James S. Hathaway

James S. Hathaway was born a slave in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. He graduated in 1874 from Berea.  He was Berea’s first black professor of Latin, science, & mathematics. Hathaway also served as a clerk of the town of Berea.

He went on to become a president of Kentucky State University in Frankfort – Kentucky’s only historically black university. Three other African American graduates of Berea were also presidents of the university.