True Life Tuesday: Inman E. Page

This is another interesting little known story from Black history.

Inman Edward Page was born a slave on December 29, 1853 in Warrenton, Virginia. His parents were Horace and Elizabeth. Horace was able to buy his freedom with the profits he made by running a stable after his owner died. In 1862 the family moved to Washington, D.C. While there Inman attended the school of George F.T. Cook. He eventually attended Howard University. He worked in several different positions at the school to pay for his education. In 1873 he and his friend George W. Milford became the first two black students at Brown University. He dealt with a lot of racism however he managed to win over his classmates by winning an oratorical contest. He ended up becoming the class orator by the end of his senior year. In 1878 he married Zelia Bell and they ended up having 3 children - Zelia, Mary and Inman, Jr.

After graduating from Brown he began teaching at Natchez Seminary in Natchez, Mississippi. In 1878 he moved his family to Jefferson City, Missouri where he was a teacher at Lincoln Institute. In 1880 he was promoted to the position of president. In his first year he grew enrollment from 97 students to 153. In 1883 he was elected president of the Missouri State Teachers Association and was reelected to several terms. In 1898 be became president of Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma. He stayed in this position for many years. From 1916-1918 he was president of Colored Baptist College (now Western Baptist Bible College) in Macon, Missouri. He then went to be president of Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1920 he moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where he was principal of the black elementary school and eventually of Douglass High School. He retired from the Oklahoma City school district in June 1935 with the title of principal emeritus.

He died of natural causes in his daughter's home on December 21, 1935. He was buried on the campus of Langston University. The tract where he was buried was renamed Page Memorial Park. He has several buildings named after him in Oklahoma, Lincoln University and Brown University.