Richard Theodore Greener (January 30, 1844 – May 2, 1922) was the first African-American graduate of Harvard College and dean of the Howard University School of Law.

Richard Theodore Greener (1844-1922) was the first Black graduate of Harvard University (Class of 1870). His papers, including his Harvard diploma, his law license, photos and papers connected to his diplomatic role in Russia and his friendship with President Ulysses S. Grant, were recently discovered in an attic on the South Side of Chicago - just before the house was demolished. Amazing.

University's First Black Professor's Law School Diploma Was Almost Destroyed Before Being Returned

By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER 10/15/13 03:02 AM ET EDT

University of South Carolina archivist Elizabeth Cassidy West shows the diploma earned by Richard Theodore Greener on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013, in Columbia, S.C. The school is honoring Greener, who was the university's first African-American faculty member. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins) | AP

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Two rare documents from a fleeting time after the Civil War when the University of South Carolina first admitted African-American students and faculty are going on display.

A law school diploma from the university and a South Carolina law license granted in 1876 to Richard Theodore Greener, the first African-American faculty member of the university, are being unveiled at noon EDT Tuesday at the South Caroliniana Library on the school's Columbia campus.

The exhibition explores contributions blacks made in the university's history before segregation. It coincides with the university's year-long remembrance of events leading up to 1963, when the school again admitted black students in the Civil Rights era.

Authorities say both documents were saved from a Chicago home awaiting demolition in 2009. It's not known how they got there.

Source: Huffington Post

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