William Sherman Savage | |
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%2c_historian_at_Lincoln_University_in_Missouri.png) Savage, photo published in 1930 | |
| Born | (1890-03-07)March 7, 1890 |
| Died | May 23, 1981(1981-05-23) (aged 91) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Education | Howard University (AB) University of Oregon (MA) Ohio State University (PhD) |
| Occupation(s) | Historian, educator, author |
| Employer | Lincoln University (Missouri) |
| Title | Professor of History |
| Spouse | Roena Muckelroy Savage |
William Sherman Savage (March 7, 1890 – May 23, 1981), generally known asW. Sherman Savage, was an American historian, professor of history atLincoln University inMissouri, and author ofBlacks in theWest, a foundational survey of the subject. A specialist inAfrican American history, he also taught atJarvis Christian College inTexas andCalifornia State College, Los Angeles. Savage was the first African American to graduate from theUniversity of Oregon or receive a doctorate fromOhio State University.
Born into a family of farmers inWattsville on theEastern Shore of Virginia on March 7, 1890, Savage left school at age 11 to help his family on the farm. At age 17, he completed his elementary education atVirginia Union College inRichmond, Virginia, and earned his high school diploma fromMorgan College inBaltimore,Maryland. He earned his AB degree fromHoward University in 1917, his MA degree in history from theUniversity of Oregon in 1926, and his PhD in history fromOhio State University in 1934.[1]
Savage was the first African American to graduate from the University of Oregon and the first to earn a doctorate from Ohio State. He initially attended theUniversity of Kansas for two summers, and the only reason he transferred was because Oregon charged only six dollars a quarter for tuition. As the only Black person attending the University of Oregon or living in the city ofEugene, he faced racial discrimination and struggled to find a landlord who would rent to an African American. Savage wrote his master's thesis on the topic of "Abolitionist Literature in the Mails, 1830–1836"[2] and rewrote his dissertation into a monograph entitledThe Controversy overtheDistributionofAbolition Literature, 1830–1860, published in 1938.[1][3]
After teaching high school inNorth Carolina,Mississippi, andOklahoma, Savage joined the faculty ofLincoln University inMissouri in 1921. He taught at Lincoln for thirty-nine years, taking leaves of absence as necessary to complete his postgraduate education. By the 1930s, he had become interested in the history of African Americans in the western United States, publishing a dozen scholarly articles on theBuffalo Soldiers and Black pioneers and educators in the West, primarily in African American history journals such asThe Journal of Negro History, theNegro History Bulletin, and theJournal of Negro Education. In 1976,Greenwood Press published his bookBlacks in the West, a foundational survey of Black influence on the Old West.[3][1] Reviewers praised the book as an important synthesis—a "lasting contribution to readers' understanding of racial and regional history," as one reviewer put it—though some voiced a desire for deeper analysis.[4][5][6][7]
After retiring from Lincoln University in 1960, Savage moved toHawkins,Texas, where he chaired the history and social sciences department atJarvis Christian College. From 1966 to 1970, he held an appointment as a visiting professor of history atCalifornia State College, Los Angeles, and concluded his career as a researcher at theHuntington Library[3][1] alongside his friend and fellow historian of the American WestRay Allen Billington.[8]
Savage wedRoena Muckelroy Savage, a choir director and professor of voice, in 1927. They had daughters Eloise (born 1936) and Inez (born 1939).[1]
He died in Los Angeles on May 23, 1981, at the age of 91.[3][1] The Huntington Library holds his papers, spanning approximately 1950 to 1981.[9]
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