Life
The UCSB Art, Design, & Architecture Museum and the Library present a talk on John Wesley Gilbert, the first African American to attend the fledgling American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
As part of the Black Classicism lecture series hosted by the UCSB Art, Design, & Architecture Museum and the Library, Associate Professor of History John W.I. Lee will give a talk on John Wesley Giâlbert.
"Let us go upon the Acropolis": John Wesley Gilbert in Greece,
September 1890 - April 1891
Wednesday, April 19, 4-5 p.m.
UCSB Library, Instruction & Training 1312
Free to the public
John Wesley Gilbert (ca. 1863-1923) was the third African American to graduate from Brown University and, as a Brown M.A. student in 1890-1891, he became the first African American to attend the fledgling American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA). The ASCSA was founded in 1881 by a group of scholars from Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and other American colleges as a research and teaching center for Greek archaeology, literature, and history.
Drawing on Gilbert's own writings and other contemporary documents, this talk examines the historical significance of Gilbert's time in Greece. During his year as a student at the American School, Gilbert traveled throughout Greece, wrote a thesis on the demes (political subdivisions) of ancient Athens, and took part in the ASCSA's excavations at the ancient city of Eretria.
This talk is presented in conjunction with the "14 Black Classicists" exhibition hosted by the AD&A Museum and the UCSB Library. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Argyropoulos Endowment in Hellenic Studies, and the departments of Classics and Black Studies.
