James Shelton Hathaway

James Shelton Hathaway was born into slavery on March 29, 1859, in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. In childhood he attended schools in Madison County, Kentucky. At the age of 17, Hathaway enrolled in Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. He graduated in 1884 with a B.A. degree in classics. After graduation from Berea College, Hathaway worked as a tutor of classics and mathematics on campus, under the college president E. Henry Fairchild. During the Fairchild administration, Hathaway was the second Black educator at Berea College (the first being Julia Britton Hooks). He later was made a member of the faculty, and received a M.A. degree in 1891. On July 21, 1887, Hathaway married Celia Anderson (or Cecelia Anderson), who was also a teacher at Berea. Together they had two children. == Career and late life ==

Hathaway edited the Lexington Standard newspaper; In 1893, he became a professor of agriculture at the State Normal School for Colored Persons (now Kentucky State University) in Frankfort, Kentucky. During his first term as president, the school name was changed in 1902 to the Kentucky Normal and Industrial Institute. His daughter had also worked as a teacher at Richmond High School. == References ==