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Contribution #217 of 365
James Milton Turner
School Organizer, Education Administrator and Diplomat
1865–1878
The contribution
How this work helped shape America
Born enslaved in St. Louis around 1840, James Milton Turner gained freedom with his family and obtained education despite Missouri's restrictions on Black schooling. After the Civil War he worked with the Freedmen's Bureau and the American Missionary Association to organize dozens of schools for Black Missourians and helped establish Lincoln Institute, which became Lincoln University. Turner later served as principal of a Black school in Kansas City and in 1871 was appointed United States minister resident and consul general to Liberia. His career connected public education, institution building and diplomatic service during Reconstruction.