Women of WMA African American History

Mr. & Mrs. James L. Brown IV ’55M help bring Academy’s African American history to forefront

• James L. Brown IV ’55M in his yearbook photo from 1955. T he connection between Wilbraham & Monson Academy and the important history of African American people has been present from the start of WMA’s formative years. It began at Wesleyan Academy, where it sat on the same footprint as the current WMA campus, continued through the days of Monson Academy and Wilbraham Academy, to the current days at WMA.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of James L. Brown IV ’55M, a Trustee of Wilbraham & Monson Academy from 2000–2008, and his wife and lead researcher, Charlotte Brown, that rich history has been thoroughly documented and is celebrated on campus by students and visitors alike.

In 1951, Mr. Brown, a young African American man from Richmond, Virginia, arrived in Monson, Massachusetts, to continue his education at Monson Academy. This journey started him on his path to making an immeasurable difference in the lives of countless families in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and, with Mrs. Brown, to his alma mater, now Wilbraham & Monson Academy.

Mr. Brown attended Monson Academy from 1951 to 1955, graduating second in his class with honors. He received the Stephen D. Luckraft Memorial Award. It is awarded annually to the member of the senior class who has displayed in their daily actions and personal contacts a genuinely fine character. Mr. Brown was also the only African American student in his graduating class, which marked the 150th anniversary of that institution. He matriculated from Virginia Union in Richmond, Virginia, where he first met Mrs. Brown. The Browns later moved to Philadelphia, where they formed the Parkside Historic Preservation Corporation, for which Mr. Brown served many years as its executive director. In establishing Parkside, the Browns were able to preserve and renovate a large area of the city. It provided beautiful and affordable housing for its residents, many of whom were African Americans moving into their first homes, as the Browns had done years earlier. The city of Philadelphia, where he is known as one of the most prominent preservationists in its history, has honored Mr. Brown on numerous occasions.

In 2000, Mr. Brown was asked to serve as a Trustee of Wilbraham & Monson Academy. He graciously accepted, but wondered openly, as expressed in a letter later written to the Academy, “What can I provide to the Academy as a trustee other than some money and an African American presence as a trustee of an all-white boarding school?”

The answer is an immeasurable contribution in the discovery, documentation and celebration of the significant African American history of the Academy, as well as significant financial support to future young African American students at WMA. Mr. Brown contacted his good friend Garey M. Browne ’54M, a postgraduate, and together they created and funded the William and Gertrude Harper-Browne Fund. With a significant donation from Mr. Browne, it was the first and largest fund established by an African American graduate of Monson Academy. The fund has continued to be supplemented by Benjamin F. Wilson, Esq., ’69W, a former Trustee (1994–2000) who has provided additional financial support for the fund. The fund has been used to allow the full student body to see Maya Angelou when she visited Springfield, Massachusetts; and to assist in arranging a visit to the Academy by Nettie Washington Douglass, the great-great-granddaughter of Frederick Douglass and greatgranddaughter of Booker T. Washington, among many other important events. The fund continues to this day, serving to enhance and enrich the African American experience for all WMA students.

In addition to providing financial support, and just as critical, the Browns worked tirelessly during Mr. Brown’s tenure as a Trustee, and well beyond, to investigate and document the strong ties between the Academy and African American history. Specifically, Mrs. Brown’s research revealed that five important figures in African American history, all free men who went on to prominence in their respective fields, attended Wesleyan Academy during the pre-Civil War era.

Among them was John Miflin Brown (no relation), who holds a prominent place in both historical and current events. Born in Delaware, Mr. John Brown attended Wesleyan Academy in 1838, prior to attending Oberlin College and becoming pastor of an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Detroit in 1868. Mr. John Brown’s roommate at Wesleyan Academy was James Lindsay Smith, who had escaped enslavement in Virginia to nearby Springfield in 1838.

Mr. John Brown obtained a license to preach and spent 20 years preaching in a Methodist Church. Pastor Brown was elected bishop in 1868 and served in a variety of A.M.E.

leadership roles. Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church in Selma, Alabama, the starting point for the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, was named after him. Brown Chapel was mentioned specifically by President Obama in his eulogy of U.S. Rep. John Lewis in July 2020.

Through more research, Mrs. Brown discovered that Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett— the first African American appointed as a United States diplomat—had attended Wesleyan Academy in the late 1840s. The native of Derby, Connecticut, was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as United States Ambassador to Haiti in 1869.

Dr. John J. Smallwood, whose life was also documented by Mrs. Brown, was a fugitive slave from Virginia who escaped his confinement in North Carolina at age 12 and entered Wilbraham Academy in 1866. He later became an exceptional orator and lecturer, speaking internationally and frequently on “The Race Problem in America.” Dr. Smallwood studied at London’s Trinity College, and ultimately founded his own institution in Virginia in 1892 to educate America’s freed men. Dr. Smallwood’s grandfather was Nat Turner, the enslaved person who had led the failed Southampton Insurrection and was killed in 1831.

Further research of Mrs. Brown revealed that Thomas E. Day, a prominent cabinet maker from Milton, North Carolina, had sent three of his children to Wesleyan Academy from 1849 to 1851. Mr. Day, who remained a free man in southern Virginia before the Civil War, is considered one of the finest master craftsmen of his time. His works are still shown at prominent galleries and museums, including at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The lives of a number of these notable African American men, and others, are celebrated in a permanent exhibit on display in WMA’s Campus Center on the lower level of Lak Dining Hall.

Now is the time to celebrate diversity among us. Wilbraham & Monson Academy has been extremely fortunate to have been at the forefront of that celebration since its inception as Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham and to benefit immensely from the legacy of amazing African American students who have walked through the doors of the Academy. WMA has also been extremely fortunate to have had this amazing history documented and supported due to the extraordinary efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Brown, who have taken on this task as a labor of love.

Written with special thanks to former Archivist at the Academy Coralie Grey, LuJuanna Hood, former Director of Pan African Historical Museum USA (PAHMUSA) for African history Springfield, Massachusetts, and historian Maryann O’Keefe, of Derby, Connecticut.

• James L. Brown IV ’55M, right, stands in front of the Monson Bell with his wife, Charlotte Brown, and his sister Yolanda Spencer, left, during a bench dedication in 2005.

John Mifflin Brown

Why I support WMA...

• From left: Michael DeNucci ’91, daughter Emily DeNucci ’24, Board of Trustees member Linda Griffin, son Daniel DeNucci ’22 and wife, Corinne DeNucci. “We give to the Academy because we are confident in the leadership of WMA. Not only are we impressed by what Brian (Easler), Mark (Aimone) and the faculty have done to prepare a safe environment for our children for the reopening of the school, we also feel inspired by their vision for the future of WMA.”

— Mike Denucci ’91 P’22 ’24

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