The First Black Archaeologist

A Life of John Wesley Gilbert

By: John W.I. Lee

Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn

The First Black Archaeologist reveals the untold story of a pioneering African American classical scholar, teacher, community leader, and missionary. Born into slavery in rural Georgia, John Wesley Gilbert (1863-1923) gained national prominence in the early 1900s, but his accomplishments are little known today. Using evidence from archives across the US and Europe, from contemporary publications, and from newly discovered documents, this book chronicles Gilbert's remarkable journey. As we follow Gilbert from the segregated public schools of Augusta, Georgia, to the lecture halls of Brown University, to his hiring as the first black faculty member of Augusta's Paine Institute, and through his travels, we learn about the development of African American intellectual and religious culture, and about the enormous achievements of an entire generation of black students and educators.

Listeners interested in the early development of American archaeology in Greece will find an entirely new perspective here, as Gilbert was one of the first Americans of any race to do archaeological work in Greece. Those interested in African American history and culture will gain an invaluable new perspective on a leading yet hidden figure of the late 1800s and early 1900s, whose life and work touched many different aspects of the African American experience.

©2022 Oxford University Press (P)2022 Tantor

Inspirational journey through the life & times

So interesting to peer back a few hundred years and get a glimpse of the personal transformation of an individual from an owned slave to a scholar. Always seeking to continue intellectual and spiritual growth, John Wesley Gilbert taught others how the foundations of learning could neutralize racism from inside the deep south more than a half century before the Civil rights movement. The author John Lee has a keen sense of how to weave a cohesive narrative from diverse, sparse, and scattered sources to inspire the reader to become a better teacher, parent, listener, linguist, adult learner, archeologist, parishioner, volunteer, fundraiser, . . but midst of all a better American through this deep history of this singular character. Kudos.