J. Leonard Farmer

Unveiling of Historical Marker

The first African American PhD in Texas, Dr. Farmer arrived in Marshall in 1917 to pastor Ebenezer Methodist Church and to teach Latin, religion, psychology and philosophy at Wiley College. He later was on the faculty of Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Howard University School of Theology in Washington DC, and Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson) in Austin, where he also served as registrar and dean. He returned to Wiley in 1936, and served on the faculty with Melvin Tolson whose debate team was the basis for "The Great Debaters". In the film, Dr. Farmer is portrayed by Forest Whitaker.

Dr. Farmer was born on June 12, 1886 in Kingstree, South Carolina, and attended Mary McLeod Bethune's Cookman Institute in Florida and Boston University. The scholarship he won to BU did not cover transportation, and he walked the 1200 miles to Massachusetts. He completed the coursework and dissertation for his doctorate in one year; the program had a two-year residence requirement and he spent the additional year doing post-graduate work at Harvard.

Dr. Farmer was the father of civil rights leader and CORE founder James Farmer, shown above at the 1998 dedication of the Texas Historical Marker on the Wiley Campus. Dr. Farmer passed away on May 14, 1961, the day before his son was scheduled to enter Alabama with the Freedom Riders.