Early Years
Dillard moved to Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1887 to become the principal of Mary Institute, a female preparatory school for Washington University. Simultaneously he served as Bridge Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at the university and also taught Latin as part of the Sauveur Summer School, a language program held at various New England schools and colleges. In 1891 William Preston Johnston, a former mentor from Washington and Lee University then serving as president of Tulane University, in New Orleans, Louisiana, recruited Dillard to become professor of Latin. Three years later Dillard became dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Tulane, and he also served briefly in 1904 as acting president of the university.
With the Jeanes and Slater Funds
Even though Dillard's family had been planters and had owned slaves, he had developed a dislike of the inequities and injustices that freedpeople experienced after the American Civil War (1861–1865). As a lifelong member and lay leader of the Episcopal Church, he came to believe that assisting African American education constituted part of his personal Christian ministry. In 1913 Dillard returned to Virginia and for the remainder of his career resided in Charlottesville. He became one of the best-known and most-active white proponents of improved educational opportunities for African Americans in the South.
Other Work
During his teaching career Dillard published several short textbooks and readers: Dillard's Exercises in Arithmetic (1885), Selections from Wordsworth (1890), Fifty Letters of Cicero (1901), and Aus dem deutschen Dichterwald: Favorite German Poems (1903). He also wrote From News Stand to Cyrano: Four Stray Pieces Mainly about Reading (1935) and contributed to Negro Migration in 1916–17 (1919). Dillard spoke widely on educational topics and published essays in many periodicals while engaged in work for the Jeanes and Slater funds, including in the Virginia Journal of Education.Some of his articles appeared in a collected edition, Selected Writings of James Hardy Dillard (1932), and others in Papers by the Way (1940).
Dillard died at his Charlottesville home on August 2, 1940, and was buried in the city's Riverview Cemetery. One editorial tribute described him as "one of Virginia's most selfless servants and devoted humanitarians" and related that Booker T. Washington had once said that Dillard could speak "to the poorest Negro in Alabama in the same way that he speaks to President Taft."
Major Works
Time Line
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October 24, 1856 - J. H. Dillard is born, either in Southampton County or Nansemond County.
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1868 - J. H. Dillard goes to live with an aunt in Norfolk in order to attend a classical school.
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1873–1876 - J. H. Dillard attends Washington and Lee University, receiving a master's degree.
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1877 - J. H. Dillard receives a law degree from Washington and Lee University.
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July 5, 1881 - J. H. Dillard and Mary Catharine Harmanson marry in Norfolk.
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1882 - J. H. Dillard becomes one of two principals at the Norfolk Academy.
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1887 - J. H. Dillard becomes principal of Mary Institute, at Washington University, in Saint Louis, Missouri.
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1889 - J. H. Dillard receives an honorary doctorate from Washington and Lee University.
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1892 - J. H. Dillard becomes a professor of Latin at Tulane University, in New Orleans.
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1894 - J. H. Dillard becomes dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Tulane University, in New Orleans.
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September 20, 1896 - Mary Catharine Harmanson Dillard, the wife of J. H. Dillard, dies.
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November 18, 1899 - J. H. Dillard and Avarene Lippincott Budd marry in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
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1904 - J. H. Dillard briefly serves as acting president of Tulane University, in New Orleans.
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1907 - The Negro Rural School Fund, Inc., Anna T. Jeanes Foundation is established with a $1 million endowment from Anna T. Jeanes, of Philadelphia.
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1908–1914 - J. H. Dillard serves on the Southern Education Board.
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1908 - J. H. Dillard receives an honorary doctorate from Tulane University, in New Orleans.
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February 1908 - J. H. Dillard is elected president of the board of the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation, which provides financial support for black rural schools in the South.
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1910 - J. H. Dillard receives an honorary doctorate from the University of the South.
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April 1910 - J. H. Dillard becomes the general agent of the John F. Slater Fund, which supports African American education in the rural South.
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1912 - J. H. Dillard helps to establish the University Commission on Southern Race Questions.
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1913 - J. H. Dillard moves from New Orleans to Charlottesville, where he will live for the rest of his life.
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1916–1925 - J. H. Dillard serves on the board of the General Theological Seminary, in New York City.
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1917 - J. H. Dillard becomes president of the John F. Slater Fund, which supports African American education in the rural South.
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1918–1929 - J. H. Dillard serves on the General Education Board.
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1918–1940 - J. H. Dillard serves on the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary.
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1923–1940 - J. H. Dillard serves as vice president of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, which seeks to improve educational opportunities for African Americans.
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1923 - J. H. Dillard receives an honorary doctorate from Harvard University.
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1924 - J. H. Dillard travels to Africa.
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1926 - J. H. Dillard attends in Belgium an international conference on Christian missions in Africa.
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1928 - J. H. Dillard receives the Harmon Foundation's gold medal in recognition for his work to help increase the number of African American training schools.
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1930 - New Orleans University and Straight College, two colleges for African Americans, combine to form Dillard University, named in honor of J. H. Dillard.
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1931 - J. H. Dillard resigns as president of the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation board and of the John F. Slater Fund.
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1932 - J. H. Dillard receives an honorary doctorate from Southwestern at Memphis (later Rhodes College).
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1937 - The Anna T. Jeanes Foundation and the John F. Slater Fund, which support African American education in the rural South, combine to form the Southern Education Foundation, Inc.
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1937 - J. H. Dillard receives the Roosevelt Medal for improving understanding between the races.
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August 2, 1940 - J. H. Dillard dies at his home in Charlottesville. He is buried in Riverview Cemetery.
References
Further Reading
External Links
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Dictionary of Virginia Biography., & Castelow, T. L. J. H. Dillard (1856–1940). (2016, January 20). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Dillard_James_Hardy_1856-1940.
- MLA Citation:
Dictionary of Virginia Biography and Teri L. Castelow. "J. H. Dillard (1856–1940)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 20 Jan. 2016. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: October 28, 2015 | Last modified: January 20, 2016
Contributed by the Dictionary of Virginia Biography and Teri L. Castelow.