John Wesley Gilbert (c.1863-1923)

John Wesley Gilbert is considered the first African-American archaeologist. Born enslaved near Hephzibah, he was educated in Augusta’s segregated public schools, at Paine Institute (now Paine College), and at Brown University, where he focused on ancient Greek. In 1888, he became Paine College’s first Black faculty member, teaching humanities there until 1919. From 1890-1891, Gilbert represented Brown University in Greece as one of the first 50 Americans and the first African American at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA). With the ASCSA, Gilbert and his colleague John Pickard conducted a pioneering archaeological and topographical survey of the ancient city of Eretria that set a standard for future professional research. Between 1911-1912, Gilbert helped establish a Methodist mission in the Belgian Congo. Gilbert died in 1923 and is buried in Augusta’s Cedar Grove Cemetery.