Reverend Dr. Thomas Nelson Baker - by Linda Batty (Hardcover)

About the Book

From slave to Doctor of Philosophy to preacher, Thomas Nelson Baker exemplifies the struggles and rewards of becoming and being an educated Black man in Jim Crow America. His biography is both a lesson in history and a source of inspiration.

Book Synopsis

From slave to Doctor of Philosophy to preacher, Thomas Nelson Baker exemplifies the struggles and rewards of becoming and being an educated Black man in Jim Crow America. His biography is both a lesson in history and a source of inspiration.

The Rev. Dr. Thomas Nelson Baker was the first known African American to receive a Ph.D. in Philosophy in the United States. Born a slave in 1860 in Eastville, Virginia, Dr. Baker spent his youth and early manhood as a farm laborer, sporadically attending schools for freed people until he was 12 years old. Abbreviated as his education was, he nonetheless gained from it an unquenchable love of learning, dreaming of once more sitting in a classroom. The opportunity to do so came when he was 21 years of age at which time he entered Gen'l. George Chapman Armstrong's Hampton Agricultural & Normal School, graduating in 1885. After teaching for one year in Virginia's Dismal Swamp, he attended Mount Hermon Boys' School in Massachusetts, coming under the influence of evangelist D.L. Moody. He thereafter entered Boston Univ (B.A. 1893), receiving the highest of honors. Three years at Yale Divinity (B.D. 1896) were followed by postgraduate work at Yale (Ph.D. 1903). While a student at Yale he was minister of Dixwell Congregational Church, the oldest Black Congregational church in the U.S. Called in 1901 to the pulpit of 2nd Congregational Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, he remained in that position until retiring in 1939. Published in national journals and local newspapers, an early advocate of Black Pride, woman suffrage and ecumenicalism, Dr. Baker died in 1941.

This book will appeal to and be readable by readers of general African American biography, people affiliated with Dr. Baker's schools, those seeking inspiration for life. It will be of particular importance to historians and scholars of philosophy, religion, education, and African American life. Dr. Baker's connections to Armstrong and Moody, as well as a volatile relationship with W.E.B. DuBois, will, in addition, contribute meaningfully to the biographies of these men.

Review Quotes

"I first learned of Thomas Nelson Baker twenty-five years ago in our school archives. In my pantheon ever since, I assumed I knew him. Here instead, Linda Batty has recreated a living image: a towering intellectual bursting with humanity. That life I'd imagined now seems but a reflection on the wall of Plato's cave." --Peter Weis, Archivist of Northfield Mount Hermon

"My deepest gratitude to Linda Batty, her astounding research and work awakened me to my grandfather's story as part of the legacy of African excellence extending back long before slavery. Despite the dehumanizing challenges, U.S. Africans like my grandfather seize every opportunity to manifest their potential." --Newman Taylor Baker a.k.a. Washboard XT, grandson of Rev. Dr. Thomas Nelson Baker and world-renowned washboarder, drummer, and teaching artist

About the Author

Linda Batty is a professional librarian who served as a faculty member at Northfield Mount Hermon preparatory school. Her previous publications include annual bibliographies for Lincoln Center's Film Comment magazine and the American Film Institute's American Film magazine.