"Kelly Miller Jr." (July 23,1863-December 23,1939)

Was an African American mathematician,sociologist,essayist,newspaper

columinist,author,and an important figure in the intellectual life of African Americans for close to half a century.He was known as "The Bard of the Potomac" in his day.He came from a big family.Kelly was the sixth of ten children born to Elizabeth & Kelly Miller Sr.His mama was a former slave and his his daddy was a freed African American who served in the union army.Kelly was born in Winnsboro,South Ccarolina where he attend local primary and grade school.From 1878-1880 Kelly attended the Fairfield Institute where his hard work paid off and was offered a scholarship to the historically African American college,Howard University.Kelly finished the prepatory department's three-year curriculum in Latin and Greek,then mathematics in two years.After finishing one department he quickly moved on to the next one.Kelly attended the College Department at Howard from 1882-1886.In 1886,he was given the opportunity to study advance mathematics with Captain Edgar Frisby.Edgar was an English mathematician working at the U.S. Naval Observatory.Edgar's chief,Simon Newcomb noticed Kelly's intellectual talent and recommended him to Johns Hopkins University.He spent the following two years at Johns Hopkins University (1887-1889) and became the first African American student to attend the university.He spent his time at the university studying mathematics,physics,and astronomy.
Unfortunately,Kelly was not able to keep attending Johns Hopkins University due to low funds.From 1889-1890 He taught mathematics at the M Street High School in Washington,D.C. Appointed professor of mathematics at Howard in 1890,Kelly introduced sociology into the curriculmum,strengtening the natural and social sciences.Kelly graduated from Howard University School of Law in 1903.In 1907,Kelly was appointed dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.His deanship lasted twelve years and in that time,the college changed significantly.During his twelve-year deanship the college improved dramatically.The old classical curriculum was modernized and new courses in the natural sciences & the social sciences were added.Kelly gave a lot back to Howard.In 1914 he planned a Negro-Amercana Museum and Library and persuaded Jesse E.Moorland,to donate his large private library on blacks in Africa and the United States to Howard University.Jesse was a former Howard alum and official of the Young Men's Christian Men's Christian Association.Kelly's persuasion worked and the library became the foundation for his Negro-Americana Museum and Library Center.
Kelly's written works made him very well known.Kelly 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.Kelly assisted W.E.B.Du Bois in editing The Crisis,the official journal of the NAACP.Kelly started of publishing his articles anonymously in the Boston Transcript.He wrote about radical and conservative groups.He also shared his views in the Educational Review,Dial,Education,and the Journal of Social Science.His anonymous articles later became his lead essay in his book Race Adjustment that was published in 1908.He suggested that African Americans had the rights to protest against unjust circumstances that came with the rise of white supremacy in the south.He was a supported of racial harmony,of thrift,and institutional building.In 1917 Kelly,published an open letter to President Woodrow Wilson in the Baltimore Afro-American against lynching,which he called "national in its rage and scope," and called the government's failure to stop it "the disgrace of democracy." He also stated "it is but hollow mockery of the Negro when he is beaten and bruised in all parts of the nation and flees to the national government for asylum,to be denied relief on the basis doubtful jurisdiction.The black ask for protection and is given a theory of government." It was circulated as a pamphlet in the camp libraries of the US armed forces for about a year until "the department of military censorship"ordered it removed because it "tended to make the soldier who read [it] a less effective fighter
against the German.
Kelly's gained his well-known national importance from his involvement in a movement led by W.E.B. Du Bois.He showed intellectual leadership during conflict between the "accommodations"of Booker T.Washington and the " radicalism" of the growing civil rights.Kelly was known in two ways to the public.
On African-American education policy,Kelly aligned himself with either the " radicals" -and E.E.B. Du Bois and the Niagara Movement- nor the "conservatives"-the followers of Booker T.Washington.Kelly sought a middle way,comprehensive system that would provide for "symmetrical development" of African American citizens by offering both vocational and intellectual instruction.
Kelly was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
He also believed that African Americans should favor free market rather than government or union power starting:
"The capitalist has but one dominating motive,the production and sales of goods.The race of color of the producer counts but little... The capitalist stands for an open shop which gives to every man the unhindered right to work according to his ability and skill.In this proposition the capitalist and the Negro as one.
After World War I,Kelly's life became difficult.He was demoted in 1919 to dean of a new junior college after J.Stanley Durkee  was appointed as president of Howard in 1918 and built a new central administration.He continued to publish articles and weekly columns in African American press.His views were published in more than 100 newspapers.Kelly died on Howard's campus,married to Annie May Butler.A daddy of five.