Charles L. Reason

Reason was born July 21, 1818, in New York City as one of three sons to Michel and Elizabeth (Melville) Reason, free people of color (their surname was originally Rison) from Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue, respectively. They had immigrated as refugees in 1793 shortly after the early years of the Haitian Revolution. His brothers were Elwer W. and Patrick H. Reason, who also became leaders. Their older sister Policarpe died in 1818 at age four. Charles and two of his brothers attended the African Free School in New York; among their classmates were Henry Highland Garnet, George T. Downing, and Ira Aldridge. As Charles was a child prodigy in mathematics, he began teaching the subject there, at the age of fourteen. He attended the short-lived Noyes Academy in Canaan, New Hampshire, in 1835. He next appears in 1849 as a faculty member, giving an inaugural address, at the New York Central College, an integrated institution founded by members of the American Baptist Free Mission Society in McGraw, New York (then called McGrawville, not to be confused with the current McGrawville). He was described as of "fair education and superior intelligence, 'complexion very light, beautiful black curly hair and a magnificent moustache'. He would very easily pass for an Anglo-Saxon." Another description says he is "one of the most courtly gentlemen of the colored race in this city" (New York). ==Career==

Reason's first teaching job, in the 1830s, was at "the Quaker school in Laurens Street." In 1847, Reason, along with Charles Bennett Ray, founded the New York-based Society for the Promotion of Education among Colored Children. Two years later, he was appointed professor of belles-lettres, Greek, Latin, and French at New York Central College, McGrawville, while also serving as an adjunct professor of mathematics. Central College was the first college to be integrated from its opening day; it hired Reason as the most qualified applicant. Reason was thus both the first Black professor, and the first Black teacher with white students, in the United States. Reason returned to New York, where he served for decades in public education as a teacher, administrator, and reformer. He was principal of Colored Grammar School No. 3, at 78 West 40th Street. Later he was principal of Colored School No. 6 on 36th Street. During this time, he was instrumental in efforts to abolish slavery and segregation. He was a delegate to the Colored Labor Convention held in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1870. In 1878, he owned a brownstone at 242 East 53rd St. It was filled with books. He was described as "a remarkably well-read man and speaks several languages. ...He is said to be worth $60,000" (). ==Marriage and family==

Not much documentation has been found on Reason's personal life, but he was said to have been married and widowed three times. His third and final wife was Clorice (Duplessis) Esteve (1819–1884), whom he married in New York City on July 17, 1855. They had no children, although she had a daughter from her previous marriage to John Lucien Esteve (1809–1852), a French West Indian confectioner, restaurateur, and caterer in New York City. Reason had two strokes, which, after a recovery period, required him to go to work in a carriage, as he could not walk. He retired five months before his death. He died in his 53rd St. home in New York City in 1893.{{cite news == See also ==