Charles Lewis Reason (July 21, 1818 –August 16, 1893) was a mathematician, linguist, and educator. He became the first African-American university professor at a predominately white college in the US, teaching at New York Central College, McGrawville.[1]
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Charles Reason was born in New York City as one of three sons to Michel and Elizabeth (Melville) Reason (their surname was originally Rison), free people of color. They were from Guadeloupe[2] and Saint Domingue, respectively, and immigrated as refugees in 1793 shortly after the early years of the Haitian Revolution.[1] His brothers were Elmer and Patrick H. Reason, who also became leaders. Their older sister Policarpe died in 1818 at age four.[3]
A child prodigy in mathematics, Charles Reason began teaching the subject at the age of fourteen at the African Free School in New York, which he and two of his brothers attended. He next studied at McGrawville College, an integrated institution founded by members of the Baptist Church in McGraw, New York.[4]
In 1847, Reason, along with Charles Bennett Ray, founded the New York-based Society for the Promotion of Education among Colored Children. Twelve years later, he was appointed professor of belles letters, Greek, Latin, and French at New York Central College, McGrawville, while also serving as an adjunct professor of mathematics. It was a majority white institution.[4] He was the first African American to serve as a professor at a majority-white college.
In 1852 Reason left that post to become the principal of the Quaker Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia (later Cheyney University), a post he held until 1856. During his time there, Reason increased enrollment from six students to 118.[4]
Reason returned to New York, where he served for decades in public education as a teacher, administrator, and reformer. During this time, he was instrumental in efforts to abolish slavery and segregation. He successfully lobbied for passage of an 1873 statute to integrate New York's public schools. He was politically active in many community groups.
Reason was also a poet. He contributed to the Colored American in the 1830s and was a leader of New York City's Phoenix Society in the 1840s. He wrote the poem "Freedom," which celebrated the British abolitionist Thomas Clarkson; it was published in Alexander Crummell's 1849 biography of Clarkson.[5]
Not much documentation has been found on Reason's personal life, but he was said to have been married and widowed three times. His third and final wife was Clorice (Duplessis) Esteve (1819–1884). He died in New York City in 1893.