"George Washington Henderson" (1850-1936)

Born a slave in Clark County Virginia,he graduated from the University of Vermont in 1877 and became the first African American to be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa (PBK),the highest academic honor society.He later received a bachelor's degree in divinity from Yale University,spending a career in academics and theology.He was illiterate when he arrived as a teen in northwestern Vermont at the end of the Civil War,perhaps working as the servant of a Vermont resident he met during the war.He spent the next eight years in tutoring at the Underhill Academy and was admitted into University of Vermont in 1873.While in school he worked as a farmhand in Waitsfield during the summers and from 1875-1876 served as principal of nearby Jericho Academy.In 1877 he graduated from the University of Vermont first in his class and was inducted into the school's Phi Beta Kappa chapter.George was the first black to be inducted into the society but was not the first to be elected to join.Yale graduated Edward Alexander Bouchet was elected into the society in 1874,but his induction was delayed while the Yale PBK chapter was inactive.George earned a master's of art degree from University of Vermont,a bachelor's degree of divinity from Yale University,and further studied at the University of Berlin in Germany under a Hooker-Dwight fellowship.He also served as principal of the craftsbury Academy and Newport Graded School,both in Vermont.In 1888 George moved to New Orleans,Louisiana where he was ordained as a Congregational minister and was selected to be pastor of the Congregational Church.Two years later he became chair of the theology department at Straight University (now Dillard).In 1904 he moved again to become dean of theology at Fisk University in Nashville,Tennessee.He stayed there for five years before moving to Xenia,Ohio as professor of Latin,Greek,and ancient literature at Wilberforce University.He retired in 1932 at the age of 82.He married, twice he had one son who didn't survive past infancy.George died in Xenia,Ohio.In his honor,the University of Vermont has established fellowships for pre-doctoral students of diversity.