Did you know a Quinnite was once the U.S. minister to Liberia? Dr. Solomon Porter Hood, who would serve as the Academic Dean of Paul Quinn College during the early 1930s, was appointed to this post by President Warren Harding on October 26, 1921.
Hood was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1856, but lived most of his life in the area of Trenton, New Jersey. An 1876 graduate of Lincoln University, he divided his career between ministry and education, serving as a teacher and administrator in the public schools and pastoring churches.(Padgett,87ff.)
His missionary years in Haiti no doubt gave him a first-hand perspective of the challenges faced by the independent states among the African diaspora. His tenure in Liberia was defined by the controversy surrounding the Firestone Company's interest in developing Liberia's rubber plantations, and Hood may have in fact worked against Firestone's interests through advice he gave to the Liberian government.(Chalk,24) It was perhaps not a coincidence that he left his post in 1926, the same year the Firestone concession was granted.
Though he only served as Dean for a few years, retiring in 1933 at the well-seasoned age of 77, Dr. Hood was a very popular figure at Paul Quinn and in the Waco community generally. He continued to speak out on political subjects, delivering lectures and writing occasionally for the local African American newspaper, the Waco Messenger. His editorial of April 14th, 1933 on the growing shift of African American party loyalty from Republican to Democrat reveals a shrewd political mind and is an interesting window into a historic time in American politics.
Dr. Hood's distinguished career as minister, educator, and political leader strikes a chord with Quinnites today, who likewise look to extend their service to their communities, their nation, and their world.
References:
Image from Centennial Encyclopaedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church ... by Richard R. Wright, originally published 1918, digital copy hosted by University of South Carolina, c2004. Used according to principles of fair use for limited non-profit educational purposes.
Padgett, James A. Ministers to Liberia and their diplomacy. Journal of Negro history 22/1 (January 1937): 50-92.
Chalk, Frank. The anatomy of an investment: Firestone's 1927 loan to Liberia. Canadian journal of African studies 1/1 (March 1967): 12-32.
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