Charles L. Reason

Charles Lewis Reason (July 21, 1818 – August 16, 1893) was a mathematician, linguist, and educator. He became the first African-American university professor at a predominantly white college in the United States, teaching at New York Central College, McGrawville.

Charles Lewis Reason was born in New York City as one of three sons to Michel and Elizabeth (Melville) Reason, free people of color (their surname was originally Rison).

They were from Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue, respectively, and immigrated as refugees in 1793 shortly after the early years of the Haitian Revolution. His brothers were Elwer W. and Patrick H. Reason, who also became leaders. Their older sister Policarpe died in 1818 at age four.

A child prodigy in mathematics, Charles Reason began teaching the subject at the age of fourteen at the African Free School in New York, which he and two of his brothers attended. He next studied at McGrawville College, an integrated institution founded by members of the Baptist Church in McGraw, New York. His classmates at the African free school included Henry Highland Garnet, George T. Downing, and Ira Aldridge.

In 1847, Reason, along with Charles Bennett Ray, founded the New York-based Society for the Promotion of Education among Colored Children. Two years later, he was appointed professor of belles lettres, Greek, Latin, and French at New York Central College, McGrawville, while also serving as an adjunct professor of mathematics. It was a majority white institution. He was the first African American to serve as a professor at a majority-white college

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