by offering both vocational and intellectual instruction.^{[citation needed]}

Miller was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter organization established for African Americans.^[2]

[edit] Legacy

Miller has an elementary school named in his honor, Kelly Miller, located in Winnsboro, SC, County of Fairfield, which is a predominantly black county. His name is also given to a public school in Washington, D.C..