r was
called to take the chair vacated by Mr. Bassett. He was principal of
this institution from Sept., 1870, to Dec., 1872. From Philadelphia he
was called to fill a similar position in Sumner High School, at
Washington, D. C. He did not remain long in Washington. His fame as an
educator had grown until he was celebrated as a teacher throughout the
country. He was offered and accepted the Chair of Metaphysics and
Logic in the University of South Carolina, situate at Columbia. He
remained here until 1877, when the Hampton Government found no virtue
in a Negro as a teacher in an institution of the fame and standing of
this university. In 1877 he was made Dean of the Law Department of
Howard University, Washington, D. C., and held the position until
1880. He graduated from the Law School of the University of South
Carolina, and has practised in Washington since his residence there.
In addition to his work as teacher, lawyer, and orator, Prof. Greener
was associate editor of the _New National Era_ at Washington, D. C.,
and his editorial _Young Men to the Front_, gave him a reputation as a
progressive and aggressive leader which he has sustained ever since
with marked ability.

As a political speaker he began while in college, in 1868, and has
continued down to the present time. He is a pleasant speaker, and
acceptable and efficient in a campaign. As an orator and writer he
excels. His early style was burdened, like that of the late Charles
Sumner, with a too-abundant classical illustration and quotation; but
during the last five years his illustrations are drawn largely from
the English classics and history. His ablest effort at oratory was his
oration on _Charles Sumner, the Idealist, Statesman, and Scholar_. It
was by all odds the finest effort of its kind delivered in this
country. It was eminently fitting that a representative of the race
toward whose elevation Mr. Sumner contributed his splendid talents,
and a graduate from the same College that honored Sumner, and from the
State that gave him birth and opportunity, should give the true
analysis of his noble life and spotless character.

In the "National Quarterly Review" for July, 1880, Prof. Greener
replied to an article from the pen of Mr. James Parton on _Antipathy
to the Negro_, published in the "North American Review." Prof.
Greener's theme was _The Intellectual Position of the Negro_. The
following paragraphs give a fair idea of the style of Mr. Greener: